Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has launched a passionate defence of forward Pat Voss’ tactics, which were labelled “bizarre” by former coach Ross Lyon.

Voss was widely praised for his defensive role on St Kilda co-captain Callum Wilkie in their record-breaking win at Optus Stadium on Friday night.

The fan favourite restricted Wilkie to only three marks; meanwhile, Voss booted three goals himself in the enthralling contest.

Voss and Wilkie were shown numerous times in wrestles, particularly in the first term when the two burly footballers jostled for position.

Post-game, Lyon – who coached the Dockers for 92 games from 2012 to 2019 – questioned the tactics used by Voss.

“I just thought, to be honest, the first 30 seconds was a bit bizarre really when there was an umpire right there,” he said.

Longmuir said Wilkie was as much a part of the scuffle as his enigmatic forward, whom he praised for his role.

“I was really happy with Vossy. When a wrestle happens, it takes two,” he said.

“There nothing to say that the forward has to play in front of the backman in the rule book, so Vossy tried to play behind him, and Wilkie tried to play behind him, and sometimes it turns into a wrestle.

“I understand the narrative around that, but also watched it back pretty closely and felt there was two involved in that.”

Voss has been successful in his role as a defensive forward in the past as well, having limited the impact of Hawthorn co-captain James Sicily.

However, Longmuir hinted they were unlikely to send the 22-year-old to try to stop three-time All-Australian defender Harris Andrews.

“We went to that last year, and it didn’t work as well as we would’ve liked,” he said.

“Harris tends to play on the keys, the best forward of the opposition. So if he goes to JT (Josh Treacy), we’ll just let JT handle that.”

It comes as Brisbane coach Chris Fagan admitted he doesn’t have an easy answer for Andrews, but urged him not to get distracted by any Voss antics.

“It’s hard ... you can’t move him. He’s a back-line player and he’s playing on an opponent,” Fagan said.

“He’s just got to fight through, be strong in the mind, back himself in and not be distracted by the attention.

“I thought he did it quite well last week, probably better than what happened against Geelong the previous week. It’s just getting accustomed to it and backing himself in.”

The Dockers are on a club-record 10-game winning streak, which has not only shot them to the top of the ladder but also to premiership favouritism amongst the bookies.

However, taking on the dual reigning premiers, Brisbane, at the Gabba looms as their biggest test, with Fremantle having not won there since 2016.

Longmuir attempted to play down the heavyweight clash, though, saying it was “just another game”.

“Where are we? Round 11? We’ve got improvement to get after in our footy, we’re playing a really good team away. I understand it’s a big challenge but if we win, we’ll still look at it the same way as if we go up there and lose,” he said.

“I understand all the external noise around premiership favourites and all this stuff, but internally we just don’t focus on that, and we don’t need that motivation to help us play better.”

While the Lions have been the best team over the past few seasons, they’re in a mid-season rut which was compounded in a horror third term against Greater Western Sydney at the weekend.

The Giants kicked 14 unanswered goals in the third term on their way to a 78-point win, which has left questions about their credentials to win three consecutive flags.

Longmuir said that quarter was an “anomaly” that they couldn’t expect to replicate when they looked to take down the Lions.

“We don’t prepare our players to do that. We just prepare for the trends more than an anomaly like that,” he said.

“There are some trends there we see as some real threats, and we see some opportunities. So, like any other team, we prepare our players for those.”