Fremantle will be without utility Corey Wagner for the start of its 2025 finals campaign.
Coach Justin Longmuir indicated that the pectoral injury which resulted in him being substituted out of Fremantle's finals-sealing victory will likely result in a stint on the sidelines.
“At this stage it looks like he might have giving a little tear to his pec, so not ideal,” Longmuir said post-game.
“The severity we will work through and see when he is available.
“I'm not a 'medico', but it might cost him a few weeks.
“He is disappointed, like all players are. He is such a great team man.
“He didn't show it after the game and let it take any shine off the performance.
“That's disappointing for him.”
The Dockers withheld a late rally from Western Bulldogs, which got to within 15 points with minutes to play, having trailed by as much as 44 points early in the quarter.
Against an opposition renowned for its tall forwards, it was Fremantle's marking forwards who fired, with all of Jye Amiss, Pat Voss and Josh Treacy all kicking three in a balanced front half performance.
It is the first time Fremantle will play finals since 2022 and just second time in the past 10 years, after positioning itself for a top four tilt last season before three losses to finish the season resulted in them tumbling down the table.
“I'm really proud of the group,” Longmuir said.
“From the start of the week, I felt like we reset.
“After the Brisbane game, we didn't catastrophise it, we looked into it, it wasn't us, we got back on the horse pretty quick, straightened up, with some pretty simple focuses and I felt like there was that sort of performance coming all week with the attitudes of the players.
“One of our strengths against the better sides this year is our ability to withhold and stand up when the opposition's got momentum and we were able to do that in the first quarter.
“We were able to make something of omitted opportunities which kept the scoreboard in check then when we adjusted a few things and got the game on our terms, we played some really strong footy.”
After a lax start, Fremantle kicked seven goals to zero in the second quarter to flip the momentum, and mostly controlled the game thereafter.
“I thought there wasn't much we didn't get right in terms of the phases of the game (in the second quarter),” Longmuir said.
“We were really strong in the contest, we were able to pressure the Dogs really well, when we didn't score going forward, we were able to defend in our front half really well and get re-entries so it was as close to as good as we've played.”
