Are we Reidy for Saturday morning fever? Disco is back! Yes, I know… it couldn’t be lamer… but we’re trying cut the tension surrounding this game, of which there is virtually no tomorrow! Time to Restump Podcast the stress against GWS.

This isn’t the position we had envisioned! We had aspirations of a lengthy September; we had no intention of playing a game with potentially no tomorrow in August. Ok to the mathematical letter of the law, its not exactly a no tomorrow proposition, but its as close as we can get without it being one.

And now with our season teetering on the edge, to save it we must, without our best forward, our best defender and our lead ruck, come up against a rampaging, pretty much full-strength Giants outfit, spearheaded by the Coleman medal favorite and ex Fremantle full forward.

It is ‘backs to the wall’ stuff for us purple people! However, looking back at the eleventy squillion times in our history when we’ve been in similar ‘backs to the wall’ situations and seeing them result in a requirement of structural maintenance for the wall, I just can’t gather the confidence I was hoping to fill up on. Hope, desire and dreams we’ve got plenty of, but confidence is a little scarce.

But in a roundabout way, it could amount to a situation where the pressure is sort of off and expectations aren’t all encompassing, and that can, at times, lead to some favourably unexpected outcomes. Yeah, that sounds more comforting… let's run with that. Pressure is off and play with the freedom!

While it probably would have been preferable last week, it’s wonderful to see Liam Reidy get a debut. He’s deserved a gig and while we can’t saddle him with lofty expectations, we can only hope he goes well. We’ll even barrack for and celebrate a halving of the contest.

And is the insertion of the Disco and the enthusiasm he brings, the shot in the arm the team needs? He’s had a really tough year and while we probably thought we would see an O’Driscoll this year, we were thinking Emma rather than Nathan. Tear up the wing Disco, and if you get the opportunity, celebrate your hardest and get the boys on board!

Another day, another prospective coach escapes the West Coast Eagles’ clutches. It's tragically sad what that once proud, eternally pretentious and ever still arrogant club has become. We reach across the aisle, give them a consoling pat on the back, a “hang in there” whisper and wish them all the best in the Neighbourhood Watch segment.

We’re nearing season’s end of the Mi Casa Property Boutique meters gained competition, so keep a look out for it on our social media pages sometime Friday, throw in an entry and you might find your way into a free $50 spend at 2 Brothers Foods.

Let’s get into it on the pod and see if we can find a way in to somehow slaying these menacing Giants.

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Three quarter time we’re sitting top four with a guaranteed finals campaign locked in. Half an hour later we’re clinging on to September for dear life! Time to Restump Podcast the Cat scratching.

That season jeopardising last quarter loss to Geelong on Saturday was soul destroying, but to be honest, it probably isn’t the game we should be mad about. Admittedly, for whatever reason, we didn’t show up for half the first quarter and we again worryingly ran out of legs late in the game, but under the circumstances, we performed pretty admirably against a very formidable outfit.

That result was always a chance of happening but we shouldn’t have been in the position that such a game carried so much importance. Our frustrations should apply to the early Derby, the Collingwood draw and the loss to Essendon last week. They’re the opportunities we let slip that puts us in the precarious position we now find ourselves in.

The fact is after quarter time on Saturday we outscored Geelong which was a pretty decent feat. Remove our current best key forward, our current best key defender, our lead ruck and our most experienced and senior small forward, and we’re vulnerable against anyone.

That isn’t giving a pass to the crew that was out there Saturday though, because there is no excuse for mindset. Knowing the unfortunate situation of what was on the line, its difficult to think you couldn’t be fired up and ready to unleash at the first bounce.

The selection of Matt Taberner seemed an odd one but there are obviously reasons we are unaware of. However, with the inclusion of Paddy Voss at the expense of Josh Treacy and the knowledge that Sean Darcy was doubtful, it’s puzzling why you’d go for Taberner in front of Liam Reidy, which was our known possible area of need.

But selection issues and missing guns aside, we had our opportunities to win the match but we butchered several moments. We had no mid forward connection, which is somewhat understandable given the upheaval of our forward line. But frustratingly and most disappointingly, we applied little to no forward pressure as Geelong consistently walked the ball out of defence with the greatest of ease.

As mentioned, it’s left us in a very precarious position. The fact we’ve virtually only beaten one genuine top eight side all year, it tragically feels more likely than not that we miss September, given we have to win one of our two remaining games against the Giants and Port Adelaide.

Destiny is in our own hands, but it feels like she’s saying stop touching me up and put me down! But we’re resilient, glass half full, adversity enduring eternal optimists. We don’t know how to do things the easy way! We subscribe to the theory that if you’re not dead, you’re not done and that’s all the chance we need.

Congrats to Josie Price on taking out the Mi Casa Property Boutique metres gained competition on the weekend. Jeremy Sharp, who did show up in the first quarter, got the business done for her and Josie now takes off the $100 jackpot from 2 Brothers Foods.

Anyway, let’s get into the pod and see where the purple prattle goes. We’re all doing it tough, we’re all a little distraught at the horrible prospect of missing finals so we need to talk it through. Join us if you’re looking for a support network, because we do!

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It can’t have gotten far, it was just with us! Geez, you can’t take your eyes of opportunity for a second! It’s time to Restump Podcast Sunday’s demoralising top 4 departure.

Sunday at the MCG felt very historically Fremantle-ish. Destroying pivotal moments and golden opportunities! Just when we had the chance to almost lock down some valuable top four real estate, the Essendon Bomber Bank said, “sorry, we’re not financing that” and the deal fell over.

It really hurt because it was another game that we’ve let slip. The two games in South Australia were slightly different bags, but the early West Coast loss and the Collingwood draw had filled our allowable debacle quota. Letting Essendon run us down from four goals behind… is a step too far and could have horrifically dire consequences in relation to September participation.

The game was quite deceiving. Our rare accuracy and efficiency were clouding the reality. The fact is, we weren’t travelling that well early in the game. Just 10 inside fifties in the first quarter to Essendon’s 18 was disguised because we kicked 4 goals 1. We were scoring every second entry, but so were the Bombers who kicked 5 goals 4. Did the 9-point quarter time margin not set the alarm bells off?

Was there a sense of complacency? Were we out there thinking a mirrored performance from the previous week against the West Coast Eagles would unfold? At half time we’d gone inside 50 two less times than we did in the first quarter, but again we were accurate and efficient kicking 5 goals neat. Compounding our potential complacency was Essendon kicking 1 goal 2… but they went inside 50 fifteen times. If Essendon started scoring, we were in strife.

The penny seemed to drop in the third quarter as we got our game going and got it on our terms. Clearances, contested possession, inside fifties all turned in our favour. But for all our dominance we didn’t necessarily make the most of it.

The final quarter was a disaster. They steam rolled us and, disappointingly, we showed little to no fight. We reverted to the first half form, getting beaten in contested and uncontested possession and they took 16 more marks than us in the final term alone. We made just one centre clearance and that was where the game was lost.

It was a game we should have won with the personnel we had but the experienced and steadying hands of Alex Pearce and Sonny Walters at either end of the ground, were noticeably missing. And if those ‘numbers on a page’ readers think we don’t miss Nat Fyfe… maybe now they’ll change their tune.

It’s a devastating loss and one that may prove fatal in terms of September this year but, bigger picture-wise, let’s not forget where we are and where we were this time last year. (15th for those playing at home) We’re an exceptionally young side of substantial talent. As far as premiership windows go, ours is only just starting to open.

We’ve got the Cats, Giants and Port to come in the run to the finals. Those three teams in their current form probably pose the toughest test any side has to endure in these final three weeks. We’re only a win and % out of 9th…. we probably need to win two of our last three.

Anyway, lets get into it on the pod and break it all down further. So, if you’re looking to make sense of it all…. point us in the right direction because so are we! Problems shared are problems halved and you can’t solve them without talking about them. Let’s start the chit chat.

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