The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-09-24 · by Justin Chadwick, Tristan Lavalette
What do you get when you combine a wharfie, a boat and a single link of a chain?
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you → get → chain
For Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir, he hopes the answer is a piece of long-craved silverware.
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answer → hop → silverware
In 2024, and with his team in the doldrums with just four wins from 11 games, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan famously told his players that if they’re walking on thin ice, they may as well dance.
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they → tell → ice
The mantra resonated, and four months later the Lions were hoisting the first of their back-to-back flags.
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Lions → resonate → flags
Last year, Brisbane’s theme was “run towards the fire” in a bid to avoid them playing it safe.
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them → run → it
Fagan even got a firefighter in to talk to the players about what it’s like to actually run towards a fire.
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it → get → fire
Brisbane haven’t revealed their theme for 2026 just yet, but don’t be surprised if it’s something Michael Jordan related.
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Jordan → reveal → 2026
The Lions’ hat-trick hopes looked shot when they conceded a whopping 14 goals in the third quarter of their 78-point loss to GWS in round 11.
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they → look → round
The following month, NBA championship winner Luc Longley was invited in to speak to Lions players about keeping alive the deep desire to win despite already experiencing success.
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Longley → invite → success
Longley won three NBA rings while playing alongside Jordan at the Chicago Bulls, and Brisbane will be aiming to snare their own three-peat this Saturday.
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Brisbane → win → peat
Last season, Fremantle used Australia’s drought-breaking win in the 1983 America’s Cup as inspiration.
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Fremantle → use → inspiration
Players even visited the WA Maritime Museum in the lead-up to the finals to see the Australia II vessel with their own eyes.
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Players → visit → eyes
Fremantle were sent packing at the first hurdle, losing to Gold Coast by a point in an emotion-charged elimination final in Perth.
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Fremantle → send → Perth
During the club’s exit meetings a week later, Longmuir gave each player a piece of a chain.
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Longmuir → give → chain
Longmuir urged his players to realise the importance of connection, also asking them to come up with a word that is meaningful to them and then present it to the group upon their return.
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that → urge → return
It led to some wonderfully open and vulnerable moments.
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It → lead → moments
“My word was resilience,” Dockers defender Karl Worner recalls.
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Worner → recall → ?
“It was just a little bit of a story about my mum’s background and her coming from Sweden and the resilience she had to show.
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she → come → Sweden
“My mum came here when she was in her 20s with my dad, not really speaking much English.
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she → come → English
“She came to Australia leaving a whole family behind.
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She → come → family
Unfortunately, her parents passed away quite young when it was her first day in Australia.
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it → pass → Australia
“So just the resilience she showed to put her family first is something I’m extremely proud of.”
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I → show → family
Hayden Young described it as a “really powerful” exercise, revealing his word was “heart”.
“When we combine all those links together, we’re unstoppable,” Young says.
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Young → describe → links
“I reflected on when I’m at my best, how does it look?
“
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it → reflect → best
Quite often, it’s leaning into my emotions, leaning into my vulnerability, leaning with my heart.
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it → ’ → heart
“I’m still on the journey of figuring out who I am.”
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I → ’m → journey
Fremantle forward Michael Frederick also loved the experience.
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Frederick → love → experience
“The word is individualised to what your biggest strength is,” Frederick says.
“It’s the strength that you’re going to bring to the club every day and is going to help us get better.
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us → say → club
Guys have gotten up in front of the group and spoken pretty vulnerably about why their word is that word.
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word → get → group
“For guys to be able to do that, it opens up a deeper connection, a deeper understanding of them.”
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it → do → them
“Before getting drafted I lacked a lot of self-confidence, and always compared myself to people, especially my brother,” Frederick says.
“Knowing that it wasn’t an easy route to get to where we are today, but being able to sort of lean on family as well as building resilience over those years when I was younger as a teenager, is a lot of the reason why I play and a lot of the reason why I’m here today.”
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I → draft → reason
Longmuir’s ‘1-0’ mantra has also played a key role in keeping players grounded after wins this season.
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mantra → play → wins
And as for fans, it’s all been about ‘Wharfie Time’, tapping into the port spirit of the city of Fremantle.
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it → tap → Fremantle
The ‘Wharfie Time’ phrase was first coined by club great Matthew Pavlich during a pre-game huddle speech in 2009.
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phrase → coin → 2009
“Put on your Superman capes boys, it’s Wharfie Time,” Pavlich said.
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Pavlich → put → capes
‘Wharfie Time’ has now become an enthralling Optus Stadium crowd activation shown on the big screen when games are close with just a few minutes remaining.
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minutes → become → screen
It features a boat tackling massive waves, accompanied by the iconic gong and intro from AC/DC song “Hells Bells” and a dramatic heartbeat sound.
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It → feature → song
The AFL has granted Fremantle permission to use Wharfie Time in the grand final, but with a twist - it can only be used once and only as a celebration song after a Dockers goal.
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it → grant → goal
If used, it will send Fremantle’s fans into a spin.
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it → use → spin
But if Fremantle are to overcome the might of Brisbane on Saturday, it will be the links in the chain that ensure Dockers players remain connected even when things get tough at a heaving MCG.
That is evidenced by Fremantle’s club-record season that netted them 19 home-and-away wins and a sizzling 14-match winning run.
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that → overcome → wins
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
