It’s official, Murphy has taken the number one Reid position in WA. Time to somehow Restump Podcast whatever that demoralising display was on Saturday. A tale of two reads… Reids

Has there been a more soul-destroying performance from our Freo boys? Admittedly there are plenty to choose from over our 30+ year history but this one might top the list.

You can scream game plan, structure, process, player talent, coach and yeah they all contributed. But if you turn up to round one mentally absent, nothing of the former will make any difference. 

The question is how? How, in one of our most important seasons in some time, did we turn up to round one switched off? Where was the willingness to work, to put in, to apply pressure, lay tackles? Ending the first quarter minus 15 tackles across the board and minus 10 tackles in our forward fifty is all attitude and it set the disappointing tone for the day.

Yes, there was a substantial crew out but we had more than enough talent on the park to even just be more than mildly competitive. Winning the game was a little optimistic but a near on 15 goal belting is and was inconceivable and unacceptable. 

If this type of round one performance had of occurred in 2023 or 2024, you’d be shattered, but a little more willing to rule a line through it and move on. And while that is what we’ll all inevitably do, with the position the club is now at, the preseason they had, and the expectations they have conveyed, it’s a little difficult to simply say “it’s just round one” and move on. These types of performances aren’t conducive to a team that believes they’re on the cusp of success. 

Given it was blatantly evident the mindset of the collective was distant and not necessarily on the task at hand, it is difficult to comprehend or articulate accurate reasons why. Is it the messaging? A lack of true motivational influence? Are there no consequences for poor performance?

From 16 away round one games in our history, we’ve lost 12 of them. However, Saturday was our second worst defeat in opening round. Is there something in that to shed some fraction of light on the deep reasons for the incomprehensible performance? Probably not.

But for the moment and to give us all a break from the depression, let’s not gloss over the remarkable feat from Murphy Reid. It was a stunning highlight on a dark day but to see a debutant do that… we’ve got an exceptional one there.

For such an unanticipated and inexplicable performance, we don’t have the answers. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t throw around preposterous points of passionate perception for personal placidity. 

Anything short of an appropriate response next week is unacceptable. It is after all round one and we will all move on. (See, I told you we’d all inevitably get there)

So, while we offer no enlightenment, feel welcome to therapeutically vent with us as we try to make some semblance of sense about Saturday, to save what little sanity we have left.

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