Seen as one of the head coaches under the most pressure heading into the 2024 season, Dockers steward Justin Longmuir is set to skipper his own ship, with the 43-year-old set to manage himself when negotiating a new deal with the club.
Since returning to Fremantle's fold ahead of the 2020 season, the former forward has led the Dockers into battle on 82 occasions, collating a 40-1-41 win-loss record with his wins coming at a clip of 49.39 per cent.
Yet, entering the season out of contract and steering a young side that missed September last season after earning a berth the year prior, many outsiders believe the heat of Longmuir's seat is only set to intensify as 2024 progresses.
However, when quizzed, Longmuir pressed that he was a man led by his own expectations, not those of others.
"I don't feel it as heat. We want to win every game and that's our mentality when we go into every game," Longmuir told 10 News.
Internally, Fremantle has set its sights on a return to the finals action, with CEO Simon Garlic expressing in November of 2021 - a month before Longmuir inked his now-expiring deal - that the club holds the aim of winning at least one AFL and AFLW premiership by the end of each 2025 season.
Still, with a current deal to do his job, Longmuir stressed that he wouldn't be looking too far forward, no matter the external pressure.
"It does really bother me. I just live day-to-day. My job is my job, to make sure I prepare the players as best I can for the start of the season. That's my sole focus," he added.
"It gets a little bit tricky, I suppose, when family get involved, or loved ones read stuff that is a little bit unsavoury and not nice; you have to deal with that a little bit."
Fremantle are set to face off against West Coast and Port Adelaide across the course of the pre-season before an opening month of that season proper that will see them meet Brisbane (H), North Melbourne (A), Adelaide (H) and Carlton (H) in succession.