IT WAS an emphatic win for the Blues over the Dockers, with AFL Senior Coach Michael Voss sure that it will fill his side with confidence. 

Not wanting to highlight any one player, Voss praised the selfless and team-first attitude of the collective instead.,

Speaking of the effort from the first bounce, the ruck situation and a couple of former Dockers, here's what he had to say. 

On the first-quarter pressure: 

“They’re tough to play here so to be able to get our game set up like that in the first quarter, being able to get territory on the ground, the pressure we were able to create in the first quarter laid the foundations for us for the rest of the game. 

"We spoke a lot about our contest pressure and what our defence needed to look like: I couldn’t have asked for more in that first quarter, the ball lived in our half.

"When you’re at an away venue, you want to start well, take the crowd out it, provide that energy and it starts to become contagious: the efforts and to draw that energy out of one another, that’s what we needed today."

On keeping the pressure going through four quarters: 

"We knew Fremantle was going to respond in the second quarter: our pressure dropped off a bit around the ball, but we ramped it up again in the second half.

"We understand that any time teams are going to bring great pressure, but staying in that place for longer is not something that we’ve had consistently throughout our year, which has made our year really challenging at times.

"I just felt like that and some really selfless play from guys doing their jobs and getting their jobs done, it felt like everyone got their jobs done. When they needed to be leant on, they got the job done for their teammates, so that was particularly pleasing." 

On Jack Silvagni and Lewis Young in the ruck: 

“To highlight the effort that 'Youngy' and 'SOS' have done as best they can, try and neutralise the rucks and get to work on the floor.

"We were well and truly behind on the hitouts but our ability to go and get the ball back and still win the clearances and score from that was pretty important. That’s the energy that we were able to bring around the contest, the boys are really buying into that and it’s making a significant difference to that. 

"I couldn’t ask for any more from 'SOS' and 'Youngy' with what they’ve done the last couple of weeks. We’ve had a next-man-up mentality for a period of time and the guys are stepping in and doing great roles. The lesson is it’s one thing to have a ruckman, but if you don’t do the work on the floor, it doesn’t matter." 

On the mentality that has changed within the group: 

"We simplified it significantly and the boys have enjoyed that and bought into it, and we’re playing some good footy. I believe the players need to take some credit for the way the leaders have gone after that period of time.

"Sometimes you can grow when you’re challenged and no one sees it, you still grow, then suddenly you start seeing what it looks like.

"We also know that we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, we’re not taking anything for granted right now, we’re living in the present, taking it in the experiences and coming away together like we did today in a challenging environment and we walk away with the four points."

On the Port Adelaide challenge: 

"I think it’s another opportunity for us to be able to play against another quality opposition. I think what we do at the moment is take the next 24 hours to absorb what we’ve done here, make sure we really enjoy these wins that... then we cast our eyes forward.

"We know what’s coming, they’re a very good side. I spent a bit of time there, so I know the coach well and know the players well! That isn’t going to help too much, we have to bring our best and we won’t get the job done if we don’t bring our best."

On the leaders taking ownership:

"I believe the players need to take some credit for the way the leaders have gone after that period of time. 

“No one stepped away from their responsibilities, we owned where we were at and we had to accept that before we could make a change and the leaders have really driven that. 

“As coaches, our responsibility is to try and provide a clear picture and what it looks like and keep reinforcing it. Our leaders and our players really went after it." 

On the impact of two former Freo players:

“They were really good, ‘Cez’ was fantastic — I said I didn’t want to speak about individuals. 

“Blake set himself earlier in the week, he had a mate there with a few words of encouragement but they’ve got plenty of experience behind them.”