Former Port Adelaide midfielder Kane Cornes has criticised Fremantle stars Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters for mocking opponents and accused the team of arrogance after losing back-to-back matches against bottom four opponents.

The Dockers slid to a 7-7 record after Sunday’s loss to Carlton and sit in eighth spot, percentage ahead of Port Adelaide and Essendon ahead of Saturday night’s crucial western derby.

The team has been hit by injuries to key players in recent weeks, with Jesse Hogan (foot), Rory Lobb (foot) and Stephen Hill (hamstring), joining Alex Pearce (ankle) and Matt Taberner (foot) on the sidelines.

However, Cornes said the Dockers had also been bitten by an arrogance that had emerged two weeks earlier when captain Fyfe ruffled the hair of All-Australian Robbie Gray - an increasingly prevalent practice among AFL players - and match-winner Walters blew kisses at Port Adelaide opponents.

“I thought this was off for a club that has really achieved nothing in its history and certainly in recent times,” Cornes told Footy Classified on Monday night.

“Since that vision, they’ve lost to the 16th-placed side (and) they’ve lost to the last-placed side after being up by five goals at quarter time.

“This is the arrogance that comes back to bite you against the bottom side.”

Fremantle blew a 29-point quarter time lead and conceded four goals in the final 10 minutes of Sunday’s match, with former Carlton skipper Marc Murphy kicking the match-winning goal with 31 seconds on the clock.

Cornes said the Dockers made four costly mistakes in the final five minutes.

He highlighted defender Ethan Hughes’ decision not to rush a behind, key tall Brennan Cox standing to the side as Kade Simpson ran around to kick a late goal, and defender Connor Blakely allowing Murphy to run through a stoppage unmanned before kicking the go-ahead goal.

“That could cost them the season,” Cornes, who described Carlton’s triumph as the “win of the year”, said.

Meanwhile, Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd said Jesse Hogan needed to “focus on his football and getting his body right” after the injured forward criticised a journalist on social media, later removing the post.

“The moment you’re doing that, you’re telling me that your head is not in the right space if you’re being so aggressive towards a journalist,” Lloyd said.

“Getting on Twitter and doing that is just dumb, dumb behaviour.”