Fremantle Defender Jordan Clark admits there is still a gap between Fremantle’s best and worst footy that needs to be closed after missing out on finals for a second year in a row.
The Dockers were poised to finish comfortably in the top eight until a disastrous month of results saw them tumble out of the eight and ending their season sooner than they had hoped.
Fremantle finished their 2024 campaign with 12 wins but the nature of the finals battle proved to be too cutthroat with Justin Longmuir’s men needing two outcomes to fall their way.
A clutch goal from St Kilda’s Jack Higgins to defeat Carlton kept Fremantle in finals contention but it wasn’t to be, with Port Adelaide proving to be too strong and knocking them out of the eight.
Clark, upon reflection, admits Fremantle didn’t capitalise on their opportunities when they should have, which resulted in the 20-point loss at Optus Stadium.
“We were dominating in that second quarter and we weren’t able to capitalise and kick goals and put a score on the board. That’s probably what let us down in the end,” he told SportFM.
“You see the way Port play and have played this year, we were able to really force them to play a little bit of a different sort of brand on the weekend and unfortunately we just didn’t take our chances and capitalise when we had our foot on the throat.
“They were able to get out, smother it and put it back on us. Credit to them because they are a quality side and that’s what quality sides do. They only give you a small opportunity and if you don’t take it, you get punished and unfortunately that’s what happened to us.”
Despite the finals disappointment, Fremantle made an impression across numerous fronts this season – particularly in stoppages.
Fremantle finished second in second in stoppage clearances and total clearances with young gun Caleb Serong leading the charge in Fremantle’s midfield. Teammates Hayden Young and Andrew Brayshaw weren’t too far behind him.
While strong in this area, Clark acknowledges other areas of their game overshadows their stoppage dominance.
“We briefly touched on it, but our dominance around stoppage this year was probably one of the best in the comp and then to be able to turn that into a score probably wasn’t where it needed to be,” he said.
“If we can do that, we can really put teams away, put a gap on teams, and that sort of thing. Then obviously our front half game. Our defense was at times very good and at times pretty disappointing.
“We’ve got a bit to work… our best is very good and a gap between our best and our lesser stuff is probably too big at the moment.”
Moving ahead into 2025, the Dockers will have a solid foundation to build upon and a better understanding of where it all went downhill in the back end of this season.
Plenty of young players stood up and showed positive signs like Hayden Young who impressed in his first season in the midfield, and Heath Chapman who finally got his body right and played consistent footy after recovering from an unlucky run of injuries.
Additionally, they’re well and truly due to get their wounded soldiers back, including captain Alex Pearce, ruck Sean Darcy and breakout key forward Josh Treacy.
Clark says the heartbreaking end to 2024 will be fueling them onwards in 2025.
“We obviously had 30,000 Dockers fans at the ground already watching that game (Carlton vs St Kilda) like a hawk and then you can hear the cheers and the carrying on, so you assumed that Carlton were behind,” he said.
“We obviously knew what we had to do, we knew we were alive and then, unfortunately, we just couldn’t get the job done and hold our end of the bargain up.
“Very disappointing, but at the end of the day, sometimes that is sport and a little bit of heartbreak. You’ve got to let it burn for a while and fuel you on to a future season.”
IMAGE: The West Australian