Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is urging Andrew Brayshaw to embrace being tagged, saying the emerging midfield star should view it as a "badge of honour".
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A week after being restricted to 19 disposals against Carlton, Brayshaw tallied just two in the first half against Hawthorn as James Worpel wore him like a glove.
In a bid to break the shackles, Brayshaw was sent to tag Tom Mitchell in the second half, and the move worked wonders.
Mitchell tallied 25 possessions in the first half, but he was restricted to just 12 thereafter.
Brayshaw then got off the leash himself with a nine-disposal final quarter to finish the match with 15 possessions in the 15-point win.
"He's going through a phase now where he's going to have to learn to deal with attention," Longmuir said.
"That's a credit to him, because he started the year really well and teams are identifying him to put time into. He should wear that as a badge of honour and embrace it.
"He doesn't necessarily have to do too many things different. He just has to do his part for the team. Sometimes the best thing is to get your hands dirty and play your role."
Longmuir was full of praise for ruckman Sean Darcy, who booted 3.2 and took five contested marks playing mostly as a forward.
Darcy also tallied 14 disposals, 18 hitouts, and four clearances in arguably his best game at AFL level.
Debutant Josh Treacy (10 disposals) and Sam Sturt (five disposals, one goal) had quiet games, but Longmuir is keen to play the key forwards again in Sunday's clash with the Crows at Adelaide Oval.
Sturt has only just recently recovered from last year's syndesmosis injury that required follow-up surgery.
Longmuir initially wasn't going to pick Sturt and Treacy against the Hawks, but he had a change of heart.
"There were doubts in the back of my mind whether Sturt had done enough work," Longmuir said..
"But the situation we're in, we just needed to take a risk on him. He offers something that we don't have a lot of - and that's speed and ability on the lead.
"He probably didn't have his best day, but he'll build on that.
"It's always been a bit of a battle in my mind really ... does three talls work as a forward line? But I decided to go with it."
Australian Associated Press
