Justin Longmuir says the Dockers have “spread the burden of blame” after last week’s disastrous loss, and won’t be wielding the axe when the club announces its line-up later on Wednesday.

It comes as the under-siege Fremantle coach revealed he had “20 or 30 text messages” to check in on how he was faring in the wake of scrutiny around his position at the helm.

The Dockers have been the heavy focus of the AFL world after their 61-point hammering at the hands of St Kilda, leading to questions around Longmuir’s tenure as coach.

Their response will need to be swift, but it will be tough given they host second-placed Collingwood at Optus Stadium on Thursday night.

Longmuir has taken the Dockers to one finals series in his five completed seasons as coach. Many pundits and fans were optimistic about the Dockers’ chances of contending for a maiden premiership this season given the strength of their list and the acquisition of mercurial forward Shai Bolton.

But the loss to the Saints and a previous winless Melbourne in the past three games have cast doubts over their flag credentials and the coach’s ability to get them there.

Longmuir said he felt support from everyone at the club despite the pressure building on him with several players coming out to publicly back the coach.

“I feel everyone’s support inside the four walls. What happens probably externally is the coach gets blamed for every poor performance but realistically what happens internally is everyone takes ownership in their part of those performances,” he said.

“As a playing group, a coaching group, assistant coaches, me – we’ve spread the burden of blame across the whole footy department for that performance on the weekend and owned our part.

“That’s the only way you get better. If you think it’s all someone else’s fault, you don’t take ownership personally in yourself you don’t get better and learn from those performances.

“I think we’ve done that right early in the week so for the last few days our focus has been on Collingwood and the game coming up.”

Longmuir said he had not read into the outside noise around his future but revealed he’d had overwhelming support in the wake of the pressure.

“I don’t sit there and read external commentary. What I’ve done this week is try to prepare the players the best I can for (the) upcoming performance rather than what’s going on externally,” he said.

“I’ve asked the players not to read into that. Realistically, that’s where we’ve got to get to as a footy club, just focusing on the next game, leaning into our processes, whether we come off a win or a loss, that’ll help us become a more consistent team.

“After a performance on the weekend we don’t need to batten down the hatches, after a good performance against Adelaide we don’t need to go over the top (and) celebrate too much.

“We just need to make sure we lean in on our processes week-in, week-out and that’s what I’ve done this week. The difference this week is I’ve had 20 or 30 text messages checking in to make sure I’m going all right, which I really appreciate.”

Several players have also come into the spotlight for recent performances, with calls for the Dockers to make several moves at the selection table.

Longmuir said he wouldn’t swing the axe despite the belting at the hands of the Saints.

“We can’t get caught up in wielding the axe after a poor performance and everything being great after the Adelaide game,” he said.

“We just need to calm down a little bit and ensure that we make sure internally we’re really consistent with our behaviours, consistent with the way we approach things and that in turn will help us become consistent on the field.”

Longmuir confirmed they would continue with the dual ruck set-up of Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson despite their midfield struggles last weekend.

Fremantle were smashed at the clearances 50-22 in the first game Darcy and Jackson have played together this season.

“It’d be nice to calm down a little bit, it was their first game of the year in what was a pretty average performance,” Longmuir said.

“Let’s just see how it unfolds after hopefully a bit of time playing together.”