Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir will instruct his players to move on from controversial calls, with Saturday's loss to Carlton coming after a dissent free-kick was paid against the Dockers late into the game.
A kick from George Hewett looked to be touched on the replay, with the ball - which was marked by Matt Cottrell and converted to a goal to put the Blues ahead - appearing to touch James Aish's head after leaving Hewett's boot.
With a mark paid to Cottrell, Fremantle players expressed their frustrations to the officiating umpire, with a dissent free kick paid against Dockers defender Jordan Clark - leading to another point-blank shot on goal for Carlton that would seal the game.
Speaking after the disappointing defeat, Longmuir said his playing group must learn to move on from potentially wrong umpiring decisions in the future.
"I think it was against 'Clarky'. I'll have to dig a little deeper," Longmuir said the the late-game incident.
"You've just got to get on with it. Even if [the players] weren't happy with the call before, there's not much you can do.
Another angle of the last minute free kick that cost the Dockers a second goal in the final minute.
๐บ Watch #AFLFreoBlues on ch. 504 or stream on Kayo: https://t.co/c5VwhmeFbG
โ๏ธ RECAP https://t.co/gHYlCf5iGG pic.twitter.com/e6SaI1q44c— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) April 6, 2024
"The players clearly thought they touched the footy. That's a really hard call for the umpire to make without going to the replay, and you don't want to do that for every decision.
"We just need to move on, because the umpires are never going to backtrack. So we just need to move on and control what we can control in those moments."
The Dockers were dominant for large portions of the game, getting the upper hand over Carlton at the coalface to further prove their prospects for the year ahead despite the loss.
With the result not going Fremantle's way, Longmuir was left with mixed emotions as his side fell to a 3-1 record.
"It's always gonna feel like that was one that we let slip," the Dockers coach said.
"That last three minutes we didn't quite execute it the way we wanted to execute. So it's disappointing.
"The message to the players after the game is that in key moments we didn't quite execute as well as we could have. But in the bigger picture and overall scheme of it, we played a good game of footy and we shouldn't lose any belief in what we're doing and the way we're playing.
"There's a million different things we can look at. We got a lot right, we got a few things wrong late. We pushed a really good side to the end."
Fremantle woes are likely to be compounded as forward pair Sam Switkoswki (calf) and Michael Frederick (hamstring) both suffered injuries in the second half of the loss.
The pair of ailments place the duo in doubt for next week's meeting with Port Adelaide, while the Dockers could regain ruckman Sean Darcy for the affair.
Darcy will need to get through main training over the next week to be cleared to face the Power after a knee issue from the pre-season.
"We've still got to get him through main training, that's probably the biggest hurdle he needs to tick off,"
"If he gets through that we'll look at bringing him in."
The Dockers return to Adelaide Oval next Saturday for their clash with Port Adelaide.
