A pair of former AFL champions have lavished praise on Fremantle after the competition’s hottest side extended their club-record winning streak out to 11 games by beating back-to-back reigning premiers Brisbane.

The white-hot Dockers franked their status as flag favourites by toppling the Lions by 25 points at the Gabba on Saturday.

Midway through the third term, they produced a stunning blitz of four goals in five minutes which extended their advantage as far out as 46 points.

Despite being without vice-captain Caleb Serong and the dynamic Hayden Young through the midfield, the visitors were able to give key forward trio Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss and Pat Voss enough chances to combine for 11 goals.

Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell hailed Justin Longmuir’s side as a “complete team”.

“They’ve got the key forwards, Alex Pearce behind the ball, Serong and Hayden Young still out of the team as well, they’ve got the X-factor players in (Murphy) Reid, Shai Bolton,” Mitchell told the AFL website.

“I think they’re the team to beat.

“They’re the healthiest list, which does help, they’ve used the least amount of players and you hope they can maintain that throughout the season and be injury-free, because that’s what ultimately wins finals and flags.”

Another former AFL star in Adelaide champion Rory Sloane said he had no doubt Fremantle were “the real deal”.

“Their midfield group is the best two-way midfield group in the competition. They put defensive pressure on, they’re not just reliant on winning heaps and heaps of footy, they don’t over-use the ball, they don’t stat-collect,” Sloane said on the Sunday Footy Show.

“They were missing Hayden Young, Serong — these guys are outstanding.

“They want to defend, they want to get at the opposition. I thought Lachie Neale was incredibly well-held.

“They play with incredible balance. There’s no chinks in their armour at the moment at either end of the ground.”

Chris Fagan, who has been at the helm for both of Brisbane’s grand final victories in the last two seasons, was also full of praise for the Dockers.

“They’re really good. They’ve been developing now for five or six years. Each time I play them, I can see those young blokes getting better. They’re approaching a real sweet spot, I reckon, in their growth and development as a footy club,” Fagan said.

“I know how difficult it is to travel, being an interstate team. They’ve got to travel from Perth, and they’ve been able to win that many games. That’s an outstanding effort. They would get a lot of confidence from that

“It’s probably a mark of Fremantle’s improvement that they’ve been able to come here and beat us at our ground. I don’t think they’ve done that for a long time. So they’re going really well. They look strong, and the big key forwards kicked 11 between them. They’re a weapon.”