Dockers’ déjà vu in “disappointing” loss

FREMANTLE coach Lisa Webb was once more left ruing some key missed opportunities after her side’s spirited loss to Hawthorn down in Frankston. It marked back-to-back defeats during the Dockers’ 10-game homestay in Victoria, with the mentor drawing comparisons between last week’s defeat to Carlton, and the 5.3 (33) to 2.6 (18) result last night.
“I thought we put ourselves in a good opportunity, very similar to last week,” Webb said. “In the last quarter with the breeze, we couldn’t get it done. “Extremely disappointing, I think we finished with plus-six inside 50s but we just weren’t effective. “I thought at times our skill level just let us down, but in full credit obviously to Hawthorn. “They’re a very good team and we knew we’d have to make sure we executed, and we just didn’t.”
Webb remained positive post-match with the players, pleased with the Dockers’ non-negotiables of pressure and energy, but just unable to capitalised when it was Fremantle’s turn to apply scoreboard pressure, or restrict the Hawks.
“I was really proud of a lot of efforts,” Webb said. “I thought our work rate and intent was really strong, and that’s something i’m really proud of with this group. “I can’t fault them on that, I think the thing we need to keep working on is our skill execution.
“There’s just areas of the game where we need to keep improving. There were some key stats there that probably we could have turned the other way and let ourselves down in some fundamentals. “But that’s something we can control and we’ll keep getting better.”
The dominant breeze played a massive factor in the game, but Webb was frustrated by only being able to kick one goal with the wind, while the Haws booted four compared to each side’s one major into it.
“We let a couple through, whether that was over the back, and it was a focus for us with how we work into the breeze and with the breeze,” Webb said. “Most of the time we did pretty well with that, but as you know, key moments matter and it’s hard when they kick a couple of goals, it was hard for us to find one back ourselves.”
Fremantle now sit at 3-5 for the season and the Dockers’ finals hopes are on a knifes edge, particularly with the worse percentage of the three-win teams. When asked about the back-to-back losses after regaining form prior, Webb said it was “incredibly disappointing”.
“But we’re still obviously got games ahead of us and we can focus on next week,” she added. “We need a bit of a break so now we’ve got 10 days until our next game so we’ll reset, and we’ll start reviewing this game. “The girls are really good at turning some of the negatives into positives after this game and get back to where we want to be with Melbourne.”
The Dockers head home to tackle the top four Demons at Fremantle Oval next Sunday as part of the first week of Pride Round.