Fremantle Dockers cop AFL qualifying final thrashing from Hawthorn in utter disaster

Flagmantle dreams are in tatters, the anxiety of passionate fans will be at an all-time high and players will spend the next week living with extreme doubt after they were blown away by Hawthorn to lose the qualifying final by 32 points at Optus Stadium.

A season of joy and a September of hope quickly turned into a finals nightmare as Fremantle lost 10.12 (72) to 5.10 (40).

The Dockers have set a lot of club records this season. They can now add their lowest ever score in a final and their worst first half in a final too. They kicked just 1.4 (10) during the first half.

We all knew the finals questions that hung over the Dockers and they were all answered in the worst possible way.

One of those was could Fremantle handle the occasion because this is a team that has won only one final under Justin Longmuir’s coaching.

The answer was hell no. The Dockers totally fell apart under the heat of finals.

Starts have been a problem in finals under Longmuir’s coaching. Could they fix that? Nope. They kicked 1.2 in the first term against Gold Coast last year and 0.1 against both the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood during the 2022 finals series.

But the Dockers eventually hit the scoreboard in those games. They had 1.3 at quarter-time and didn’t look like kicking a goal in the second term.

Hawthorn applied relentless pressure and Fremantle couldn’t handle it. When the Dockers managed to find space, they failed to hit targets. Fremantle constantly bombed the ball, their forwards couldn’t get near it, and the crumbers were non-existent.

Other questions included could they stop Hawthorn’s small forwards? That part of the ground has been a problem in recent weeks and Brandon Walker was selected for just the second time this season so he could play on Nick Watson.

Walker started nervously. He turned over his first kick, got caught in tackles and would have watched in horror when Watson soccered a ball through for a goal from nowhere.

Walker worked his way into the game and had some nice moments but was always under pressure defensively. And when he injured his ankle during the third quarter, his night was over.

Watson kicked two goals and had a game-high nine score involvements. Dylan Moore kicked two goals. Jack Ginnivan had one.

Another big question was whether Fremantle could halt momentum? The Dockers have conceded five goals in one quarter during 12 games. It was a seven-goal second term from Gold Coast that cost the Dockers victory in last year’s elimination final.