Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir believes his team took an important step forward in Saturday's 29-point loss to Sydney despite their first-quarter ghosts haunting them yet again.
The Dockers booted the first goal of the match, but coughed up the next six goals to enter quarter-time nursing a 25-point deficit.
The Swans piled on five goals in the space of 11 devastating minutes at one point, with the first-quarter blitz proving to be the difference between the two sides.
Fremantle have won just two first quarters this year.
Including the final four games of last season, Fremantle have won just two of their last 22 opening quarters.
But a major positive to come out of Saturday's match was Fremantle's quicker ball movement and willingness to play a chaotic brand of football.
Dockers players regularly chose to take the game on, and it helped Fremantle get themselves back to within striking distance in the third quarter before Lance Franklin snuffed out their victory hopes.
"This week we spent a fair bit of time re-tooling our roles and our mindset, and we'll continue to do those sorts of things," Longmuir said.
"When we're playing our best, we play that (faster) brand. I liked the way we set the ground up, I liked the way we pressured the opposition.
"I think we got back to defending our front half a lot better tonight.
"It probably got a bit chaotic because both teams started making a few errors and that sort of thing, but ... that's the way we want to play.
"When we've played our best footy this year the game has looked like that.
"We just need to tie off those opportunities a bit better, because we created enough of them."
Fremantle's finals hopes are officially over, but Longmuir said his group is still "invested" in this season rather than already planning for next year.
"We've still got a lot we can get out of the season," Longmuir said.
"I don't get a sense that any player has given up or any staff member has given up.
"So, in that sense, it's not going to be hard to motivate them."
Fremantle face Geelong at GMHBA Stadium next Saturday, before finishing their season with games against Brisbane, West Coast, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn.
