Parting ways with our popular purple people is particularly painful this year. 674 games of experience and 3 meaningful contributors. Time to Restump Podcast all the Docker developments.

Any of us may momentarily win an aging process battle, but none of us win the war. While Jimmy Aish would have it in him to go around again, Nat Fyfe and Sonny Walters were formidable in their individual efforts to prolong the inevitable. But it does little to ease the pain of having to say goodbye.

However, the cycle of purple life continues and the Freo show must go on. They're certainly not the first three we've had to watch disappear into the horizon and they won't be the last.

This fast paced, often ruthless industry doesn't allow for long periods of mourning or reflection. The season's dust is barely settled, the send offs seemed shortened and we suddenly find ourselves in Brownlow medal, draft and trade talk territory.

Almost in an instant the conversation switches from ‘who we're losing’ to ‘who will take their place.’ On some level it feels a little disrespectful, like we've moved on too soon. But such is the nature of the AFL beast.

Were Andy Brayshaw and Caleb Serong's dominance of Fremantle's Brownlow votes a true reflection of our group’s individual contributions, or was it simply a product of the ‘midfielders’ award? Both had very good seasons, but you're trying to tell me the All-Australian jacket wearing Jordan Clark had just a 2-game polling, 4 vote total season? Really?

In terms of personnel going forward, what do we need to compliment the list to take another step forward in 2026?

With Will Brody and Liam Reidy requesting trades, Quinton Narkle joining the retirees and the unlucky Jack Delean and Odin Jones suffering delisting, it has opened up a substantial 8 list spots so far.

The grapevine chatter regarding the possible departure of Sean Darcy just won't quieten down. Is it a case of where there's smoke there's fire or is it all smoke and fiery mirrors? What do the rumours do to Liam Reidy's thought process?

33-year-old Collingwood forward Jamie Elliott's name keeps popping up in purple provinces. And while we're on the Collingwood camp, there seems to be a Bobby Hill Freo Fanclub? Regardless of 'get-ability' are they genuine needs?

Those names and plenty more are, at the very least, up for discussion.

Always plenty of Docker drivel to be discussed. We'll cast the net wide on all things Freo, we'll get an update on JoJo's long-awaited bar opening and the Chief has hinted that he may unfortunately subject us to another episode of the Neighbourhood Watch.

With the ink running dry here, let's put down the purple pen, pick up the talking stick and continue on the pod. So, if you haven't got a sock drawer to tidy, grass to watch grow or purple paint to watch dry, by all means, join us and get involved in the conversation.

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Do we all need to go guts up in the Bahamas for a while? To be fair to the Gold Coast Suns, if we’d gotten out of jail we would’ve been charged with stealing. Time to Restump Podcast the 1-point heartbreak.

Well that stung and it may have done irreparable damage to our souls. While Freo fans didn’t buy into The West’s revenue generating clickbait idiocy with their ‘easy Freo final' back page, we all obviously had high hopes of extending the season.

However, we got Sunburnt so we bow out of season 2025 with a what would've been, could've been, maybe should've been but didn’t quite end up being, result.

It was a typical Freo roller coaster season ride as we went from eating the chocolates in the frying pan, to sucking on boiled lollies in the fire. We were a basket case by round 8, finals bound a few games later.

We’ve done the full suite of emotions since Saturday night, but after the mental anguish, pondering the reasons why and the reasons why not, and internally asking ourselves the irrationally instinctive rhetorical questions like, how did this happen, who do we need and who needs to go… we arrive at some sort of pragmatic peace.

The basic long and simple short of it is, the Suns were simply better for longer. Now obviously, the superiority for a single point margin time period is all but negligible. But the soul-destroying reality is, that's all that is required.

Really other than sporadic poor decision making, some maybe finals frenzied forced skill errors and several less than ideal forward 50 entries, we didn’t do too much wrong and the team will benefit from the experience.

If you had to pinpoint it without hanging individuals, we’d probably note the 2nd quarter with 5 minutes remaining on the clock. In that period of red time rampage, the Suns managed 6 inside 50s and put 4 goals 1 on the board, while our Freo folk failed to trouble the scorers from 4 inside 50s.

Must be said though, generating just 7 scores from 29 inside 50s for a half, tells you you’re doing plenty right, but the important part catastrophically wrong.

We couldn’t get it done for Fyfey and now any on field remnants of the 2013 grand final era are gone. However, we let Nat go gradually which helped ease the pain of goodbye.

And while we couldn’t get it done for Fyfe, if you can distance yourself from the pain of Saturday night and view it with momentary detachment, it’s hard not to have a little smile for the Gold Coast Suns and David Swallow.

We know far too well what they have been through and for them to have their first ever draftee kick the winning score in his and his team’s first ever final, in what is his retirement year, it’s a great story and a wonderful football moment.

Ok, enough of that nonsense. So, putting the purple hat back on, we’ve just put away a 16 win season, we’ve got one of the league's youngest and most inexperienced lists that's just experienced a final. We’ve got a collective with a non-traditional professional Fremantle mindset, we’ve got the right guy in charge and we’re on a trend heading in a north east direction. We haven’t even cracked the window yet! We’re only warming up!

We’re a bit light on for detail and analysis here so we’ll dig much deeper on the pod and relive and re-visit those irrational instinctive questions.

So, if you’re struggling to come to terms with the result and managing the fall out is too heavy a burden, well many ears make light listening, so come in for the conversation. We'll talk through the temporary trauma, absolve the anguish, make some mental mending milestones and procure the pragmatic perspective ready to purple back up and go again in about 6 months’ time.

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It's been a while between purple pints. But you get the feeling we're going to be well hydrated over the next decade. Time to Restump preview podcast the start of our September quest.

Does this September participation feeling ever diminish? Or has the drought and the heartbreak of often orchestrating our own demise over the journey created this exhilaration? Not sure, but something tells me given our history, we'll never take the sight of September for granted.

It's time to put away the pitchforks and remove the hands from the holsters of those who were gunning for the club and coach.

We haven't found ourselves in finals facilitated by favourable results falling around us. We forced our way in winning 12 of our last 14, many against fierce foes. And when it came down to the final affair, the do or die clash against the dogs, we were formidably emphatic.

So, where does it position us? Past results now count for nothing and have no bearing on what is to come.

We rightly go in Saturday night as favourites, but if we have any hint of forgone conclusionary mindsets, the Suns will seize on it.

While there's a dash of relief making finals, the pressure on Saturday night is all on us. The Suns are September debutants, so they'd have a weight-off-the-shoulders feeling and an element of freedom about them, which can be a positive or a negative. Reaching finals for the first time, they may feel the job is done and subconsciously play accordingly. But they may also have that dangerous now 'nothing to lose' mentality and play unrestrained with reckless abandon.

However, lets not forget they have a 3-time premiership ‘been there done that’ coach at the helm. Damien Hardwick won't have the satisfied mindset and he'll pull all the psychological levers to ensure his players don't either.

Apart from the obvious, both teams have additional reasons to perform. For us, while it is his final appearance in WA, this could be the final time Nat Fyfe, the generational player, who won himself and us two Brownlow medals, who regularly carried out club through some dark times, graces us with his on-field presence if we lose.

And for Gold Coast, their club's first ever draftee and co-captain, David Swallow, has called time on his career and goes out in his and the Sun's debut finals campaign.

Both players could have abandoned their perennially unsuccessful clubs at times and there were no shortage of options. But they dug in and showed a rare loyalty at the expense of potential premiership expense, until now.

Interestingly, Nat Fyfe and David Swallow both are West Aussies, one club career players and both currently sit on 247 games, providing a chance to play a deserved 250.

There are a host of heartstring tugging motivations for both sides regarding these two magnificent players to draw upon, should added inspiration be required.

While we should just concentrate on the now, if we were to pull off the unthinkable, every game from here is an elimination final. And should we get to and plant our purple flag on the promised land, taking into account our elimination final against the Dogs, we'd be the first club in history to win the premiership with 5 elimination finals!

We've been set up well by the club, the coaching staff and recruiters. They've created the framework for success and now the opportunity is there for the players.

Home and away and finals footy are two different bags, so are we ready as a group? Is the 'why not us' cliché fitting? Maybe, maybe not, but Saturday night is the first step to finding out.

There's still 48 hours or so until bouncedown! So, if you're on edge and dealing with some purple

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