DAVID Mundy was only doing what he is paid to do when he kicked the pressure packed set shot goal that gave Fremantle the lead inside the final minute against Richmond, according to Dockers coach Ross Lyon.
The midfielder showed nerves of steel to kick straight after taking an uncontested mark 40 metres out with a minute left on the clock.
Immediate thoughts turned to Mundy's post-siren kick that went wide against Geelong in round 20 last year that could have won the Dockers that game.
However, Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said the two kicks were different.
Click here to watch Ross Lyons' full post-match media conference
"At Geelong he kicked outside the 50 metre mark on an angle whereas this one was dead in front inside the arc. They're two different kicks. I would not say he missed the other one," Lyon said.
Mundy kicked the ball from right on the 50-metre line to notch the longest goal for the match.
Lyon said he was confident in the 30-year-old's capacity to get the job done under pressure.
"That is what they are paid to do," Lyon said.
"He's a leader. He goes back. He's a long accurate kick, [and has a] sound technique under pressure. It should stand up."
The Dockers only held the lead for nine minutes of the match and Lyon said their ball use was so bad they should have been further behind.
However, he praised his players for finding a way to win when they were giving up the ball so regularly to the opposition.
Five talking points: Richmond v Fremantle
He said their ball use was at a level below what was required to be a good team in the competition.
The win kept Fremantle a game clear on top of the ladder and gave their coach a clear picture of what they needed to fix to win the flag.
"We're not really confused about why we're under pressure or what we need to do. It's really clear. It's really, really clear," Lyon said.
He showed the players some footage behind closed doors after the game to emphasise the point while it was fresh in his mind.
"They walk out with great clarity about what they need to do," Lyon said.
Lyon knows their ball use has to improve as they have the chance to kick bigger scores but are squandering opportunities to put players in scoring positions when they go inside 50, which once again was at the low end with 42 entries below their season average of 50 inside-50s per game going into the clash.
Fremantle kicked 9.4 (58) from stoppages but the coach only saw the issue marked room for improvement.
"Our stoppage work was elite, [but] unless we fix that ball use we're going to be under pressure all year," Lyon said.
The paradox was that ball use in the dying minute won the Dockers the game, when a champion had a chance to reprise a moment from 11 months earlier, and delivered.
Houli's blunder proves costly as Mundy kicks the match winner #AFLTigersFreo http://t.co/guunToqrhg
— AFL (@AFL) July 25, 2015