September 15th, 2011, was the day Fremantle at least temporarily became a serious Football club.
After making finals in 2010, the then Dockers coach Mark Harvey had led the club to a disappointing 11th place the following season, and then a bombshell occurred. Unbeknownst to just about everyone in the industry at the time, Harvey was unceremoniously dumped and replaced by Ross Lyon.
It was brutal, only earlier in that day, Harvey had been at a breakfast where he was talking about the side’s upcoming 2012 season. Many people thought this was unfair and not the way to treat people, but ultimately, AFL is a results-based business, and the decision was the correct one.
History will tell you this didn’t quite deliver the ultimate success, but four consecutive finals series in four years suggests it was the right decision. Ultimately, Lyon himself would be dumped in 2019, after four more years of missing finals, but whilst his Freo tenure ended in failure, the start of it was ruthless and brilliant, and almost delivered Freo its first premiership in 2013, if not for some woeful Nat Fyfe and Hayden Ballantyne inaccuracy.
However, this article isn’t about the past; it’s about the present, and 2025 Fremantle couldn’t feel further away from the ruthless streak that propelled Freo to the finals in 2012-15. Lyon used an “anywhere, anytime” mantra that saw Freo win finals away in Geelong and Melbourne, but this current iteration simply cannot win under any pressure, and the current coach is at the forefront of it.
Saturday’s loss to Melbourne was the final straw for me. Current coach Justin Longmuir is in his sixth season as coach, and this loss typified his entire tenure. Fremantle were heavy favourites against a winless side under significant pressure; it was a game the club simply had to win, and on paper should’ve done comfortably.
But games aren’t won on paper, and Melbourne followed the simple blueprint to beat this Dockers side – apply significant pressure, and this mentally weak side will falter. It happened again, just as it did several times last year.
Patrick Voss of the Dockers. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
With four rounds to go last season, Freo only needed one win to lock their spot in the top eight – they lost all four games from winning positions, including a humiliating capitulation against Essendon, and losses under 10 points against Geelong and GWS.
This is a side that doesn’t step up when it counts. When the moment is there, this club fails, and as a supporter, I’m utterly sick of seeing the same story occur over and over. Already this season, one in which outside media had significantly pumped up Freo’s tyres pre-season, they’ve lost two games from winnable positions – against an injury-hit Sydney and a previously winless Melbourne.
Put simply, the club needs to put on its big boy pants and grow up.
Longmuir typifies the club – he’s meek, he’s introverted, he lacks conviction, and he is, in his own words, ‘vanilla’.
At the selection table, he’s conservative, typified by his decision to make excitement machine Isaiah Dudley the sub and continue to back in senior role players like Sam Switkowski, Bailey Banfield and Jaeger O’Meara instead. The gameplan is risk-averse, preferring a slow, methodical build-up up than the fast slingshot style of footy the best teams in the league now employ.
The question that this club now needs to ask itself is a simple one – is Longmuir the guy that is going to lead this club to their first ever Premiership? On the evidence at hand, the answer is a resounding No.
One finals series in six seasons, with a list that many outsiders rate as one of the most talented in the competition, is simply not good enough, and the inability to win close games or stand up when the pressure is on during Longmuir’s tenure suggests he isn’t the guy.
A serious club would’ve sacked him after missing finals last year, and a serious club would not put up with a 3-3 start with the second easiest draw (only behind Gold Coast) in the first six rounds. But they aren’t a serious club. There is a leadership vacuum here, with everyone avoiding tough decisions and making tough conversations.
Alex Pearce of the Dockers. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
In 2020, CEO Simon Garlick released a bold plan suggesting that their expectation was to win two Premierships in five years. The result? One finals win.
Who is being held accountable for this failure? Garlick certainly isn’t – he’s currently flirting with a cushy job at AFL house, instead of focusing on his club’s current predicament.
Longmuir isn’t – he’s been extended twice, despite missing finals in consecutive seasons, as the club continually kick the can down the road in terms of making a decision on his future.
On the field? Alex Pearce is the captain, and is a very likeable figure and a fantastic player, but I’m not sure he inspires the sort of tough, uncompromising, hard-edge that this club sorely lacks. I think it may be time to consider Caleb Serong as the heir to the throne, that’s missed a truly authoritarian leadership figure since Matthew Pavlich was captain.
Fyfe was a capable captain, whilst the hard-edged Ross Lyon was coach, but he also isn’t the hard-edged leader Pav was. In Serong, I can see it, he just needs to be backed in.
Off the field, it seems to be a bit of a mess. Jaymie Graham played as a defender for West Coast, and he’s now the Forwards coach. Jade Rawlings, Damian Martin (The basketballer) and Todd Curley are all new additions to the coaching staff, suggesting an inexperience following the departures of Josh Carr to Port Adelaide and Matthew Boyd to Collingwood.
There is a lack of experience across the coaching staff, as none of these guys have been key figures in successful clubs, something that newer successful coaches like Adam Kingsley, Craig McRae and Sam Mitchell all have in common.
In 31 years, this club doesn’t feel any closer to its first premiership, and the ruthless streak built during the Lyon era has well and truly dissipated and has been replaced by a vibe of being ‘the nice guys’.
Clubs don’t need to be liked, they need to be feared, and respected, and it seems the priorities at Fremantle are well out of whack. I truly dislike Hawthorn as a football club, but boy, I admire and respect how they go about it, ditto Geelong.
What does the neutral think of Fremantle? The answer, sadly, is not much.
These next few weeks are absolutely key, and I believe the next six weeks will decide Longmuir’s fate – Adelaide at home, St Kilda away, Collingwood at home, GWS away, Port Adelaide at home and Gold Coast away.
All six of these games are either 50/50 or games where Freo will start as underdogs. In my view, if Longmuir cannot win four of them and turn for home at the halfway stage of the season at 7-5, then frankly, he doesn’t deserve to keep his job beyond this point.
There are two Premiership coaches available and on the market – John Longmire and Adam Simpson, and honestly, the club would be derelict in their duty if they do not sound both of them out at the very minimum. Otherwise, there are several senior assistant coaches across the league also deserving of an opportunity.
It’s time for Freo to put aside the talk and get results, or, quite frankly, they’ll need to go back to the future by once again making a ruthless call regarding a coach that seems like a good bloke, but just simply isn’t a winner.
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