Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has revealed the step an in-form Dockers must take to become the best team in the competition.

Longmuir’s side are gunning for a club-record 10th consecutive victory when they host former mentor Ross Lyon and his Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) outfit at Optus Stadium on Friday night.

Should they accomplish the feat and ladder-leaders Sydney lose to fellow top-four fancies Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday, the Dockers — who have adopted the name Walyalup for Sir Doug Nicholls Round — will sit a game clear on top of the table.

Longmuir refused to buy into the importance of the winning streak and declared they were “not the best team in it yet”. But he was happy to speak about how they could get to the mantle as the front-runners for the premiership.

“I think it’s just on the back of our consistency. We’ve got some areas in our game in all phases that we would like to tidy up and get better at and seek improvement, but overall it’s just really our consistency and being able to do it for longer,” Longmuir said.

“We’re never going to control a game of footy for four quarters. It’s just not going to happen in modern-day footy because it’s more open, it’s more offensive, so the opposition is going to have momentum swings. It’s being able to lean in and play our role way during those moments and minimise those moments.

“Our best footy is as good as anyone’s, it’s just a matter of searching for a big more consistency with it. It’s a challenge because you do not want to be peaking at round 10 or at round 11, do you? I know we’re still building and we’ll continue to do so.”

Fremantle sit second in the premiership market with TABTouch at $4.60, only behind dual reigning premiers Brisbane ($4.50), with the Swans ($4.75) also around the mark.

There is a widespread belief that for a West Australian team to win the premiership, they must finish inside the top two because of the significant travel factor.

Asked about the theory, Longmuir said: “I think there’s some merit in all of those comments, but first of all, you have got to win enough games to get into the finals, and you’ve got to win enough games to qualify as high as you can.

“There’s some long-term planning and thinking and ideas that get thrown around, but that’s all in the background.

“What we’re trying to bring to the foreground and to the players is what they need to do each day and what they need to do each week. It’s so early in the season to be talking about those sorts of things or getting carried away with those sorts of things.

“I am sure there’s some planning that goes on behind the scenes, but it’s not at the forefront of our thinking.”

The Dockers will head into the game still missing several stars, including captain Alex Pearce (knee), prime midfielder Hayden Young (concussion), and ruckman Sean Darcy (calf).

However, their depth has been on display all season, with Longmuir crediting their lesser-known players as pivotal parts of their rise to prominence in 2026.

“It’s been strong all summer. First of all, our fitness staff has done a great job to get our players in great physical shape, and touch wood, we haven’t had a lot of injuries,” he said.

“We haven’t had a lot of injuries, but when we have, we’ve had players come in and play their role. That’s all we ask of players: to come in and execute their role.

“People talk about the top-end talent and how good they’re going, but it’s been the players who have come in and played roles or grown their games. Players like Karl Worner, Corey Wagner, Neil Erasmus, Johnno (Matt Johnson), Duds (Isaiah Dudley). Chris (Scerri) came in on the weekend and played his role, Oscar (McDonald) came in on the weekend and played his role. It’s those guys, their improvement that’s taken our game to another level.”