Over the years, I've come to realise that the news in the media regarding Fremantle, their players, coaches, performances, etc... is often aligned to a far more negative narrative than what I believe to be true. Reading this thread, it saddens me when I see supposed Freo supporters who repeat many of those same negative narratives.
Here's my understanding of Freo's recent years under Ross Lyon;
In 2015, Freo won the minor premiership. They were eliminated in the Preliminary Final by the eventual three-peat premiers Hawthorn. There was plenty of media talk about how Freo couldn't win the premiership because they did not have enough scoring capabilities. But the only team in 2015 with a defence (ranked by Home and Away points) better than Freo was Hawthorn. The Hawks were also one of the few teams to have an older and more experienced team than Freo.
By the end of 2015, Freo appeared to be under pressure to find a way to overcome the skilled uncontested football game plan that the Hawks had.
Freo recruited assistant coaches with Hawthorn experience.
So in 2016, Freo with a revised game plan, got smashed (largely in scores from turnovers) by the Western Bulldogs in round 1. It was the bulldogs (eventual 2016 premiers) 10th successive win at their home ground (Docklands). Freo were without Sandilands, Johnson, A.Pearce (and promising recruits Harley Bennell and Shane Yarran).
In round 2, Freo again got beaten by Gold Coast at Subi. Statistically, Freo played OK, but again got smashed by costly turnovers and Freo's failure to defend against Gold Coasts run and spread. There appeared to be a move away from getting numbers to and behind the contested ball to now be more offensive to improve Freo's uncontested possession (ie. as Hawthorn do).
Next is the Western derby with Mundy missing and Sandilands getting injured in the 2nd qtr. The Slime win.
Freo then get Norths at the Docklands. Norths are in great form (older and more experienced) and end up winning their first 9 games of 2016. Freo are without Sandilands and Mundy and already trying to find some depth in younger players such as Weller, Langdon, A.Pearce, Taberner, Sheridan & Sutcliffe.
By then end of Round 5 after losing a close game at home to Carlton, with 7 Freo players with 50 games or less, and Fyfe breaking his leg, with no Sandilands, and Mundy, Freo's chances of playing finals in 2016 looks bleak.
I've gone to the effort here to show that sometimes in AFL, things just don't go your way. Can Freo be blamed for some of that? Yep. But there was also a great deal of bad luck happening. By the end of round 16 2016, I read an article which showed Freo had been affected by injury worse than any other AFL team. The article ranked the effect of the injuries by the quality of players lost. Freo had 431 points with Collingwood a distant 2nd worse off with 263 points.
So Freo bite the bullet and start the rebuild at the end of 2016 with aggressive recruiting via the draft and trade.
Fast forward to today and Freo are now consistently fielding a team of players that are currently considerably younger and less experienced than any of the current top 8 teams.
The picture I'm trying to paint is, I'm not so sure it's fair to be blaming Freo or Ross Lyon for the last few years. Unfortunate circumstances have pretty much dictated our recent history. If I look back further to the start of Ross Lyon's tenure (ie. end of 2011), I still struggle to identify any obvious failings. Attempts have been made to net some big fish, but they continue to escape capture. Last weekend, there was just 4 players who were recruited prior to Lyon arriving at Freo (Mundy, S.Hill, Walters and Sutcliffe). The statistics indicate that in 2 or 3 years, if Freo have a decent run with few injuries, then we should get to really see how successful our current rebuild is. Until then, I feel the finger pointing and blame game is based on a narrative heard in the media and not so much supported by recent history.