SHAUN McManus asked for a big effort from his Fremantle teammates in his farewell match, and they didn’t let him down.

McManus, the last of the squad with which Fremantle entered the AFL in 1995, said his 228th and last match could not have been better scripted.

"It was a fairytale. Earlier in the week I asked the boys for a special effort for me today and they came through, they really did," McManus said.

"In the morning I had a lot of butterflies, but I knew once I was able to take the field I would be off and running so that was no problem at all. I just hoped that the playing group would be focused and I didn’t want them going over the top. They were cool, calm and collected and in the first quarter Pav (Matthew Pavlich) and Luke McPharlin unloaded and made my day a lot easier."

McManus took an emotional lap of the honour after the game, running the Subiaco Oval boundary surrounded by his family and teammates.

"It meant the world to me," he said.

"The supporters came out in droves today, have always been behind me through thick and thin and I really appreciate them staying until the end. It was just a great moment."

While his last game was one to remember, McManus's last couple of years have been disappointing at Fremantle, since the highs of the 2006 preliminary final. McManus can't put his finger on what has gone wrong since, but is confident Fremantle can be back in contention sooner rather than later.

"It's a lot harder to analyse when you're in the playing group, so I'll have to answer that down the track when I have a look at it all," he said.

"I was hopeful that we would play off in a grand final this year but it wasn’t the case. We are going to build something over the next few years and hopefully Fremantle has its day.

"(The future) can be bright as long as we stay on track. We've been working hard at training and lately our ball movement has been pretty good. So has our pressure and hence we've won three in a row.

"There's a long way to go obviously, but we are moving in a direction that can sustain us for a while."

As for McManus's own future, he will begin by helping out Fremantle's coaching staff in the last four games of the season.

"I have all my family and friends that came along today and I'll look to celebrate this with them and the playing group," he said.

"I'd like to stay involved and finish totally at the club in four weeks' time when we play Collingwood. I will have a few conversations with Harvs (Mark Harvey) about how he sees things from a coaching perspective and a lot of the other coaches."