Keeping hold of form and momentum on the footy field is often like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Just ask Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir.
Few, if any, would question that Fremantle has been the best and most complete football team across the 2026 AFL season.
The Dockers' excellence has spanned weeks, months, time zones and weather seasons.
In the middle of the year, the question was more of when they were going to lose rather than if anyone would challenge them for the minor premiership.
But just as winter turns to spring the fortunes of all football teams change.
Now instead of wondering about the pack chasing them, the Dockers are now frantically searching for how they can regain that torrid early season form.
The development of how we play football in Australia — in all codes — often means that the best team of the year doesn't win the title.
Instead, it is often taken out by the team in the best form or with the best fitness when the finals comes around.
Once upon a time, it was almost a foregone conclusion that a side in Fremantle's current position would rally to redemption in week two of the finals.
In the first decade of this century, more qualifying final losers went on to win a premiership than to suffer the indignity of a straight-sets exit.
But as the Dockers would remember better than many sides, things have changed since then.
Fremantle, along with Geelong, broke new ground in 2014 when both experienced back-to-back finals losses.
With rising performance standards and more equalisation measures in the league, footy is more competitive than ever, and straight-sets exits have been the single most common fate for top-four losers since those breakthrough losses.
Half of the two dozen semifinals since 2014 have been won by the nominal underdog.
With time rapidly running out on season 2026, Fremantle is looking for that ephemeral sense of what kept them ahead of the pack before their season is over.
Standing in Freo's way this week is the side with the current longest winning streak — and a side who knows how to measure efforts for September — Geelong.
Winning the whole thing
Usually when a team starts to dip there is a reason. It is very rare for the rest of the league to raise their level to that of the competition heavyweights.
The league leaders are always the most studied, and the most scrutinised.
Over the course of the season threads are pulled at potential weaknesses until they are unravelled by the best of the rest.
When looking Fremantle's dip the biggest story is what is happening at the contest — or more importantly what isn't happening.
Fremantle's midfield and front half group is blessed with attacking talent, able to turn a half-chance into a broken line or shot at goal.
They are sometimes less able to control the ball when it hits the deck, especially when there are even numbers at the contest.
Against disciplined midfields, the Dockers have struggled to find the supply they need to churn the scoreboard over.
While they are still outsourcing teams at stoppage, the Dockers are beginning to be outscored when the ball hits the deck in general play.
Opposition sides have become increasingly accustomed to not overcommitting to competing in the air to counter the Dockers plethora of tall contested marking options, and instead focusing the ball on the inevitable battle when it hits the deck.
When GWS downed Fremantle in round 17, the Giants were able to win the post-clearance ground ball battle 65 to 49.
Despite losing ground in the air, the Giants were more than able to make it up on the ground.
It is a template other sides have been able to follow, cruelling the ability for the Dockers to score from broken play.
Last week, Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was very clear on their focus around keeping extra numbers at the contest.
"Our forwards' work rate was a real highlight. We didn't always use the ball at our best, but the way they created outnumber after outnumber was huge," Mitchell said after the win over Fremantle.
While the Dockers broke even at post clearance contests in the game, the Hawks scored an extra 27 points from intercepts.
This was the big difference in the contest, and the key reason that the Dockers are playing again this week.
"I just thought [the] contest was pretty even, but I thought their contest method was a lot better than ours. I thought they were probably a little bit more decisive to get it to the outside [and] buffer pressure," Longmuir said after the match.
Part of the deal that Mitchell made with the outnumber was to leave their defence more isolated against the dominant Dockers key forward set up.
But that was a calculated gamble due to the match-ups that presented themselves.
"I think having a bit of extra time to watch them. Credit to Kade Simpson, the backline coach, he did a great job preparing the boys. Whether it was, you know, Barrass, Battle, Sicily, Weddle, we sort of had good match-ups [on Fremantle's forwards]," Mitchell said.
The Dockers were only able to get two goals from their tall forward triumvirate of Josh Treacy, Patrick Voss and Jye Amiss — the first time since round 6 that they were kept to less than three as a group.
Although the Dockers managed nine marks inside 50, the set shots they managed were from unfavourable situations and none are renowned sharpshooters from those positions.
But despite the downward turn in form, there is definitely still a clear path to the club's maiden AFL premiership cup.
The path back
The silver lining for Fremantle is last week's loss wasn't a season-ender.
Instead, Longmuir has a fair amount of hope for their chances to come.
"There's still a path there. So everything we've been working on across the course of the year, we've got to lean into that now," Longmuir surmised in the wake of the loss to Hawthorn.
"[I] understand that the outside noise might turn a little bit from positivity to negativity. I understand that aspect of it, but as a group, we've got to lean into each other and try [to] find our best footy before next week," he said.
But the road to glory has become significantly harder than it looked a week ago.
Instead of a week off to recoup before a home preliminary final, the Dockers instead face one of the most feared sights in footy; Geelong when it matters most.
After floating through the season in fits and spurts, Geelong found its feet as September drew closer.
Geelong rode a six-match winning streak coming into the finals, albeit against some softer opposition.
Last week's win over Carlton was dominant but still left the indication that there is room to grow.
The Cats are also one of the few sides who know what it is like to beat the Dockers this year, splitting their two home and away clashes with the minor premiers.
In both games, control over the ball was perhaps the most critical element.
In round 1 the Cats claimed 50 more marks than the Dockers on their way to a 10-point win, while in round 15, the Dockers gained a 22-mark edge over the Cats in their nine-point win.
Limiting the Dockers ability to control the ball via the kick-mark game — and instead forcing the ball to deck — is one of the ways that teams can blunt their attacking influence.
Notably, Fremantle has suffered three losses in four of its matches where it has registered its lowest marking totals of the season.
The messier the game is, the harder it often is for the Dockers to dominate.
However, the Cats present a vastly easier challenge to the Dockers inside defensive 50 than Hawthorn did last week.
Geelong's defence has not been as strong as it has been in previous years and most key defensive indicators have deteriorated in the last part of the year.
Geelong has conceded marks and shots inside 50 at a bottom-four rate in the last ten matches, and during that time, the Dockers probably should have beaten them by more in their return match.
There's a quiet — if not cautious — confidence that the Dockers will be able to break the trend of straight sets exits if they can get the game back on their terms.
"I think you [have] to lean into physicality from the start. Contest is really key and then [we need to] try and lock it in our front half," Fremantle co-captain Andy Brayshaw told the media during the week.
If the Dockers can return to their brand of football, their hopes of their maiden premiership may still be alive in 2026.
