Inside the rooms as heartbreak strikes after narrow defeat to Brisbane Lions

For most of this season, excitable Fremantle forward Patrick Voss played the pantomime villain. Late on Saturday afternoon, he became the unexpected shoulder of comfort amid a flood of Fremantle despair.

It was by design, he said, in the painful aftermath of a seven-point loss. He had penned himself a note during the week to remind himself to be a good person.

That was why he kept his feet after the cruellest of grand final losses and instead offered solace to his devastated teammates. First he lifted Jye Amiss from the MCG turf and then Josh Treacy before giving them both a hug.

“I wrote on a card before today the things I’m proud of myself for, and I sort of said to myself, ‘whatever happens today, I’m not going to be defined by being a premiership player or not’,” he said.

“I feel like I’m a good person, and I feel like my 22 brothers on the field are all good people, and they’re not going to be defined by this loss. So, yeah, I wanted to show my love and support to them.”

Voss, almost more than any other Fremantle player on the day, typified the vast contrast between winning and losing.

He pranced with delight around the boundary after his third goal gave the Dockers a 17-point lead deep in the final term, setting off the deafening roar of Wharfie Time.

Few thought his team could be denied their fate so late in the game before Brisbane willed themselves to victory. In the space of five minutes, his glee had been transformed to desolation.

Voss fought back tears in the Fremantle rooms, his voice one of the rare sounds in a funereal-like room that had been pervaded by pockets of silence.

Players staggered around the room in trances, looking for loved ones and unable to speak of their pain.

Captain Alex Pearce supported himself on crutches, his towering presence reduced in height and potency, while Treacy leant back on a wall, his hand across his head in utter disbelief.

Both had been central to pivotal moments in the game.

Lions hero Logan Morris kicked three last-quarter goals after Pearce crashed to the ground and out of the match seven minutes into the third term with a ruptured Achilles.

Treacy missed what seemed a certain goal during the final term when he was dragged to the ground by Ryan Lester and the ball skewed off his boot.

But neither moment could be blamed for costing the Dockers their first premiership, according to Voss.

“Alex is a great player and a great leader, but I thought Oscar McDonald, Luke Ryan, Heath Chapman, Judd McVee, Karl Worner and Jordan Clark all stepped up and performed really well, and we didn’t notice his absence at all,” Voss said.

He might have been overplaying the team-first mentality. Sometimes players cannot be replaced. Sometimes squandered opportunities cannot be understated. Not in grand finals, and not against the Lions.

“Everyone will have moments that they’re going to replay in their head for the next six months and want back, and I’m no different,” Voss said.

“But we win together as a team. We lose together as a team.”

The Fremantle players filed down the race and into the rooms after the game barely able to contain their tears.

Ryan was first, followed by Clark and then the skipper on his crutches. Mason Cox folded his arms into his jumper and ambled past deep in thought. He had been here before with Collingwood in 2018. Once again so close, but so far.

Amiss and Andrew Brayshaw brought up the rear of a sad and sorry conga line, walking arm in arm with their partners, and reluctantly parting ways as they filed off to a backroom for a debrief with coach Justin Longmuir.

The loyal Fremantle fans clapped as their brave team ambled in, careful not to overdo their appreciation for what most certainly classified as an honorable loss.

Voss said Longmuir was “extremely disappointed, but extremely proud”.

“More than anything, he told us to be easy on ourselves.”

But not being hard on yourself after what could have easily been a historic victory was easier said than done.

“I’m replaying moments in my head right now that I’d love to have back,” he said.

“But that’s sport. I heard [Hawthorn coach] Sam Mitchell say after their loss last week, to feel the greatest achievement, greatest accomplishment, you have got to be willing to be heartbroken and lose like we’ve lost today.

“So we are disappointed and heartbroken. But I think it’s the hardships and the hard losses that bring the group together and will make it all the sweeter when we manage to win one.”

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