Fremantle coach Ross Lyon admits the Dockers were made to look second rate on their way to their lowest score of the season in a 72-point loss to Hawthorn.
In a humbling experience for the top-of-the-table side, the miserly Hawks restricted them to just one goal in the first half of their clash in Launceston.
Fremantle went on to register a score of 6.7 (43), with three of those goals coming in the final term, when the heat was out of the game.
"Clearly we'll be assessed poorly, but that's reality," Lyon said.
"What we need to do is review and identify some areas. Our model is to identify what we need to improve, bring our effort and try to improve.
"We sit here disappointed, we sit here with our tail between our legs, you can't defend the indefensible or dispute what occurred.
"We deal with reality, we try and learn from it, and we need to get better quickly."
Lyon admits his side is in a rut with his Dockers failing to score more than 84 points in their past six outings.
Despite Sunday's heavy loss, Fremantle still have the stingiest defence in the AFL but are ranked 10th in points scored - behind last year's wooden spooner St Kilda.
The Dockers didn't have a multiple goal-kicker against the Hawks, but their forwards were starved of opportunity with just 38 inside 50s.
"It's pretty hard to hit up your midfielders because of the centre square bounce (work) when they've been so good all year," Lyon said in defense of his onball brigade.
"To Hawthorn's credit they were really good in there. We had a lot of first possession but we coughed it up - we were probably being a bit cute.
"I think they're earnt a fair bit of respect, they deserve an opportunity (to redeem themselves)."
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