Never reel in or repress the passion, Paddy. We‘ll take measures to mitigate your celebratory risks! Time to Restump Podcast the victory in the Valley. 

It was a wonderfully picturesque setting, a great festival atmosphere and more importantly an enjoyable victory. It is amazing the difference a win makes and what it adds to a weekend such as Gather Round. Sadly it has been soured by an absurd and selective penalty to Paddy.

We’d be lying to ourselves if we thought pre-game the win wasn’t essentially a formality. As dangerous as that thinking is, quite simply the Tigers, understandably, just aren’t anywhere near it at the moment, but give them a few years and we wont be so dismissive of them. 

From that perspective it really was a case of us, beyond the 4 points, having little to win and much to lose and maybe that philosophy played its part at times. Our skills early weren’t at a level we’d expect or hope, we weren’t active enough to compete and win the ground ball and we probably gave the Tigers too much space.

Did we make some errors at the selection table? We went in quite tall in deference against a Richmond forward line consisting of many step ladder enthusiasts. The Maurice Rioli’s and Steely Greens were too quick and nimble for us early. Did we, knowingly or unknowingly, get away with it because of our opponent and the inevitable result? 

Seeing Hayden Young wander across the 50 and sink goals was a sight for saw eyes. While we stepped it up last year, goals from midfielders hasn’t been something we’ve excelled at so far this season. Having a beyond fifty metre goal kicking weapon is a vital piece of the puzzle. Welcome back Hayden and please don’t get injured ever again! 

By all reports, thankfully Sean Darcy got through unscathed but he was blowing up a long way from home. Again, was it a mistake not playing Reidy? But then we don’t get Vossy’s team and fan lifting enthusiasm as he would have probably made way for Reidy. 

Karl Worner deserves a bit of a mention for what was his career best game. He’d been a bit shaky with possession in recent weeks a but made every post a winner on Sunday going at about 90% efficiency. Good to see rookie listed players scrap and fight for their position and succeed.

Is there a competition developing between Murphy Reid and Josh Draper for who has the cleanest ground ball hands at Freo? For his size, Draper is doing remarkable things.

It’s pretty exciting seeing what Shai Bolton is and going to bring us. It isn’t surprising but it is nice to see him deliver it. His midfield minutes are as valuable as what he’s doing up forward. 

Josh Treacy is going from strength to strength, Vossy is creating all sorts of mostly valuable chaos for those near him and Freddy is having a ripper season to date. Sammy Switkowski eased back in with little impact and while things aren’t working for Jye Amiss at the minute, it’ll come. But he is dragging a good opponent and contributing to the collective.

All in all, it was a win to celebrate but not get carried away with. It was a win that just needed to be obtained, banked and moved on from. You get the feeling that was how it was treated and next week against the Dees, while a little different in nature, we should roll out a replica of yesterday. 

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