Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir outlines plan to stop Carlton Blues duo Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow

“How do you stop Harry and Charlie?”

It’s the question every coach attempts to find the answer to and the one posed to Justin Longmuir this week ahead of the club’s Gather Round clash on Saturday.

An in-form Curnow and McKay are the competition’s most dangerous forward combination and have combined for 21.6 so far this season as the Blues start 3-0.

Longmuir said it would take “winning contests and limiting supply” to shut down the power pair.

“I think they had 60-plus inside 50s last week. When the ball lives in their front half it gives them a lot of opportunity,” Longmuir said.

“We need to make sure we get it done in the middle of the ground, we defend our front half really well and when they do get entries, it’s under pressure or entries where we can get back and support.

“It’s a bit of a job.”

Longmuir was confident two-game defender Josh Draper would be able to match it with either McKay or Curnow, with in-form captain Alex Pearce trusted with the other.

Asked if Draper was up to the task, Longmuir responded “he is”.

“He’s in the team to be a key back and their job is to play on key forwards,” he said.

“Carlton have obviously got a couple of key forwards that are in really good form, getting good supply and winning the contest.

“But that’s why Drapes is in the team. We’ll see how it plays out, we haven’t settled on match-ups or structure or everything yet.

“But there has got to be a lot of things we do right up the field as well to help Pearcey, Drapes and Luke (Ryan) for that matter.”

Hayden Young has been a revelation for Fremantle this season and took another step forward against Adelaide, with a game-high 32 touches and eight clearances.

Combined with the reintegration of Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe (nine clearances) into the middle, the Dockers are confident their midfield can match it with the likes of Patrick Cripps, George Hewett and Matthew Kennedy.

“For what gets made of their forward line, and rightly so, they’re on the end of good supply from their midfield,” Longmuir said.

“We need to get it right through there. They’ve got some really good players through there and they’ve got a fair bit of depth through the middle of the ground.”

While beating premiership contender Carlton would be a big scalp for Fremantle, Longmuir denies it’s make or break for their own flag aspirations.

“There’s so much footy to be played from now until the end of the season,” he said.

“It’s another test for us, absolutely, a team that is undefeated, playing good footy.

“It’s going to be a great test but it’s not going to be the line in the sand or anything like that.”

Star ruckman Sean Darcy will travel to Adelaide with the squad on Thursday ahead of an extended road trip ahead of next week’s clash with Port Adelaide.

Darcy is expected to push for selection against the Power but Longmuir admits there will be a “transition period” as the club balances how to bring him back alongside Luke Jackson, who is in superb form in 2024.

“(They will) split the ruck, early days,” Longmuir said.

“We really like Luke forward of the ball, we really like him in the midfield around the ball and winning the ball at ground level.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do but they’ll both be in the team when they’re both fit.”