The only thing that a disappointing finals exit for Fremantle defender Lee Spurr will do is motivate him to become even better in 2015 and he hopes his teammates come along for the ride.
Spurr was already a finals veteran having played in three SANFL premierships with Central District upon joining Fremantle in 2012 and he has now amassed 60 AFL matches, and become a crucial member of the Dockers defence.
Fremantle played off in last year’s grand final losing to Hawthorn and at times during 2014 looked capable of at least matching that performance, but a first up finals loss in Sydney and now at home to Port Adelaide mean the Dockers’ year is over.
It wasn’t an easy night up against Port Adelaide’s sparkling array of small forwards notably Robbie Gray and Chad Wingard as the Dockers blew a 31-point lead to lose by 22 and to be bundled out of the finals for 2014 in straight sets after finishing in fourth spot.
Spurr is disappointed but it only motivates him to get even better for 2015.
“We wanted to improve on last year and for us that was progressing further than this, and that didn’t happen so that’s disappointing,” Spurr said.
“I was sitting down after the game in the rooms and the first thing that popped into my head was that I’m going to train so hard for this pre-season with this eight-week break that we have.
“So I want to come back for the start of pre-season proper in the best nick I’ve been in during my time on the list. I’m pretty sure most other players will make that same choice and we will get together to regroup, and launch again next year.”
Going back to the 2013 grand final and Fremantle had their chances against Hawthorn but couldn’t convert in front of goal, and on Saturday night they dominated the first half against Port Adelaide but couldn’t capitalise on their majority of opportunities again.
Spurr was disappointed in that but knows that the Power deserve a lot of credit for their second half performance as well.
“We were really strong around the contest, we won the ball, we got it forward and we got ourselves lots of opportunities but we just didn’t convert enough,” he said.
“That came back to haunt us in the end. In the second half, they came out firing and took it to us and they just did the basics better than us for longer.
“When you are in the moment and you are pressing, pressing and pressing, you feel like you are on top of the game and you don’t think that it’s going to come back to haunt you. You just want to keep giving yourselves opportunities to score but unfortunately that didn’t happen for us in the end.”
