HAYDEN Young's left boot has changed angles and changed games over seven years in the AFL, and now it has changed the course of Fremantle history after a famous goal on three-quarter time that turned Friday night's thrilling preliminary final. 

Trailing by 27 points and with more September heartbreak looming, it is not a stretch to say that the game rested on Young's boot if the Dockers were going to make a desperate charge in the fourth quarter.

And like the 25-year-old has done so many times in a brilliant career that has been punctuated by injuries and defined by resilience, the ball hit sweetly at the juncture of the 50m line and the boundary, sailing through and giving the Dockers the belief they needed to mount a stunning comeback. 

"Off the boot I knew immediately that it was going through the middle, which is such a nice feeling, so I turned to the fans who were giving me a bit of lip and let them know I was pretty happy," Young told AFL.com.au from a jubilant Fremantle rooms on Friday night. 

Young was unaware at the time of the score and didn't think about the ramifications of his kick as he was lining up, but it is one that Fremantle fans will long remember after watching their team ride a wave of momentum into the final term and boot five more unanswered goals to qualify for the second Grand Final in the club's history. 

If Young's kick was the moment that kept that dream alive, then his eight-disposal final quarter made the dream a reality, lifting alongside Shai Bolton, Pat Voss, Andrew Brayshaw, Luke Jackson, Caleb Serong and Michael Frederick to attack the Swans with an assertive 30-minute assault. 

It was a moment and a quarter for the 25-year-old to savour after years of setbacks, including soft tissue injuries, illness and concussion that would have left any player doubting whether they would make it to the Grand Final stage. 

SWANS V DOCKERS Full match details and stats

"I felt a lot of gratitude coming into the ground this morning, and regardless of the result today, I was just proud of myself," Young said, reflecting on the challenges he has faced since being drafted with pick No.7 in the 2019 National Draft. 

"I spoke to 'Moose' [captain Alex Pearce] earlier in the season just when I was going through concussion and illness, and I was pretty frustrated. 

"He has been through a lot himself, and he just said it's just going to mean so much more when we get to that last game in September. 

"Now I understand what he was talking about because, yeah it does. All those hard moments make it a little bit sweeter now.

"We've still got one more to go, but it is nice to enjoy this moment. I'm just really grateful, and I'm proud."

Proud is exactly how Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir was left feeling on Friday night when asked about his star midfielder, whose injury issues have taken careful management this season and resulted in the No.26 playing reduced game time for weeks. 

He would not have wanted the ball in anyone else's hands after the three-quarter siren had sounded, he said, and the gun playmaker was starting to peak at the right time after playing 68 per cent game time. 

"Some people come into the AFL system and they play from the very start and then don't seem to have an injury. They get a great run at it and great continuity," Longmuir said. 

"He's been the opposite, really. He had a serious injury in his first year and it just feels like the last couple of years, whenever he's got a decent run at it, something interrupts him. 

"But I've been so proud of his attitude to be able to feel the disappointment of those injuries, but then just get back to rehabbing it and getting stronger and better.

"Coming back and performing the way he has, I thought he took a really big step forward last week … and to get his moment on three-quarter time and finish it gave us a lift."

The Dockers have managed Young all season for nights like Friday night, knowing that he is a special player who can turn matches and take moments, either as a midfielder or a forward target. 

He was one of several heroes in a Friday night preliminary final that looked every chance of being a horror show for Freo when Sydney produced a stunning first half of high-pressure football. 

The Dockers were not handling the big moments, appeared spooked by the Swans' ferocity, and were unable to get their own game going as a result, blazing away with the ball and doubting themselves in aerial contests.    

The team had come from behind at the main break seven times this season, however, and repeatedly knocked teams over with 15-minute bursts of devastating football. 

Whether they could do it again was the question, and whether Sydney would allow them to with so much on the line, and clearly with their own emotional drive. 

Late in the third quarter, it looked like the Swans would have their way. That, Fremantle's season, and the course of the club's history, all changed with Hayden Young's left boot.