Justin Longmuir’s blunt admission after Geelong decimate Fremantle

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir did not bite his tongue when discussing his own side’s display against an AFL premiership hopeful.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir delivered a blunt admission about his own side in the wake of being torn to shreds by Geelong.

The Cats showed they’re a premiership contender on Saturday as they ran rings around the Dockers, recording the 23.9 (147) to 10.9 (69) victory.

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After trailing by 54-points at halftime, the Dockers showed signs of life in the third quarter as they kicked six goals to one to trail by only 21-points heading into the final term.

Geelong however responded emphatically with the Dockers unable to keep up as the Cats kicked 10-goals to one to race away to the comfortable win.

Longmuir didn’t beat around the bush as he attended his post-game press conference, labelling the display as “clearly unacceptable”, while also saying his players “weren’t tough enough”.

“There’s a fair bit to get my head around. I thought after the first five minutes we weren’t tough enough,” Longmuir said.

“Their hunt and their pressure was at a level we couldn’t handle and we couldn’t apply the same pressure to them. It was really disappointing.

“We’ll have to do a deep dive of it. I feel like their pressure was at a level where we weren’t used to and weren’t up to. We spoke about it yesterday and pre-game - round one goes up a level. We weren’t ready for that. We were on the back foot all day because of it. We’ve got some work to do.”

Not the day the Dockers had been hoping for. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

While the Dockers entered the contest missing a host of big name players, it was the lack of fight by those on the field that raised alarm bells for Longmuir.

“It’s not the brand of footy we want to be playing,” he said.

“We’re not going to come out and win every quarter but we’ve got to be able to compete in every quarter. We’ve got to be able to defend like our life depends on it in every quarter.

“It doesn’t mean the scoreboard is going to go your way but some of the stuff was clearly unacceptable. We’ll have a look at it, review our week and we will definitely get better than that.”

The Dockers were blown off the park. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

After a lacklustre end to 2024, which saw Fremantle fall out of the top eight late in the season following a string of losses, the Dockers came into a new season with a lengthy injury list, new recruit Shai Bolton, ruck Sean Darcy and midfielder Hayden Young among players to miss round 1.

The list could get longer still, forward Sam Switkowski subbed out of Saturday’s game with a groin issue, Longmuir unsure of the length and severity of the injury when questioned post-match.

However, he was adamant the injuries - as well as travel and the time difference between Geelong and Perth - didn’t excuse his team’s performance.

“We had enough experience out there. We had enough players out there,” he said.

“I want a bit more than one round this year to make my mind up on that. It’s not where my mind is at the moment. The team we put out today is capable of much better than that.

“I’ll put my hand up. I clearly didn’t prepare them the right way. We’ll review all aspects of our week. I’ll review my performance and we will put out a better showing next week. I think the team we put out can produce a much better performance than that.”

Fremantle will look to bounce back next weekend when they return to Perth to take on the Sydney Swans on Sunday evening.

- with Meg Saultry, Newswire

Originally published as Justin Longmuir’s blunt admission after Geelong decimate Fremantle