Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick, outgoing president Dale Alcock, paint bold picture of Dockers as AFL force

That’s the vision Fremantle’s powerbrokers were selling at the club’s Doig Medal count as the Dockers prepare to enter the final two seasons of their strategic plan and deliver a maiden purple premiership.

Despite a disappointing regression in 2023, finishing 15th after a semi-final appearance last year, the Dockers have continued to grow off-field. Fremantle recorded an all-time membership record, finishing the year with 62,064 paid-up fans, comfortably surpassing its previous record of 56,105. The Dockers also boast one of the best average home attendances in the league.

Coupled with a talented list capable of sustained success, Chief Executive Simon Garlick said Fremantle had the potential to become an AFL “superpower”.

“It’s clear we have the capability to be a genuine force of the AFL – a superpower if you will. And no one, other than those who are part of the Freo family, will see us coming,” Garlick said.

“There’s no denying we’re all frustrated by the inconsistent nature of our 2023 season. But in a year where we had the second least experienced and second-youngest team on the field across the 23 weeks of the year, we saw significant growth in our young players.

“This cohort of young up-and-coming stars along with a select group of experienced heads now have the opportunity to own and drive an AFL premiership push. A critical mass, of driven, competitive, hungry and talented players is the formula. Now it’s time for implementation.

“We’ve got complete confidence that this group can perform for us in the coming years. There’s no limit on what we can achieve next year so let’s stop talking about it and make it happen.”

Outgoing Fremantle president Dale Alcock said the foundations are in place for the Dockers to rival the likes of Geelong and Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide in the AFLW as perennial contenders.

“To be truly formidable, meaning inspiring fear and respect, through being impressively large and powerful, intense and capable, our players have to understand this is how we need to see ourselves,” he said.

“We’re a footy club and everything goes better when footy is at its best. My message is simple. Let’s inspire fear and respect. Let’s be formidable.”

Justin Longmuir did concede change is necessary to climb back into finals contention. Ahead of his fifth season as head coach, Longmuir has urged his players to prioritise fitness and consistency.

“I’m not going to stand here and say we’re going to roll out the same stuff next year. The coaches have done a great job reviewing our season and identifying some areas that need a bit more focus,” he said.

“We need to get stronger and fitter. I have real high hopes for this group to become one of the fittest teams in the competition.

“Clearly we need to improve our consistency. There were periods when our footy really stood up and was impressive. There won’t be any wholesale changes to our game plan. We’ll tweak some things.”

Fremantle’s front half is set to be put under the microscope after the Dockers only marginally improved their scoring power.

“A big part of our pre-season is going to be based around executing, not only our roles and the game plan but making sure we get bang for buck out of our ball movement,” Longmuir said.

“There’s been a lot of talk and criticism about our ball movement but that’s largely based on the fact we haven’t been able to finish off our work ahead of centre well enough.”