Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir concedes his side has some "soul-searching" to do after coughing up the biggest score of his five years at the helm in a thumping from the Western Bulldogs.
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Coming back off their mid-season bye, the Dockers showed little fight and were out-muscled by a far hungrier Bulldogs outfit in their 23.11 (149) to 12.10 (82) defeat at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
The limp display was a huge let-down 13 days after their best performance of the season, when they smashed Melbourne by 92 points.
It left Fremantle with a 7-5-1 record in seventh place, ahead of a home clash with Gold Coast on June 23.
"I can't really explain it at the moment," Longmuir told reporters post-match.
"Going into the bye with a big win and everyone pumping your tyres up ... I said to the players after the game it just looked like a team who was desperate to keep their season alive and a team who was comfortable.
"We've got some soul-searching to do after that, yeah, but (you can) bounce back quickly in this league.
"It's a good reminder that the opposition you're coming up against is not going to give you any favours for having a good win."
Fremantle gave the Bulldogs too much time and space around the contest, putting their defence under all sorts of pressure as the home side won the inside-50 count 60-46.
And despite chasing the Dogs' tails for most of the afternoon, the Dockers still lost the tackle count 62-49.
"It was really disappointing. We had 11 guys at halftime without a tackle," Longmuir said.
"Through that period where they kicked 12 of 13 goals, our pressure (rating) was 1.6 or something along those lines, and that hasn't been us.
"We need to dig a bit deeper as to why."
Key forward Josh Treacy was uncharacteristically wayward in front of goal for Fremantle - finishing with 2.3 - and summed up the visitors' day in a bizarre moment during the second term.
Treacy stumbled on his run-in for a set shot and was lucky to score a behind from 20 metres out.
"It's a mulligan, I think," Longmuir said.
'He kicked a nice goal in the last (quarter) and missed a couple, but it's not a theme.
"He's been kicking well for goal so we'll just let those ones go."
Hayden Young had a right knee issue assessed but avoided injury, Longmuir said, while Michael Walters faces a stint on the sidelines after being substituted out with a right hamstring injury.
"It looks like he's done his hammy but the severity of it I'm not sure," Longmuir said.
Heath Chapman, who has battled soft-tissue injuries in the past, was a late withdrawal because of hamstring tightness.
Australian Associated Press
