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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Someone has some tidying up to do after throwing all the toys out of the cot! To be fair to Harley, he did make it a great entertaining Derby. Time to Restump Podcast the Eagle’s grand final loss.

It was far from the iconic demolition derby but we saw a return to some highly entertaining derby spite, plenty of antagonism and several subsequent flareups. In this new world of sanitised and scrutinised football, it was probably as close to the great derby era as we’re ever going to get.

Whatever you think of Harley Reid, he brought enough hostility and created enough friction to turn what have been lifeless, often dispirited, recent derbies into something most of us were thrilled by.

The high and mighty finger waggers, will look down their noses, make tut tut sounds, cry 'unnecessary' and self-righteously suggest bigger fish need frying!

Let the purists stew in their own joyless existence! The rest of us know thoroughly enjoying the moment and the journey and remaining focused, can all co-exist.

It was the win and the game we needed. A 100-point belting wouldn’t have helped us from a mindset perspective. We needed the kitchen sink thrown at us, we needed to wear the pressure and be made fight tooth and nail. Admittedly West Coast are in wooden spoon territory but the game was played at a level far above and beyond that. Personally, I’d go as far as to suggest it was up there with our best wins of the season.

There was a professionalism about it, about how we assessed it on the run and then went about rectifying it. To endure the heat that West Coast brought, be near on four goals down, click up a gear, take back the ascendency and then put them to the sword, was super impressive and it can only put us in good stead going forward.

It shed some light on a few questions that were lingering above our heads. Could we turn a game under extreme duress? Would we be able to insert our game style in the face of that level of pressure? Yes, again it was West Coast and they weren’t going to be able to sustain their first half pressure for the full game, but they did a better job at it than we all probably thought they would.

Andy Brayshaw is back to his 2022 form and Caleb Serong was just absolutely absurd! His clean ball handling skills are Lachie-Neale-like! And while Hayden Young might be the silky-smooth left foot deliverer, another ridiculous 12 big tackles show he’s not afraid to get down and do the hard stuff.

Down back the crew continues to perform and now the forward line is entering well oiled machine territory. Josh Draper was rightly recognised with a Rising Star nomination. The mind boggles where he is going to be in a few years! Even our wings look super solid with Sharp and O’Meara.

We’ve become a serious team. There are no heroes or egos, everything is team oriented, team first. Players seem willing to do the hard yards today without personal reward. Consistent individual team orientated based effort across the board, sees everyone have their day, but not necessarily on the same week. The acceptance of that and the willingness to work for the greater cause, is paramount to achieving ultimate success.

The Mi Casa Property Boutique metres gained competition failed to go off as Tommy Emmett took the fourth quarter and was shown no love by participants. That means there is a $100 spend at 2 Brothers Foods this week against the Bombers.

Enough of this rambling here, lets get into it on the pod as we go through Saturday night’s Derby in depth. So, if you’re still ginned up and looking to non-violently fight anything clad in blue and gold, put on the purple mitts and join us in throwing metaphorical haymak

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Is it true the West Coast Eagle’s coaching position is now being advertised on Gumtree? Time to Restump preview Podcast our retribution seeking Derby.

We miss the golden Derby era! It was a time when rivalry really meant something, when flying the colours and playing with club pride were the objectives and the four points was secondary want.

However, let’s not revive it Saturday night. As we hone in on what should be a final’s campaign in a month’s time, we need to avoid suspendable situations at all cost. Let’s view the AFL tribunal like prospects around the country are viewing the West Coast Eagle’s head coaching position – places no one wants to be in!

After the deplorable performance we put in against West Coast back in round 6, we do need retribution. But it’s a bigger fish to fry, greater good type retributive prospect we should be viewing it as. There is a top 4 position and a double chance on offer and that needs to be the sole focus.

And I’m not going to lie, I have some concerns about us getting through the game unscathed. West Coast have suddenly abandoned their “play the kids” policy and brought back a host of veterans. It has “nothing to lose” vibes about it and cheap spiteful acts may be on their strategic whiteboard. Can they goad us into something we don’t want to be involved in? We have to fly the flag and back up our teammates, but we have to be retaliatorily measured. They kind of have us at disadvantage, if that is the path they choose.

Unfortunately, Sonny Walters has pinged a hammy and will spend time out and we know Alex Pearce is done for four or five weeks. That’s a decent amount of experience to go out when you realise their replacements are Tommy Emmett and Josh Draper. In fact, over the four players we show a 343 games and 359 goal deficit.

But the reality is, winning on Saturday night is simply mindset, it’s intent. If we turn up in the right frame of mind, apply the intensity that we have in recent weeks, the result should take care of itself. If we fail to do that, do we really deserve to play finals?

The Mi Casa Property Boutique Metres Gained Competition will be back for the Derby so keep an eye on our social media and throw in an entry. You might score a $50 spend from 2 Brothers Foods.

Regarding the result, Brett, or Brent or Brad McDonald or McDonnell is a little too overconfident for my liking but, I guess this episode of the Neighbourhood Watch segment also oozes cautious arrogant optimism.

Strategically speaking, it is a little difficult to be meaningful analytical about this upcoming game, so it’s a preview pod with more nonsense than the usual amount.

So, if you’re partial to palaver and pointless prattle, part with a portion of your presence, pull up a pew and plug this 40-minute parcel into your Lords and Peers. By all means. take the plunge and join us in the purple opinion party pool.

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A Doig medal, an All Australian, a Simpson medal and lead DJ at Covid Club 150. Time to Restump Podcast Lukey Ryan’s 150th in the demolition of the Dees.

The defensively versatile Luke Ryan has put together a remarkable 150 games and played them at a ridiculously consistent high-end level. He’s been the mainstay, showing incredible durability, playing 150 of a possible 160 games since his debut in 2017, and at 28 years of age, there’s another 100+ games in him yet.

His services were barely required Sunday as we tore a hapless Melbourne Demons team apart in the middle, softening the reliance on the defensive unit. Without a Max Gawn and a Christian Petracca, there was little to no resistance in the midfield and around the ground at stoppages.

While without any doubt we performed superbly, producing a connectivity enabling chains of play we have only dreamt of and been striving for, our lack of an opponent had some say in it.

There is something that is just not cricket at Melbourne. We took 21 marks inside 50 and our average prior to the game was 12. A total of 24%, nearly one in every four of our marks were inside 50! That is an insane stat. We usually go around the 12%, or one in 8 or 9 marks inside 50.

We went +31 in the clearances when we average +7 all year. Centre clearances we were +9 and we usually go around +2.4 mark.

The Dees had a Jack Viney and a Clayton Oliver in there. They rolled Trent Rivers and Tom Sparrow through there. These are far from fringe players so there is plenty of merit in our performance. But you don’t put up numbers like we did against these types if there aren’t additional underlying issues. Max Gawn and Christian Petracca are influential greats but they weren’t that big of a difference. Something is a tad off at Demon land.

But we got to play our game and hone our drills. We banked another four points and added 3% which may or may not end up vital. Top 4 is ours if we want it.

It was magnificent to see what is now the full-blown arrival of Josh Treacy. Lets remember, while the Dees were off in the middle they still had a Steven May and a Jake Lever. Neither of them caused Treacy any grief.

Message sending Sonny Walters was back causing havoc and putting in a complete and well-rounded game. Never write off champions!

I’m willing to bet right now that Andy Brayshaw is a shoe-in for next captain. He’s back to his 2022 best, with big moment and game influential acts. If anyone wants that bet, get in touch with me!

It was one of those one in all in, same page, individual role playing performances that produces stunning results. The Dees may not have put the pressure on us but its still a win we should take great confidence out of.

The injury to the captain is a devastating one and hasn’t arrived at the ideal time. He was in scintillating form and leaves shoes impossible to fill. Lets hope the time frame is good news.

While we sit in the top 4, we are only a game and a half out of 9th. So, the words 'No Complacency' should be put in bold on the white board down at Cockburn this week, as we head towards the derby!

We ran into a few time hurdles so the Mi Casa Property Boutique Metres Gained competition didn’t get up last weekend. It’ll return for the Derby.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch but it’s an interesting game to assess. Ross Lyon’s “never as good or as bad” line seems highly appropriate.

Anyway, let’s get into a bit more depth on the pod and see what noisy nonsense eventuates.

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Jet lag? What about the jet leg! Any hope of a few extra first-class business seats, AFL? Time to Restump Podcast the ever-treacherous Tassie trip.

There is a reason why 2 wins separate positions 2 and 13 on the ladder. It’s that type of remarkable year where the difference between most teams on any given day is negligible. A year, rightly or wrongly, in which the AFL’s equalisation endeavour army will be patting themselves on the back.

We had the opportunity to almost secure a top 4 finish but couldn’t get it done. However, as far as losses go, this one wasn’t in the soul destroying, therapy requiring category. It was almost acceptable. I said almost! Ok, maybe understandable is more appropriate than acceptable. But with understanding comes acceptance… you get the point.

Quite simply there was too much Hawk Torque for us. They matched or bettered our intensity and endeavours and, more importantly, they took their chances, whereas we didn’t.

We had the opportunity to put the game away in the third quarter and it felt like we went all in. +36 poss’, +12 contested poss’, +8 clearances, +11 marks… we were dominating the so-called ‘premiership quarter.’ But for all our dominance, 10 scoring shots to 4 for the quarter, we only outscored Hawthorn by 16 points. The inaccuracy fever re-infected the freo folk with Jye, Vossy, Freddy and Caleb falling victim and it proved fatal.

We’d thrown our best punch and in Fast and Furious analogical speak, we mistimed hitting the nitro button.

The Hawks took the ascendency in the final term and were beating us at our own game. That said, again we had our chances but the story of the day continued. We failed where it counts most, inaccurately kicking 1 goal 3 to Hawthorn’s 5 goals 1.

It was a tight, hard fought, defence orientated contest all day and, in God’s country, as the final siren drew near, we were left with nothing other than a prayer that went unanswered.

The Hawks have now won 8 of their last 10 games, they’ve won 60 of 80 games at York Park and over the last 7 weeks they’re top 4 for centre bounce clearance wins and number one in the league for scoring from them. They’re very far from your typical 13th placed team and they deserve credit for what they’re doing and for their win over us.

We’ll get out of Tassie, regroup and reset for the Dees this week.

Rabi Rchy is snacking on his 2 Brothers Foods $50 spend after winning the Mi Casa Property Boutique metres gained competition on the weekend. Jye Amiss may have kicked inaccurately, but inaccuracy doesn’t compromise metres!

On this occasion, the usual therapeutic 50 minutes post-loss is unnecessary. However, some reasoning, some realigning rationale and some sobering sounding sentiments can’t hurt, can it? But we’re not the gate keepers of public opinion! So, feel free to join us, disagree with us, converse with us and share the ever-emotionally erratic expedition all us Freo folk forever fancy.

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A strong leading, pack busting, ground covering, contested mark taking, accurate goal kicking forward! Who here is not shedding a joyful purple tear? Time to Restump Podcast the Tiger taming.

Saturday night wasn’t our best performance. It is more than fair to say it wasn’t polished or pretty…. but we’re not on a catwalk in Milan! Sometimes you just have to get the business done and we’ll take an ugly four points over a pretty loss every day of the week.

The Tigers are 18th on the ladder for a reason. They’re in an ‘end of a dynastical era’ situation and with a substantial injury and aging list and a new first-time coach, it is understandable they’re severely struggling.

But there were enough former premiership players in their team on Saturday night, along with a Taranto and a Hopper, to offer up some resistance. On some level they dragged us down to their level, as can be the case.

One guy who wasn’t entertaining anything other than a top shelf showing, was Josh Treacy. Career best 5 goals, 9 big grabs, almost 500 metres gained, numerous contests and even a stint in the ruck! He is on a ridiculous growth trajectory, so much so, that the re-signing of Logan McDonald with Sydney during the week, barely raised a fleeting interest from us Freo folk. Through his form this year, our 2020 Rookie Draft pick (yes that’s right, our rookie pick) has said, “what do you need Logan for?”

But he couldn’t do it all on his own! As we know everything starts in the middle and there was a future captain in there who was back to his 2022 best. Welcome back, Andy Brayshaw! He’s been going superbly, but Saturday night he was back to monster status.

The return of Heath Chapman and his contributions and the growth in Matty Johnson is something else. Hayden Young’s seemingly now regularity in hitting the scoreboard, Sam Switkowski’s high level consistency and a return of Freddy doing Freddy things are all vital parts, the sum of which adds to the reason why we’re sitting in the top four.

We’ve grown as a club and become a tighter unit. That Tigers outfit and the occasion, coming off a big win against the Swans, once would have troubled us. In fact, as near as last year it would have caused us some level of trepidation. But there is a dependability about the group now, a belief in desire and effort and a trust in each other. It is showing on the field and in the results.

The jackpot went off in the Mi Casa Property Boutique metres gained competition and Russ2468 on twitter took home the $150 spend at 2 Brothers Foods. We rewire, replumb, restump and reset back to $50 this coming week.

We’re a bit late with the pod this week and, truth be known, we’re probably the exception to the ‘better late than never’ rule. So, if you haven’t moved on to the Hawks game, by all means bung these 50 minutes in your Lords and Peers. It’ll cost you an hour of your life, you’ll learn nothing and chances are you’d be better off without it but is that a risk worth taking? Of course it isn’t but what’s life without risk?

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