Fremantle's bid to be bold with the ball has turned around their season in dramatic fashion after a flat start to 2023.
The Dockers went into their mid-season bye at 6-5 following four-straight victories, three of them coming against top-four teams from last year.
Hopes of backing up last year's drought-breaking finals appearance looked shot when Fremantle were belted by the Western Bulldogs and Brisbane Lions in consecutive weeks.
But a comfortable win over rebuilding Hawthorn at home was followed by monumental wins against Sydney (away), Geelong and Melbourne (away).
Forward Lachie Schultz said the Dockers would not be reverting back to the conservative approach they took early in the season.
"I think we're just playing with a lot more dare, a lot more freedom," Schultz told AAP after the round 11 win against the Demons.
"Having this play to win mindset, and the confidence that comes from that, just boys taking the game on and trusting themselves with the ball in hand.
"We’re pulling off kicks that we wouldn't have gone for at the start of the year and trusting our legs to just run and carry and attack the game.
"It's just obviously put us so far ahead of where we were and we'll keep playing like that because we know it's working and we're just going to keep growing our individual games and as a team and see how far we can go."
Fremantle will be without towering ruckman Sean Darcy for Saturday night's clash with Richmond at Optus Stadium.
But the Dockers know star recruit Luke Jackson is coming off a confidence-boosting performance in the last-start win against the Dees.
When Darcy was injured midway through the match, Jackson stepped up with one of the best performances of his 63-game career against the club he helped win a drought-breaking premiership for.
"He's such a special player," Schultz said of Jackson.
"He's obviously got the world at his feet, it could be absolutely anything for this club and it's just so exciting with where he can go from here.
"To play like that against his old mob (in Melbourne), it's just more special for him.
"If someone like me was playing against my old club I'd be nervous going into game but he just thrived on it."
