Is the overlooking of the workhorse, the defensive stalwart, the ten-year warrior, Lukey Ryan, unconcerning, or has it evolved into intrigue? Are we pretending the elephant in the room is a big purple lamp? Time to Restump Podcast the curious case of the custodian and the clash against the Cats!

Despite his recent performances in the WAFL preseason and his own assurances that he’s good to go, the longtime walk-up-start has been passed over. We have to take Justin Longmuir and his reasoning on face value that Luke Ryan has somehow dropped a peg in the pecking order, but with the Cats possessing a tricky and versatile forward line, wouldn’t we sleep a little easier knowing the chippie was chiming in? 

The first game of the season is upon us, and those familiar feelings have returned. There’s an ounce of anticipation, a hint of trepidation, a tablespoon of fear and a boat load of excitement filling the pot of the emotional simmering stew.  

We’re heading down to the Cattery, otherwise known as the field of fictitious finger fractures, to right the round one wrongs of twelve months ago. Have we learned from the mistakes everyone in the team, except Murphy Reid, made that day?

After no word or contact, we sent out a search party during the preseason to find the Disco. We just needed some proof of life but there wasn’t a blip on the radar and the silence was deafening. However, Nathan O’Driscoll must have been hiding in plain sight, because round one comes along and ‘hey presto,’ he’s back! He stuck his noggin up and got the nod. It proves Disco never dies; when it’s not centre stage, it’s existing in the background ready to reemerge.

With O’Driscoll, Sean Darcy and Switta returning, joining Hayden Young and Brandon Wallker, it feels like the members of the band, the Red Hot Injury Peppers, have reunited. 

We welcome Wagner and Worner back, we have Judd McVee in for his first official game in purple for premiership points and we’re always glad to see Alex Pearce, with or without his whiteboard. 

Not going to lie though, while Oscar MacDonald will fill the void to some degree, without Brennan Cox and Luke Ryan’s reliability, it feels we may be a little vulnerable in the last line of defense. 

However, we go in full of faith our favoured forces will formidably fight the feline fraternity. While Fictitious Finger Fracture Field is quite the home ground advantage where few away teams fare well, it holds no fear for us knowing we’ve won five of our last ten appearances there.

It’s time to parcel it up, put it all together and ponder the plight of our purple platoon on the preview pod. So, if you’re showing some Docker drivel decibel deficiencies, bring your ears and we’ll fill your purple prescriptions. 

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