Fremantle’s football boss has backed the club using “Wharfie Time” in the future despite the capitulation that followed its activation with just four minutes and 18 seconds remaining in the grand final.
At that point, the Dockers had established a game high 17-point lead and had one hand on their first premiership cup.
But the Lions kicked the final four goals of the match to snatch an incredible victory to become just the second premier this century to win after being behind at three-quarter time.
Speaking at Melbourne Airport before the team returned to Fremantle, football boss Joe Brierty backed the fan activation, which Lions players said spurred them on to an unlikely victory.
“I’m sure it will [live on],” Brierty said.
“It’s a fan activation for our club. Obviously, Brisbane have their songs. There’s obviously a lot of theatre behind it, but whatever’s talked about it doesn’t impact the result of the game from a football perspective.
“That’s my role to oversee our footy program. We reflect on the things that we control in game and the way that we can review those things.”
It was only the third occasion Wharfie Time has been activated this season and the first time outside of Perth.
Dockers’ supporters went crazy as the bells rang around the ground and the atmosphere inside the MCG lifted.
Unfortunately, it lifted the Lions players rather than its intended target with Lions’ star Will Ashcroft reflecting post-game after his heroic performance during that final period.
“I think ‘Wharfie Time’ spurred us on a bit there,” Ashcroft said. “We knew it was coming at some point. We just wanted to harness it and turn it into energy for us.”
The Dockers were without skipper Alex Pearce in the final quarter after he injured his Achilles and his opponent Logan Morris bobbed up to kick three goals to win the game for the Lions.
“We reflect on what we control as a footy program,” Brierty said.
“There were aspects of the game that we didn’t get quite right, and a quality side in Brisbane took their moments, and that’s why they’ve just done a three-peat.
“That’s what we want to get to. That’s what we reflect on. They lost four years ago in a grand final. We take some solace out of that. That we’re a young group and we know that we’ve got plenty of improvement left in us and we’ll make sure that we’re reflecting at the right time to take all the learnings, and we get better going into next year.”
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