AT THREE-quarter time, after his side had conceded six goals to one as a 36-point lead evaporated to just five, Ross Lyon was seen in the Fremantle dugout, alone, pondering match-ups.
Rather than preparing to deliver an almighty spray after Freo lost the clearances 23-6 in the second and third terms and had conceded 14 inside 50s to six for the quarter, Lyon wanted clarity.
"I was just getting organised, the balance of the team," Lyon said.
"The line coaches are very knowledgeable, they can get to their groups and help balance them up.
"So I just wanted to be succinct with a couple of key messages. Not complicated.
"So I took that time to gather myself."
Lyon said there was a pattern developing in his team's play that concerned him greatly, but he would not elaborate beyond that.
"There’s a bit of a pattern out of the Gold Coast (game in round six), so we got back to some of the things we were asking them to do and it turned around in the last quarter," he said.
"There’s a bit about some discipline in there.
"Adherence to what the team wants and not what the initiative at the time is."
After the last break, his side gathered itself. While Caolan Mooney's goal meant Fremantle trailed for the first time all night, the Dockers stormed home, kicking the last five goals to run away with their fifth win of the year.
Lyon refused to take credit for the victory, instead praising his players for their leadership and work-rate.
"I'm proud of the players - we've given them a program where they work really hard and they've got a system of play," he said.
"But they get it done. We're just spectators on game day.
"We help a little bit ... ?I'm really proud of the player group and the leadership.
"They want to stand for something and they are earning some respect."
Freo's system worked superbly in the opening half. Its pressure and ball movement saw the home team kick eight of the first nine goals to lead by 44 points 10 minutes into the second term.
But when Jon Griffin went down, Fremantle was dominated in the clearances and lost the momentum.
Lyon said he and his coaching staff were slow to react to that situation and move Zac Dawson into the ruck.
"I thought we left him too long in defence when we didn't need him and it unbalanced us," Lyon said.
"I thought it was significant, him going forward to balance up the backline.
"It gave us a target, it gave us a ruck, and it allowed Michael Johnson to play on (Quinten) Lynch or (Dane) Swan or whatever when he went forward.
"I thought we were really unbalanced. I was slow to react. More slow than I should have been and it was costly."
