The Western Bulldogs have fallen frustratingly short of locking-in a 2025 finals berth after losing a crucial Round 24 clash against Fremantle on Sunday afternoon.

It was a second-quarter blitz from the visiting team, in which they piled on seven goals to none, that would ultimately be the difference.

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Marcus Bontempelli | "We've got to be upfront and honest"

The Skipper reflects on the 15-point closing round loss to Fremantle at Marvel Stadium.

While the Dogs were able to claw back in the final term, the loss means the team’s finals aspirations now lie in the hands of the Bombers.

Speaking following the game, captain Marcus Bontempelli shared his frustration at the performance, believing that, despite showing patches, the Dogs were ultimately outplayed by a better opponent.

“They’re a pretty tough team. I thought they had the better of us around the ground 50/50s at times, which – you know, in these games, these finals-like games – you’ve got to win more of them than you lose,” Bontempelli said post-match.

“They had the better of us there, and just the speed they got off those long kicks to talls down the line.

“They had a few guys who were just quick.

“They just fly off the plays, and we weren’t able to create enough delay and stop them. Too many easy scores that we should have been able to stop.”

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Luke Beveridge | Post Match (R24)

Luke Beveridge speaks to the media following the loss to Fremantle.

The captain was honest in his assessment, highlighting the obvious areas of the game where the team needed to improve in the future.

However, he added his optimism for the emerging talent and positive signs displayed within the game and consistently throughout the year.

“You’re trying to reflect on a whole season which has had some growth in it, and we’ll sort of look to point those out in the next few days, pending whatever happens,” he said.

“We’ve got to use this. We’ve got to be up front and honest about the things that we did well, but there’s some obvious aspects of our game we need to do better.

“You’ve got to look at this as an opportunity to learn and get better.

“You can’t just sort of wipe your hands with it and just dust it off as another season that didn’t go our way.

“It has to feed into the next one.”

The Dogs will learn whether their season continues following the conclusion of Gold Coast v Essendon on Wednesday night.