FREMANTLE coach Justin Longmuir trusts the umpires got it right in not awarding a free kick after the siren in Saturday's clash against North Melbourne, admitting his team would have been stealing a win or draw if it had been given the chance.
The Dockers would have been awarded a free kick for insufficient intent in goalscoring range if the Kangaroos' clearing kick from the goal line had crossed the boundary line before the final siren.
Neither Longmuir nor North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson were 100 per cent sure the siren had sounded before the ball crossed the boundary in controversial circumstances at Optus Stadium.
But both coaches agreed that the final result was the right one after the Roos led from start to finish and got out to a 20-point lead with six minutes to play, forcing a desperate last effort from the disappointing Dockers.
"You know what, I trust the umpire got it right. My gut feel is we would have stolen it if we had got a shot on goal and we had have drawn or won it," Longmuir said.
"I admire the boys' fight at the end and never-give-up attitude, but we've got a bit of work to do. On that last incident, I trust the umpire got it right."
DOCKERS v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats
Clarkson, who was coaching at ground level, said his observation at the time was that substitute Daniel Howe's kick from the goal line had not crossed the boundary when he heard the siren.
He said the thrilling win was reward for the players, staff and supporters, who could see from the club's 2-0 start that they were on the right track.
"I feel like we played a brand of footy that really served that up to the Freo side and made it tough for them. We would have been really, really stiff if we'd lost that game of footy," Clarkson said.
"So the lap of the gods was with us just for that last bit and I think our footy club deserves it just this once.
"To be smacked around as a footy club the last couple of years, we went on the road against a really good side and they came at us really hard in the second half and we just continued to hold up."
After grinding wins against both WA teams to start the season, the Kangaroos have already matched their two wins from 2022 and no longer appear an easy opposition to play against.
Fremantle, meanwhile, is struggling at 0-2 and will now be without dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe for Sunday's Western Derby, and possibly another week, because of foot injury.
"He's been carrying a plantar fascia for a while, and it just didn't react to last week's game, and it pulled up really sore," Longmuir said.
"He probably needs a bit of a rest. He'll be off legs a little bit to try to maximise a bit of a rest, but he probably needs another week just to calm it down.
"He's frustrated by this, but he sees it as a little speed hump and if he gets this right the rest of his body is holding up really well and he can have a long crack at it."
Longmuir said the Dockers' inefficiency and unpredictability going forward was their biggest issue on Saturday, struggling to create attacking chains that resulted in clean forward entries.
They lost the clearances convincingly (44-31), while marking targets Matt Taberner and Jye Amiss and rotating ruckmen Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy combined for just eight marks, including two inside 50.
"We're just having to work so hard for our goals at the moment, clearly. And our work forward of centre needs to improve," Longmuir said.
"We need to become more predictable to each other, and we need to get better around the ball.
"But before we went on a little run in the last quarter, we were minus 10 centre bounce. Good luck trying to own field position with that number.
"We're better than that, and we've got to start showing that."
