Hinkley: What Longmuir must do to avoid straight sets Freo exit

Despite finishing the season atop the ladder, Fremantle have now lost three of their last four games and could potentially see a straight sets exit on Friday night.

They come up against Geelong and will have the home ground advantage at Optus Stadium – a venue where they've lost just once this season.

So, what does Dockers coach, Justin Longmuir, need to do to get his men revved up?

Speaking on SEN’s Whateley, former Port Adelaide and new Tassie Devils coach Ken Hinkley admitted he has confidence in the Freo players, and Longmuir must remind the playing group of their incredible home record, alongside trusting one another.

“He feels and looks a little bit similar to what I was like in 2023 - we'd had this great journey, and we messed up bad in the first qualifying final and never quite recovered,” started Hinkley.

“I hope for Justin's sake that he finds the way to recover. I have real confidence in their team, and I've never seen them play as poor as they played last week.

“He's just going to have to lean into, ‘We've only lost one game at home, we're very, very strong here… almost unbeatable here. Our talent is really, really healthy. Let's just trust ourselves, and let's back ourselves. I'm sure if we do that, we'll come away with a win’.

“I think he'll be leaning into all the positives, all the absolute positives, and he has every right to because their season was dominant.

“They finished on top with about a month to go, they couldn't lose top spot.

“He'll lean into his belief in his players, and he'll look for that to come back from them as well.”

But does the mental hurdle of several Freo stars not performing in the most important game of their season last week impact anything?

Hinkley explained the playing group has an opportunity to correct their rights against the Cats, and all their key players should be “up and about”.

“They're lucky; they get redemption quickly. That's what their opportunity is,” said Hinkley.

“If you finish a season (losing straight sets) like that, you go through the preseason, and you’ve got to carry it for such a long time.

“Well, the boys for Fremantle, I'm sure they'd be chomping at the bit to get going and have another go at it.

“Their better players will be up and about. I think their energy will be very, very high because they'll know that last week was a blown chance, and they'll make sure that they get a chance to rectify that.”

Hinkley later tipped Fremantle to defeat the Cats “because history tells (him) more often than not, the recovering side can recover”.

The Semi Final blockbuster will kick off at 8:10pm, and the sold out Optus Stadium crowd will be rocking for the Dockers.