Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir won’t allow his players to use the early start to Saturday’s clash against Carlton as an excuse if they don’t perform, saying the team now has enough experience with the unique schedule to understand what is required.

The Dockers have been below their best when playing before midday (WA time) this year.

While they demolished Essendon at the MCG in round 10, they then lost to GWS, had a poor first half against Port Adelaide and lost to Melbourne in their most recent interstate trip.

Saturday’s game against Carlton starts at 11.15am WST but Longmuir is confident his players will be ready.

“It has been a bit difficult, playing here at night and then going away and playing early games, but we’ve had a good run at it,” he said.

“I don’t think it was an issue against Melbourne. We just need to make sure that we value the right things. We’ve had the GWS game, the Port Adelaide game, and the Melbourne game at this time. So we should be getting familiarised with it, and our routine should be in good order. There won’t be an excuse.”

The Dockers have predominantly held their captain’s run earlier than the time of the match when interstate, although they trained in the afternoon before facing Port Adelaide in South Australia. They stepped onto the MCG at 11.25am EST when preparing for their game against Melbourne.

Longmuir said the team will again hold their Captain’s Run in the morning on Friday, but admitted the club couldn’t always choose when they would hold their final training session.

“We’ll go in the morning,” he said.

“That’s not really on us. It’s ground availability. It’s hard to get grounds to train on. When you get to train on the ground that you’re playing at, you take whatever time you get. But this week we’ll train in the morning like usual, and that pretty normal preparation.”

The Dockers can’t move from top spot on the ladder and are facing a Carlton line-up that qualified for the Wildcard Round last weekend and is riding high with confidence following Josh Fraser’s appointment as coach.

Tobyn Murray will make his AFL debut for the Dockers after an impressive WAFL season where he;s kicked 21 goals. Murray, who was recruited as a 20-year-old from Geelong’s VFL team at the end of last season, will get the chance to play his first game in his home state.