Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has lamented his club's inability to curb the influence of opposition key forwards as Fremantle's three-pronged attack combined for nine goals.
Patrick Voss, Jye Amiss and Josh Treacy all slotted three goals as the Dockers claimed victory in the do-or-die clash with a finals spot at stake.
The Bulldogs have flipped the script on last year's strong defensive showing to become the competition's best scorers, but on Sunday, they were unable to match the visitors.
"I think quite simply it's being able to sustain the contest, part of that is we haven't got a great pressure rating," Beveridge said in his post-match address.
"We've become a prolific scoring team, even though they scored quite heavily today, and because of that, we haven't been able to stifle the scoring ability of the opposition.
"Definitely at times the opposition key forwards have got a hold of us, it is an area we need to continue to focus on to improve.
"Work with our current players who play there, or perhaps whether or not there's an opportunity in the market there.
"I think quite simply our contest sustainability and that's inside and outside the stoppage, it's been the one thing against more physically robust teams we've fallen short for a period of the games and it's cost us."
The Whitten Oval club has been linked with Carlton's Jack Silvagni.
The Bulldogs slumped to a disappointing 2-8 record against top-nine teams, and now rely upon Essendon defeating Gold Coast to reclaim a finals position, which, as Beveridge put it, is a "slim" chance.
"There's a lot of disappointment in all of that," Beveridge said.
"Everyone's as flat as a s**t-carter's (hat), there's no doubt about that."
"Essendon beating Gold Coast is as long a shot as there is, so we anticipate that our season's probably done. We'll carry on like that slim chance is there.
"We'll turn up Tuesday and have a flush run and process some things, and then we'll obviously be attentive to what happens Wednesday."
"We've just got to now support the rest of the boys who have got a Footscray (VFL) finals series ahead of us."
Veteran midfielder Adam Treloar remains eligible for VFL selection and is expected to face Frankston.
Treloar has suffered a nightmare season full of injuries, but has returned in recent weeks through the reserves in a bid for an AFL recall.
The former Giant and Pie has featured four times at senior level, flagging multiple calf setbacks, but remains in the hunt to continue playing football in 2025.
Beveridge hopes Treloar can consistently show he deserves selection in the reserves, demonstrating his body can handle the demands of top-flight football.
"Adam at his best is one of the first handful picked. The assessment at the end of the year will be around is he physically capable to go on or whether the same challenges will remain next year. We'll work through that with him," Beveridge said.
"If you were guaranteed that he could play 15 games of AFL footy, he would definitely go on, but not sure whether we get that guarantee, so it's going to be something we all have to process."
