Craig O’Donoghue: Fremantle Dockers AFLW coach Lisa Webb could produce the inspiration for a flag this week

When Fremantle AFLW coach Lisa Webb steps up to address her players this week, the most important words to come from her mouth won’t be about tactics or the opposition. Webb needs to sell a story of hope that has players eating out of the palm of her hand. Webb has done the hard yards to get the Dockers into a semi-final against Adelaide despite being without key players all season. Teams can be galvanised by those scenarios and the next-up mentality has been a feature of the Dockers’ campaign. But every Docker will understand the size of the challenge they now face. To win the flag, Fremantle must beat Adelaide, Brisbane and most likely North Melbourne. All three games will be played interstate. The Crows have won three flags - the most in the comp. The Lions have won two - including last season - and lost three. No club has played in more AFLW grand finals. The Kangaroos haven’t lost a game all season. Their last defeat was last year’s grand final. Webb’s job now is to sell more than a footy message. She’s got to turn the mighty challenge into a feeling of destiny. Premierships are like movies. The plot needs a twist that puts everyone back on the edge of their seat and takes you on an emotional journey. Case in point - Ted Lasso at Brisbane. What started as a mid-season video from coach Chris Fagan telling the players to “be a goldfish” and forget about their mistakes became a theme to live by. The famous Lasso “Believe” sign was THE feature of the club’s finals campaign. The club made t-shirts, scarves and stubby holders leading into the finals. It was on the club’s banner on grand final day. Players talked about it. Fans talked about it. Everyone was united by one word - Believe. You need a lot of luck in footy. You need even more luck with themes. When the Lions trailed by 44 points in their semi-final against GWS, stormed home and won, “Believe” became real. When they were 25 points down in the preliminary final, the Lions players could look at each other and know that “Believe” was real. They won that game too. And when they attempted to win their third consecutive game away from home and come from fifth to win the premiership, “Believe” wasn’t just a word. It was a way of life. They dominated. The stories around finals themes are one of the most enjoyable and enduring parts of premierships. West Coast had Friends, Family, Flags in 2018. It was perfect for that group. It was perfect for the club at the time. Adam Simpson unveiled the finals theme at The Camfield on the Wednesday night of the finals bye. The hook was three boxes. The friends box had a tick. The family box had a tick. The flags box was empty. Simple but hugely effective. As the players gathered in the coach’s room with medals around their necks and the premiership cup on the floor, captain Shannon Hurn rose and ticked the box on the whiteboard for flags. The room erupted. They’d invested in the theme. The reality for Webb is, she most likely produced the theme before the Dockers beat Essendon on Saturday. Collingwood coach Craig McRae set out the 2023 theme on day one of pre-season - Take The Steps. The concept was that most people get in a lift or use the escalator, because it’s easier and quicker, but to win a flag, AFL teams have to take one step at a time. McRae went as far as holding a training session at the MCG where the players took every step to the top. He had his theme and the squad embraced it. They even started sending photos of stairs on their WhatsApp groups. Clubs and players love a theme. But selling that theme is the real key. Hawthorn players still talk about Allan Jeans telling them to pay the price at half-time of the 1989 grand final. The theme was built around a boy who had to choose between cheap shoes or ones that were more expensive but would last for longer. He wanted them to pay the price. The Dockers arrived at the club last week in business attire to reflect that it is now the business end of the season. They embraced that moment and had fun with it. We may get a better idea of whether Webb is using that as her entire theme this week. Whatever she’s using, this is the week where the message has to rise to another level. This is the week where, if the Dockers are to win the flag, they’ll reflect on the moment they have never felt more inspired. The greatest challenge in AFLW awaits. The theme needs to match that occasion.