Even the always-measured Justin Longmuir concedes he has dreamt of what it would be like to take Fremantle to an elusive first premiership.
But the Fremantle coach cares more about making sure the AFL's perennial underdogs reach grand-final week every year, like Chris Fagan's two-time reigning premiers Brisbane, rather than one moment in the sun.
Longmuir, the former Fremantle ruckman, can earn Dockers immortality in Saturday's grand final against the Lions at the MCG and said it was "hard not to" think about doing so.
"I've thought about this moment for a number of years," Longmuir said.
"And I think when I first went into coaching, I always had the goal in the back of my mind to lead us to this position and it would fill me with great pride to be able to do that.
"But win or lose tomorrow, it's not the end of the journey.
"I've thought about this moment for a number of years... but if we win tomorrow, it's not full stop on the journey."
— AFL (@AFL) September 25, 2026
Justin Longmuir on what being the first Fremantle premiership coach would mean.#AFLGF pic.twitter.com/ey5Ethpn7h
"As a football club, we want to create something that 'Fages' has created, where you're contending for a number of years. So whether we win tomorrow, it's not full stop on the journey or what we set out to achieve.
"It's another moment, big moment, and something that will fill us with enormous pride and our fans will be able to celebrate, but it's not the end of the journey.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us to be able to create a team and a club that competes year in year out like these guys (Brisbane) are."
Skipper Alex Pearce is also hungrily eyeing off the prospect of leading the Dockers to the holy grail.
"(It's) definitely something that I have been conscious of," Pearce said.
"But I think as it's gotten closer to the game, I've been really mindful of controlling what we can control.
"And I've made sure that my efforts and attention and the team's efforts and attention are going into things that matter and that can help us win on on game day - and wanting to win really bad isn't gonna help us."
Brisbane veteran Lachie Neale is the only current player left from the Fremantle team that lost the 2013 grand final to Hawthorn - the Dockers' one previous grand final.
Shai Bolton (Richmond), Luke Jackson (Melbourne) and Mason Cox (Collingwood) are Fremantle's premiership winners at their previous clubs.
Longmuir was adamant the minor premiers are prepared.
"This hasn't been a flash in the pan. It hasn't been 'oh, we've gone on a good streak and landed in the grand final'," he said.
"We've built over a number of years for this moment. We played the type of footy that we feel holds up at this time of the year."
