TAKING the easy path to a Grand Final is not the Fremantle way, with coach Justin Longmuir confident that playing every week through September and travelling in back-to-back weeks can suit his team after a famous preliminary final win against Sydney on Friday night.
The Dockers have rebounded from a horror qualifying final loss to reach the second Grand Final in club history, defying a relentless Sydney team and hostile SCG crowd to progress with the club's first ever preliminary final win on the road.
SWANS V DOCKERS Full match details and stats
The path to a premiership is a challenging one, with the Dockers flying home to Perth on Saturday and then back to Melbourne next week, but Longmuir said the team had already proved it can overcome those hurdles this season.
"I think it (the long way) suited this group, and like I said to them after the Hawthorn game, there's no reason why we can't win three games in a row. We've won 14 games in a row this year, so that's not an issue," Longmuir said on Friday night.
"We've got back-to-back travel, but we've also faced back-to-back travel this year as well and won both of those games. So we'll draw on some of those experiences and give our best shot next week.
"We've got an eight-day break, which is a great thing, and we'll grab the players tomorrow before we get on the plane and talk about the week.
"Everything is well planned behind the scenes. The thing with being an interstate team, you have to have a lot of stuff planned really early in the campaign … so a lot of the work has been done behind the scenes already.
"Tonight was such an epic performance to come from behind on the road, backs to the wall. We've got to enjoy that and we will enjoy that for the next couple of days.
"We haven't done it the easy way, which is probably a little bit our way and a bit of what they (the fans) sign up for. But we've given ourselves a shot, so they should be proud of the team."
Longmuir paid tribute to star midfielder Hayden Young, whose brilliant set shot goal from the boundary after the three-quarter time siren gave the Dockers the "energy" they needed to come from behind in the final term.
The coach said fellow midfielders Andrew Brayshaw (29 disposals and five clearances), Caleb Serong (28 and 10) and Shai Bolton (20 and two goals) had also lifted in a fourth quarter defined by toughness and aggression.
"They were tough all night, but gee they were tough in the last quarter. They body-lined the ball, got it going our way, and then just had a bit of class that could make the most of some opportunities," Longmuir said.
"Bolts was one of them, but I thought Caleb and Andy got to work as well in the last quarter in the middle of the ground. We talked about Hayden's mark, but I thought his toughness was really good all night.
"You've got to risk it to win it, and we needed to get something going our way [in the final quarter].
"We felt like we needed to get some better-quality entries, and backs to the wall, some of our best players got to work and really ignited us."
Longmuir paid credit to the Swans for the committed, high-pressure football they produced and the way the club rallied under Dean Cox after the suspension of five key players.
The home team was 27 points clear when Young was lining up for his shot at the end of the third quarter, but for the second time this season the Dockers were able to run the Swans down, having also trailed in round 18 at Optus Stadium.
"We spoke all week about needing to play 120 minutes and we drew on a little bit of the performance of round 18 when we were behind and hadn't kicked a goal at half-time," Longmuir said.
"We were still behind at three-quarter time and we were able to come over the top of Sydney, and those things hold you in good stead because you've had those experiences.
"You probably don't panic and rush like you do if you don't have those experiences through the year.
"When the game was on the line, we were able to be really mature and composed with ball in hand and trust ourselves to make the right decisions."