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AAP
Justin Chadwick

'Of course it's a worry' - Dockers blow it late again

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said his side must learn from their final quarter fade outs. (Richard Wainwright/AAP PHOTOS)

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir concedes his team's late chokes have become a worry, but he's backing his charges to learn from the painful lessons and nail the moment next time.

The Dockers' top-four hopes suffered a huge blow on Saturday night when they slipped to an 11-point loss to Geelong at Optus Stadium.

Fremantle led by four points at the final change, but conceded three goals to one in the final term on the way to the 10.13 (73) to 9.8 (62) defeat.

It came just a week after Fremantle coughed up a 25-point last-quarter lead on the way to a one-point loss to Essendon at the MCG.

Earlier this season, Fremantle blew late leads against Carlton and Port Adelaide in consecutive weeks, and they also let a lead slip against Hawthorn in Launceston a month ago.

"Of course it's worrying. It's five times. Clearly we don't want that to happen," Longmuir said.

"It says we're putting ourselves in positions, though, and four of them were away from home.

"This is the first one at home and against a pretty experienced team.

"We were in front but it wasn't by much, and it was pretty much an arm wrestle all game. 

"It's not like we gave up a massive lead. They were just able to outlast us in certain areas and make more of their opportunities than us in the end."

Fremantle boast one of the youngest teams in the competition, but Longmuir isn't sure if his side's inexperience is to blame for the final-quarter fadeouts.

"It's a bit of everything," Longmuir said.

"A bit of execution. Maybe a bit of an age thing - we need to make sure we're really organised and connected in those moments.

"In tight situations later in games, we haven't been able to execute well enough.

"That will (be fixed) by getting to work at training and making sure that we we drive a really high standard at training but also exposure to these situations.

"The last two weeks and next two weeks - they're finals-like games and they're going to give us great experience to see where we're at and see what we need to work on.

"The things we've learnt from the last two weeks and things we'll learn over the next two weeks will hold us in really good stead going forward."

Fremantle face flag contenders GWS and Port Adelaide in their final two games.

Win both, and they are still a chance to secure a top-four berth.

Lose both, and they could miss the finals completely. Even one win might not be enough to make the top eight. 

Longmuir is confident Sean Darcy (knee), Josh Treacy (knee) and Michael Walters (hamstring) will all return against the Giants, but skipper Alex Pearce will miss at least another week. 

Darcy was named to face Geelong, but was pulled out about 10 minutes before bouncedown.

"He's going to carry a little bit of soreness in that knee for the rest of the year and we'll manage him through that," Longmuir said.

"The six-day break caught him out this week, so we'll see how it goes during the week. But in the short term, it's a bit of a concern."

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