FREMANTLE coach Justin Longmuir has implored his team to "start believing" after back-to-back wins against premiership contenders, declaring the Dockers' football stacks up after a 14-point win against Brisbane on Sunday.
The Dockers have jumped to third favourite in the premiership race and will now almost certainly welcome back superstar Nat Fyfe against Hawthorn after the captain pulled up well from his WAFL return.
DOCKERS v LIONS Full match coverage and stats
The dual Brownlow medallist will step into a young midfield that played a crucial role in a finals-like clash at Optus Stadium, holding its own against the big-bodied Lions and striking at the right times.
Coming eight days after a stirring win against reigning premier Melbourne at the MCG, Longmuir said the impressive win should fuel his players' confidence in what they are doing in 2022.
"They should start believing. They should start understanding that we’ve made some really strong progressions with our footy," Longmuir said on Sunday night.
"Our footy stacks up. They’ve got some good evidence of that, but to be able to beat the two top teams, they should really believe that our footy is good enough.
"The fact they’re getting to work every day and putting in the reps at training and in the meeting rooms, they should believe in the process."
The Dockers were led by young midfielders Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong, and recruit Will Brodie, with the trio combining for 25 clearances and 45 contested possessions.
The team won the clearances by 19 after quarter time and set-up several scoring chains from Brodie's expert centre bounce work.
"We’ve come up against the two best contested teams in the last two weeks and we’ve stood up in that part of the game in particular," Longmuir said.
"We’ve put a lot of work into that over the pre-season and over the early parts of the season to become a really consistent contested-ball side.
"If you remember back to Brisbane here against us last year, they dominated us in that part of the game. I thought we really stood up to them today."
As well as Fyfe, the Dockers must now find a way to squeeze returning players Michael Walters (hamstring tightness), Sam Switkowski (suspension) and Matt Taberner (back) into the team against Hawthorn.
Brisbane will welcome back key forward Joe Daniher from a shoulder injury against St Kilda at the Gabba, with tall defender Darcy Gardiner to undergo scans after a heavy knock to the ribs in the second quarter.
Captain Dayne Zorko had stitches in his left hand in the second quarter but was not a concern.
Coach Chris Fagan said the Lions had not made enough of their opportunities on Sunday and had allowed the Dockers to score too heavily from stoppages in the third quarter.
"They kicked 4.3 from centre bounce to our one goal. There's the game," the coach said.
"In general play it was a tight tussle played by two good sides and Fremantle has improved heaps this year, there is no doubt about that.
"It was high stakes. We could be sitting on top of the ladder now and we're not. It was second playing third and Fremantle has now lodged itself in the top four.
"Bottom line is, we're 9-3 and had some good wins on the road and some narrow losses."
