Fremantle see off Tigers to settle in AFL top eight

Coach Justin Longmuir believes Fremantle have taken the lessons they needed away from their horror 2023 season as the Dockers sit firmly within the AFL finals race. Longmuir hailed the "mature" and "professional" performance after the Dockers shook off a decimated Richmond to cruise to a 15.13 (103) to 6.13 (49) win at the MCG, their second victory on the bounce. Fremantle sit sixth after eight rounds, ahead of hosting ladder-leaders Sydney on Friday, while Richmond are 16th before facing the Western Bulldogs on Saturday. The Dockers look in far better shape than last year, when they finished 14th despite high expectations. "Sometimes you have to take a few of those bumps and bruises along the way to be able to learn some lessons and I feel like this year we've become a much more consistent team," Longmuir said. "Probably one game (the derby) you could say that we we let ourselves down. "But outside of that we've been really consistent with the performance, really consistent with our method and a lot of those lessons were learned last year when we didn't quite get it right. "So yeah it's pleasing. There's still a long way to go and still some tough challenges ahead." Dockers forward Josh Treacy kicked a career-high four goals and took a wonderful hanger. Caleb Serong (38 disposals) and the "pivotal" Hayden Young (30 touches and two goals) were typically prolific, while Luke Ryan (39 disposals, 15 marks) was busy off half-back. Sean Darcy (calf tightness) was substituted out for Nat Fyfe, who was being managed with a five-day turnaround ahead, but Longmuir expected Darcy to be fine. Gun defender Nick Vlastuin (22 disposals, eight marks) tried hard all day for the Tigers and Jayden Short (28 disposals) was busy on return from a calf injury while Dustin Martin had a red-hot start but faded. The injury-hit Tigers snagged just one major across the first two quarters and were battered around the ball. Richmond trailed by 13 points at the first change, then 31 at half-time after a costly 50-metre penalty. Hugo Ralphsmith kicked the first of three goals on the bounce early in the third term. But Fremantle steadied to hold a four-goal lead at the final change, then added some handy percentage with seven last-quarter goals. "We thought our method and our system was all out of whack in the first half and it just wasn't the way that we wanted to be playing the game," Tigers coach Adem Yze said. "But (also) we expected a fair bit more from our players "And our leaders spoke about that at halftime and their response was terrific. "The third quarter looked like a Richmond game, irrelevant of how many guys we've got out, our young players stood up and we got repeat entries and we had opportunities." Yze admitted Richmond's structure early had limited Shai Bolton's impact, but praised his work to get into the game. He expects key forward Noah Balta (knee) to be available against the Bulldogs, while midfield duo Dion Prestia and Jack Graham could also return from hamstring injuries.