A mammoth clean-up effort is underway in the heart of Fremantle, as devastated Dockers fans continue to come to terms with the crushing reality their team’s premiership dream was ripped away in the final four minutes of the 2026 AFL Grand Final.

The Port City was a virtual ghost town Sunday morning, except for dozens of maintenance workers and rubbish trucks seen clearing the Cappuccino Strip in the aftermath of the City’s grand final watch party.

Only a handful of the Purple Army returned to home soil on Sunday, including long-suffering Joanne Kenny who said she was “shattered but proud” of her beloved team.

“It’s hard to talk about to be honest, they say we’ll be back next year, but getting to a grand final is really hard,” she said.

“I’ve been a fan since the beginning ... all the young kids haven’t been through the pain that we’ve been through.

“We’ve lived in Freo for a very, very long time and we’ve been through the pain and good times, but it’s so good where they are at the moment, and JL’s done a really good job with them.”

Parkwood local Leanne Reeves, who has been a Dockers fan her entire life, watched the game along with 10,000 others at Fremantle Oval.

The morning after she said she felt nothing but pride, pointing out the fresh purple ink on her arm she added during the finals campaign.

“I’m not devastated, I mean I was hoping we’d win, but seven points is not bad ... it could have been a whitewash,” she said.

“Fremantle Oval was absolutely electric, it was the best $20 we spent besides a drink.

“I’m just so proud of them I even got a bloody tattoo on my forearm. I was going to put 2026 on it but I won’t be doing that until next year now.”

Sisters Emma Dearing and Amy Dalby said they were feeling mixed emotions, and that it was devastating to see their team lose by such a small margin.

“We’re feeling very flat from yesterday and very sad, but also really proud of the team,” Ms Dearing said.

“It was a really really close game and everyone was saying what an amazing grand final it was, but it still really hurts to come so close and lose at the end.

“I feel like what Brisbane did to us is what Freo have been doing to teams all year, and so to be on the other side of that is tough.”

The pair had spent Saturday morning “soaking it all up”, wandering the streets of Freo and eating purple food, before going home to watch the game with their family.

“We were too nervous to watch it in public, we just wanted to be able to focus the game,” Ms Dearing said.

“After the game we came into Freo because we wanted to see what it looked like, but it was a bit depressing.”

Ms Dalby said she had been Dockers supporter since the team’s inception in 1994, and remembered being one of the only fans in her school class.

“We’ve been doing lots of reflecting, we were in primary school in the ‘90s when the Dockers weren’t doing well ... I was one of two Dockers fans in my whole year group at school,” she said.

“We were in the minority and had to suffer through all those dirty losses, so it’s really lovely to see Freo having their time. It’s just disappointing that we got so close but so far.”

More than 40,000 Dockers fans descended on the streets of Fremantle on Saturday, with punters arriving as early as 6am to secure front-row seats along the strip.

The historic clash — which was just the Fremantle Dockers’ second grand final — against Brisbane saw the Lions stage a remarkable comeback from from 19 points down late in the fourth quarter to win by seven points.