Mitchell Johnson: Fremantle Dockers’ win followed the big game recipe: hang in, believe and seize your moment

Fremantle’s preliminary final victory over Sydney showed what can happen when a team refuses to believe it is beaten.

The Dockers trailed by as much as 28 points during the third quarter, playing away from home and surrounded by an SCG crowd willing the Swans into the grand final.

They could feel the match slipping away, but they stayed in it. Then, when their big moment arrived, they went for it.

That is how sport is played.

You hang in there when the opposition has control because momentum can change quickly. One goal, one tackle or one piece of individual brilliance can shift the entire mood of a contest. Fremantle found that moment and went for it.

Coming from behind to win by 12 points away from home will grow this team even more. They have now experienced almost everything during this finals series: the disappointment of losing to Hawthorn, the pressure of a knockout semifinal against Geelong and the challenge of coming from behind against Sydney.

The Hawthorn defeat gave them some mongrel. Instead of moving away from what had taken them to the top of the ladder, they stuck to their approach and trusted one another.

The Dockers’ belief will have gone up another level after beating the Swans. Sometimes, when a team produces an emotional victory in a preliminary final, people say they may have already played their grand final.

I do not believe Fremantle have.

The challenge now is to enjoy what they have achieved without becoming satisfied by it.

I experienced something similar during Australia’s 2015 World Cup campaign. Our semifinal against India at the SCG initially felt like an Indian home match. Most of the crowd appeared to be supporting them, and the noise was enormous.

But as we broke through and eventually removed MS Dhoni, the last recognised Indian batter still putting up a fight, their supporters became quieter. We could hear the Australian fans. We could feel the mood inside the ground changing.

Winning that semifinal by 95 runs was an amazing experience, and we celebrated together in the change rooms afterwards. We enjoyed the moment, but there was still a sense in the room that our biggest challenge was ahead of us. We knew the job was not finished.

Michael Clarke made sure the group understood that we needed to recover and be ready for the final against New Zealand. We had earned the right to play for a World Cup, but merely reaching the final was not the achievement we wanted.

There is a balance Fremantle must find this week. A grand final is not a normal match and there is no point pretending otherwise. The attention is greater, ticket requests multiply and messages arrive from excited family members, friends and plenty of others. The city becomes consumed by the occasion, and players are constantly reminded of what is at stake.

In 2015, a few more people asked me for tickets than usual. I was approaching the end of my career and had experienced much of that attention before. For many Fremantle players, this is completely new territory.

That is where players such as Shai Bolton, Luke Jackson and Mason Cox become particularly important. They have experienced premiership success and understand the demands of grand final week.

They can absorb some of the extra responsibility, perhaps take on additional media commitments and help protect younger teammates from becoming overwhelmed by the occasion.

But the players should not hide from grand final week either.

I like Fremantle’s decision to return home and keep the beginning of the week as familiar as possible. AFL players are finely tuned athletes and routine matters. Being home with family and friends can help settle the mind before travelling again.

The players should soak up the atmosphere in Perth. They should enjoy seeing purple around the city and understand what this means to their supporters.

You never know whether it will be both your first and last grand final. Some players never reach one at all.

Before the 2015 World Cup final, the excitement around Melbourne was impossible to ignore. A few of us had watched New Zealand beat South Africa in the other semifinal and saw the Proteas find another heartbreaking way to exit a World Cup.

Once we had beaten India and knew we would face the Kiwis, our attention turned completely towards the final.

Our preparation remained as normal as possible. We knew it was not a normal game, but it was still the same sport we had played all our lives and throughout the tournament. That distinction is important.

Fremantle do not need to find a new style or produce something they have never done before. They reached the grand final by trusting their system, sticking together and refusing to give up.

I actually do not think they have played their best football during these finals yet. That should excite them rather than concern them. They have found different ways to survive and win, but there is still another level available.

Thinking about a final for an entire week can become mentally draining. It is almost impossible not to picture different situations, but players cannot play the match repeatedly in their heads before it begins.

I think I slept reasonably well before the 2015 World Cup final, although there were plenty of important matches during my career when I did not.

My nerves really arrived when the national anthem began. Standing at a packed MCG with a World Cup about to be decided was a feeling unlike anything else.

Those nerves never completely disappeared, but I was able to use them. Mitchell Starc bowling Brendon McCullum in the first over immediately settled us and lifted the crowd.

Our intensity remained high throughout the match because we understood how quickly a final could change.

Fremantle should expect nerves next Saturday. Nervousness is not weakness; it shows that the occasion matters. The challenge is turning it into energy rather than allowing it to tighten your body and cloud your decisions. Enjoy it and embrace it.

The Dockers have already made history by reaching only their second grand final and their first since 2013.

But the history that really matters is still available.

Enjoy the week. Embrace the support. Keep the preparation familiar and remember everything that created this opportunity.

Then, when the ball is bounced, it is day one all over again.

The past no longer matters. The crowd cannot play the game for you and the occasion cannot be allowed to change you.

Fremantle simply have to play football the way they know how, one more time.