The Dockers entered Friday night's blockbuster with Brisbane as favourites, having won 11 of their past 12 games, including four wins over sides inside the top eight.
However, it didn't take long for the Lions to establish themselves as the dominant force in the match, dismantling Fremantle's defence completely with dominance in possession, running rings around their structure by constantly finding the open man.
The Lions would end up outmarking Fremantle by 98, 159-61, the second largest disparity between two sides in the statistic in AFL history, while also winning the uncontested possession count by 90, 261-171.
So, how did the Dockers allow themselves to be embarrassed in such a pivotal game in their season? Senior coach Justin Longmuir believes he has the answers.
"I was disappointed with the way we jumped into the game. We didn't defend our front half well, let them take too many uncontested marks," Longmuir said post-game.
"Having said that, we had three more scoring shots to half-time... but we had the same issues after half-time. Our clearance let us down, first possession let us down, particularly in the third quarter. It forced us to play the game from our back half.
"We got behind on the scoreboard and everything became fast play. We kept on missing opportunity after opportunity and I suppose the pressure of the game, in terms of being behind on the scoreboard, meant we had to chase and we didn't chase well.
"I said to the players it's probably the first time I've seen us fall behind and lack composure in those plays."
The lack of composure Longmuir describes was epitomised during the third quarter, where key forward Josh Treacy elected to play on after taking a mark in the goal square, despite being surrounded by several Lions defenders. He ultimately failed to connect his boot with the Sherrin and Brisbane conceded a rushed behind.
However, Longmuir wasn't willing to justify the skill errors as being caused by the pre-game emotions sparked from Nat Fyfe's retirement announcement during the week.
"It felt like it was the first time we've been in that position for a while, where we've probably felt the pressure of the game and lacked a little bit of composure to finish our work off," Longmuir said.
"It's hard to quantify [pressure of the game]. We were playing a really good team who were bouncing back and we just kept on missing opportunities to make the most of our play and they made the most of their play.
"I don't know whether it's occasion or the emotion of the week. I deal in facts and the facts were we just didn't chase the game as well as we should have, the way we have shown.
"We put ourselves in that situation where we had to chase the game, but bad kicking becomes contagious. The shots that we missed weren't all difficult.
"We were never able to make the most of opportunities. Whether that was the occasion or not, I'm not going to guess on that."
Longmuir refuted doubts about Fremantle's flag credentials following the loss, remaining confident that his side can turn things around in time for what is essentially an elimination final against the Bulldogs in Round 24.
"We've won 11 of 13. I know everyone will be doom and gloom and write us off again after tonight, but I've got a lot of faith in this team," Longmuir said.
"We've grown a lot. We've already won three more games than last year.
"Everyone wants to talk about the last four games of last year. We had some injuries through that period to really key players. People forget about that as well.
"But we'll review this game, get better, and take our best over to Melbourne and play the Dogs.
"I haven't said farewell to 'Fyfey' yet. We've got plenty of footy left in us."
