We can't allow tonight to be Sammy's finale. He can't end his hard-fought career with a straight sets exit! Time to rapidly Restump Podcast Freo's do or die ding dong against the Morris Finance Felines.

The ratio of disappearing fingernails to hours before the bounce is out of whack. If it's a close game, many of us will lose finger tips by the end of it!

Not going to lie, we're a little on edge as we get closer to bounce down. I don't know if the frequent nervous whizzing has kicked in or I've got prostate issues!

The Cats are going to be an almighty tough task. They're well drilled, superbly coached and they've played more finals that we've had early mad Mondays!

Tonight we'll get some clarity on whether our formidable Freo folk are September sufficient or really just regular season rock stars!

Can we handle the pressure we collapsed under against the Hawks? Will we see a conspicuous response to last week? Is there any chance of an overcorrection?

Do we put Jeremy Cameron in the gun and go after him? It may deliver the Cats a distraction as they try to protect him. Is Bailey Smith the one we should more than corral from the catwalk?

Can we see some forward defensive pressure? We can't allow the Cats to walk the ball out of the fifty like Hawks did with ease. Freddy, Switta, Dudley all need to bring unconditional defensive effort.

Does Hayden Young pinch hit at half back to help out the defensive unit and provide us run and carry and precise delivery?

We have to expect the Cattery will have cooked up some cracks to our codes. So, we have to be composed, cool calm and collected and ready to become counteracting contortionists!

We can do this! We've beaten the cats when it counts before. If we need to take out their nine lives, then so be it!

Tonight we're at the last chance saloon. Late in the evening when we hear, Time ladies and gentlemen please, last call for drinks, we have to make that final drink count.

We're just minimal movements of the stick on the tick tock away from getting underway. So, if you want to settle your system and calm your nerves, get as far away from us and this pod as you possibly can!

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For a moment there, us twisted, rusted-on supporters thought we may have lost our identity. But we weren’t letting Hawthorn take that away from us! Let’s just say deliberately doing things the difficult way is character-building. Time to Restump Podcast our gut-wrenching game against the hard-nosed Hawks.

Sadly, we know all too well that a sense of inevitability is difficult to misplace. Thursday night, we added another stat to our 30-year history of failures when it matters most.

That one is tough to reconcile. Getting beaten was definitely a possibility, but no one saw us performing like that. We folded like the deckchairs we sat in on the interchange sidelines at Marvel Stadium against the Blues two weeks back!

The thought we’d be outworked, outmuscled and, most of all, out-pressured in that manner and to that extent, never entered the equation. We were overconfident we wouldn’t be overawed or overwhelmed, and overlooking that possibility maybe was, in itself, part of the problem.

We’re not physically or mentally battle-hardened. We don’t have the deep finals experience to deal with that type of finals onslaught and, albeit somewhat justifiably, we got carried away with the home-and-away season. Unfortunately, we just failed to distinguish between it and September.

While it’s no excuse for the way we were brushed aside and pressured out of the game, our old mate Lloyd Meek has played more finals than 20 of the 23 players we rolled out Thursday night.

Let that sink into the noggin! The ruckman who, understandably, couldn’t get a look in at Freo, goes to another team, fights his way into the position of first ruck, puts away more finals than his former teammates and adds another one to his tally against them. One of those football stories, and we actually couldn’t be happier for him.

The reality is we’ve had quite the fortuitous season. We’ve met teams at the right times; we’ve had an absurd injury list, or rather a lack of one, and we’ve faced almost zero adversity. You still have to rack up the wins, and we were impressive doing so, but there were numerous games where we just got over the line thanks to 10 to 15 minutes of burst footy. That isn’t necessarily reliable or replicable in finals football.

A lack of obstacles and misfortune isn’t our fault, and it can be a big tick for process, planning and application. But did we overlook that lack of hardship we faced this year? Was it problematic in our preparation for September?

Hats off to the Hawks. They were ferocious and relentless, and they thoroughly deserved the win. But the disappointing aspect for us was that we couldn’t work our way back into it at any stage. That has been our signature this year, but, again, finals is a different bag.

However, being the best side all year means we earned our finals position and double chance. We were hoping not to need it but, it’s safe to say, it’s better to have and not need than need and not have. So, don’t ‘Weekend at Bernies’ us just yet!

We now face the Morris Finance, Cotton On Cats, the family of farm owners, the secret-signature securers, this coming week, in a do-or-die ding-dong on the home deck.

It’s time to make the inevitable avoidable! The canvas is where comebacks begin! Get out your Chumbawambas and start Tubthumping, because we get knocked down, but we get up again.

However, before then, if you need answers and some trauma-ridding closure to move on from last night, you’re amongst like-minded folk. It’s the Freo Festivus, the airing of grievances. We can’t carry complicated cognitive cargo into the Cats’ clash! Let’s cleanse the conscience and create a clean-slate state. So, pull up a pew and partake in passing around the purple prattle pole on the pod.

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We went in with a healthy level of nonchalance; we injected the appropriate amount of complacency and deliberately ended up lackadaisically horizontal. Time to somehow Restump Podcast that beyond meaningless, going through the motions, self-preservation performance against the Blues.

I can’t remember a more meaningless encounter. In fact, I can’t ever recall contemplating switching off 5 minutes into the first quarter. And we were 3 goals up at the time!

And no doubt the players felt the same. There wasn’t the attention to detail, there wasn’t any defensive vigour and there was just no purple spirit. Even Paddy Voss’ attempt at inserting the energetic vibe fell flat. When Vossy can’t spark the fire, you know there’s more at play.

We had nothing whatsoever to gain and too much to potentially lose. We rested Jye Amiss, Sammy Switkowski and Heath Chapman.

But why did we stop there? It’s been a hell of a long season, so why wouldn’t we rest half to three quarters of the best 23, Rosco Lyon style? A lack of soldiers in the WAFL wasn’t it! Was a 20-day break too risky? Was it fear of the AFL and their idiotic fake optics obsession?

However, we’ve won 19 games in a season, we’ve won the minor premiership, we’ve got the double chance, two home finals and we’re not only favourites for, but we’re in the best position we’ve ever been in to win that debut flag. That says the club has gotten almost everything right this year, so who are we to question their decisions!

Unfair ifs buts and maybes though, possibly Brennan Cox wouldn’t be nursing a torn calf? And given how absolutely vital he is to our chances, you will never convince me there was merit in putting Alex Peearce on a plane to play in an inconsequential formality, especially after the knock to the knee the week before.

Anyway, Brennan Cox aside, we got through seemingly unscathed to close out what has, so far, been a magnificent and successful season. We couldn’t have achieved much more than we have to date and it’s caps off to all involved at the club.

However, rightfully or wrongfully, the season’s success to date inevitably raises the bar and the expectations. What we’ve done the last 23 rounds shouldn’t be understated or glossed over when reviewing the year, but it is now in the rearview mirror and, in the context of the imminent finals campaign, it counts for noting.

We’re at the pointy end, largely healthy and in good shape. We’ve got a little over a week to prepare for what is now a new season. We all start on zero and we’re looking to win three on the bounce.

Is the All-Australian night now being held in the purple palladium? The numerous positions in the team awarded to Fremantle individuals is a reflection of our remarkable season. And it was especially a stellar evening for Murphy Reid who never seems to walk away empty handed from an award ceremony. He took home the Best Emerging Player award, drawing with St Kilda’s Max Hall.

Nothing against Murph or Max, and by all means call me a killjoy, but these unnecessary made-up awards are getting a little monotonous! It’s becoming a bit participatory! What is this… a seven-year-old’s birthday party where everyone goes home with a lolly bag?

Yeah ok, self-indulgent rant over.

It’s pointless probing that purposeless performance, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of purple to prattle on about. So, don your daggies, deploy your deck chair, decompress and drop in on the docker drivel disguised as deep dialogue on the pod.

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