Fremantle Dockers captain Alex Pearce says scathing post-match review hasn’t dented his confidence in side

Despite a scathing review where the defence he steers was labelled “deplorable”, Fremantle captain Alex Pearce says the Dockers’ bruising defeat to the Western Bulldogs has not dented his confidence. Pearce admitted the backline slacked off and declared they couldn’t afford to do it again in an interview with The West Australian in Melbourne after the heavy defeat. It was a loss that brought the top-eight Dockers back down to earth, a fortnight after a 94-point win over Melbourne in Alice Springs. But as a clash with Gold Coast and a chance to turn their fortunes around again nears, Pearce says the group hasn’t lost any belief. It is a view shared by coach Justin Longmuir, who said on Thursday he didn’t react to the Melbourne win and hasn’t reacted to the Bulldogs defeat. “It can be hard sometimes when you are trying to review what you’ve done wrong, but often the only thing you can do is action, and the best way to improve is to train really well and build some confidence back that way,” Pearce told ABC on Thursday. “I certainly haven’t lost any confidence and I know the boys haven’t. We have performed pretty well this year and we have been pretty consistent in the way we have gone about it. “We are confident we can get back to that level and back to our brand, which has been pretty decent to watch. “ Pearce also joined Longmuir in throwing his support behind former skipper Nat Fyfe, who was lashed by experts for his performance in Saturday’s defeat. “Nat has played some good footy for us this year. We had a few guys that were a bit down on the weekend and it’s just easy fodder for journalists to target some of those guys,” he said. “People like giving it to Nat, they love to pump him up when he’s going well and love to maybe get stuck into him when he isn’t. “Nat’s got my full support and our full support and he, like the rest of us, is looking forward to bouncing back on Sunday.” Fremantle’s backline is set to regain Heath Chapman for their meeting with Gold Coast, who are sweating on the fitness of key forward Ben King.