AFLW: Fremantle Dockers’ Mim Strom says off-season work will decide if club can bridge gap to top four sides

Fremantle’s All-Australian ruck Mim Strom knows just how big the gap is between her side and the league’s flying top four teams and says they must find a way to bridge the gap next pre-season.

The Dockers finished fifth but were bundled out of the finals by an experienced Adelaide outfit.

North Melbourne, Brisbane, Hawthorn and the Crows stretched out a significant advantage at the top of the ladder, with only Port Adelaide’s finals charge able to penetrate the leaders.

This season, their second under coach Lisa Webb, was the Dockers’ best in years and their first finals appearance since the first season of 2022.

But Strom wasn’t satisfied and said it was on players to put in the hard yards in the off-season to make the leap.

“It was a disappointing end and in the change rooms everyone was obviously emotional that it (the season) had ended, but Webby (Lisa Webb) was just so proud and our staff were so proud they got around to everyone which was incredible.... hopefully we can go better next year,” Strom told The West Australian’s Dubya podcast.

“I’m super proud of the season and the girls, especially with the injuries and the way we just pushed through with the incredible talent that we have and the people that stepped up.

“I was probably really clouded by my own performance which I shouldn’t have been, I should have been thinking about how incredible we did as a team for the season, I just wanted to be more competitive in that game.”

Fremantle finished the season only one spot below the Crows, but the difference between the two sides was laid out in the 37-point semifinal thumping.

“We can obviously see the gap — it’s real close from tenth to fourth — and then those top four there’s a gap,” Strom said.

“Every season everyone’s going to get better, so we need to get even better than that and hopefully with a few people coming back in that’ll be great, but it’s going to take everyone chipping in and putting in over the off-season to work really hard to close that gap.

“They’re obviously such an incredible side and they were the much better side on the day, I think Hayley mentioned it last time we played them it feels like they have five extra players and you want to be at that level and we’ll review that and we want to be at that level.”

The Dockers added experience players Gabby Newton, Aisling McCarthy and Ash Brazill before this season and Strom said experience playing in finals as well as another pre-season for some of their young guns, will be a significant boost and the key to cracking the top four.

“We’ve played probably under ten finals games but it’s great that we have two more to put under our belt, because it’s a different game, and it’s going to be the best teams that do handle it that are going to win the finals,” she said.

“So you just want to be at that level and we build each year, so we’ll build again next year.”