<p>Welcome to The Huddle’s AFL Finals previews!</p> <p>After a long season and one of the tightest races ever to secure a place in the September action, we are down to the final eight teams that will battle it out for this year's AFL Premiership.</p> <p>As we gear up for all the September action, it’s time to look at and preview all the teams that have qualified for the AFL Finals in 2025.</p> <p>They made it hard for themselves, but the Fremantle Dockers secured their place on the September starting grid by winning the ultimate ‘play-in’ game against the Bulldogs on the last Sunday of the season.&nbsp;</p> <p>With their ‘Flagmantle’ dream still alive, can they give retiring champion Nat Fyfe the perfect send-off with the club's first-ever Premiership?</p> <p>For the latest news, analysis, picks, and betting tips, read our Fremantle Dockers finals preview below!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Fremantle Dockers Road to the AFL Finals</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It certainly was a rollercoaster ride to September for the Dockers.</p> <p>The Dockers were the talk of the off-season and widely tipped to be one of 2025’s big risers. After landing a few key acquisitions and with coach Justin Longmuir restructuring his contract, 2025 shaped up as a make-or-break year—especially after a disappointing collapse the season before.</p> <p>But things didn’t exactly start smoothly. Round One saw them absolutely belted by 78 points down in Geelong—a nightmare start. Still, there was one bright spot: teenage sensation Murphy Reid lit up the third quarter with four straight goals, introducing himself to the footy world in style.</p> <p>Freo finally chalked up their first win in Round Three, taking out the Derby, and then backed it up with a come-from-behind victory over an injury-hit Bulldogs side at Optus Stadium.</p> <p>A strong showing against Richmond during Gather Round briefly pushed them into the top eight, but reality bit back hard a week later. They handed Melbourne their first win of the season at the MCG—a flat performance that raised some early alarm bells.</p> <p>Back home, they kept Adelaide at arms length during the Len Hall Tribute Game in Round Seven, but whatever momentum they had was completely wiped out the next week with a shocking performance against St Kilda at Marvel. It was the kind of loss that had fans and pundits alike questioning everything—and suddenly the pressure on Longmuir and his underperforming squad was dialed up big time.</p> <p>Things got worse when midfield gun Hayden Young re-injured his hamstring, ruling him out for a big chunk of the season. Then skipper Alex Pearce was sidelined indefinitely with a stress injury in his shin.</p> <p>Despite Collingwood missing five of their best players the following week, the Magpies still got the job done in Perth, and the Dockers were staring down the barrel as the season hit its midpoint.</p> <p>But then something clicked.</p> <p>Freo launched into a blistering run, showing glimpses of the team everyone hoped—and expected—them to be. They picked up back-to-back away wins against the Giants and Suns, kicking off a remarkable stretch where they won 12 of their next 13 games.</p> <p>Among the highlights was a stirring come-from-behind win over Collingwood at the MCG, where they clawed back from nearly five goals down at the final change to steal it by a point. Some called it the greatest win in club history—and it's hard to argue.</p> <p>They pulled off two more clutch comeback wins in the run home—first against Carlton at Optus, then a thriller over Port Adelaide—before slipping up against Brisbane in their final home game of the season. That loss threw their top-four hopes into jeopardy and meant they had to beat the Bulldogs in the last round, away from home, to lock in a spot in September.</p> <p>Before the game against the Lions, Club legend Nat Fyfe announced his retirement, saying he would hang up the boots at the end of the season, following the club's finals campaign… should they get there!</p> <p>Funnily enough, the Dogs were in the same boat. With both teams’ seasons on the line, the match was dubbed the “Guts Up Cup.”</p> <p>The Dockers headed to Melbourne and, despite a shaky first quarter, turned it on when it mattered. They blew the Dogs away and emphatically booked not just a finals spot—but a home elimination final at Optus Stadium.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Fremantle Dockers Players to Watch</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Shai Bolton</h3> <p>When you spend big capital on big-time players like Shai Bolton, players who have big finals experience and can do mercurial things, this is where you want them to deliver.</p> <p>He’s shown flashes of his brilliance this season in his first year in purple, but he hasn’t put a sustained block together and has been moved from the forward 50 to the middle quite a bit in a bid to find his best place in the team.</p> <p>If he can turn it on for four weeks, the Dockers can find themselves going deep.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Caleb Serong</h3> <p>He’s one of the Dockers' most important pieces in the middle of the ground. But, as we have come to know throughout this season, Caleb Serong doesn’t deal with a hard tag particularly well…. And his team suffers because of it.&nbsp;</p> <p>How well he can work through and break away from the attention he will certainly attract will dictate a lot of the Dockers' fortunes.</p> <p>If teams let him do what he wants, put him down for a truckload of possessions, and quality one, too.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Patrick Voss</h3> <p>What a pickup Patty Voss has turned out to be!</p> <p>‘The Prancing Pony’ has enjoyed his breakout season, kicking 34 goals from his 19 games, becoming an exceptional third tall option alongside Josh Treacy and Jye Amiss.</p> <p>He’s kicked a bag of three or more in seven games this season, with his best being a bag of six against the Pies. His celebrations can also spark something within his team, who will look for him to get them energized if they fall flat.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Why can Fremantle win the AFL Premiership?</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The Flagmantle dream is alive and well.</p> <p>They start at home against the Gold Coast Suns, and have proven this year that they can win on the road when the chips are down, too.</p> <p>With Young and Pearce back in the team, the Dockers really want for nothing out on the field. And, if they can get their transition game going, with the impetus to get the game going with some speed on the ball, they will pose some threats for their opposition they come up against.&nbsp;</p> <p>Plus, the emotion of getting it done for Nat Fyfe, and the dream of bringing home the club's first-ever flag.. This is the best place they have ever been to get it done.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>What will hold Fremantle back from the 2025 AFL Premiership?</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Can their biggest stumbling block be themselves?</p> <p>If they come out looking timid and wanting to go slowly and conservatively, as we saw late in the season against the Lions, and on a few occasions in the early part of the season, they have the tendency to go into their shell and play slowly.</p> <p>While they do start at home against the Suns, and while we have just mentioned they have been good travellers this year, three consecutive trips in an arduous finals campaign could be a bridge too far.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Prediction:</strong> Semi-Final&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>How many AFL Premierships does Fremantle have?</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>None</p> <p><a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/afl/news/most-afl-premierships">The Dockers are yet to taste premiership success since they entered the AFL in 1994. </a>They made the one Grand Final back in 2013, where they lost to Hawthorn. The last time they made it to Preliminary Final weekend was 2015.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Fremantle Dockers Premiership Odds:</h2>