It really hurts us to say it, but they have broken our trust. What’s that line about being able to place more trust in curried egg sandwiches from the petrol station? Time to Restump Podcast Saturday’s purple heart break. 

A vital component in the building of trust is consistency. Without it, by its very nature, trust cannot exist. Yet, ironically the only area of consistency we can trust the Freo Dockers in, is inconsistency. 

Once again, Freo has fooled many of us on the back of what we knew and acknowledged were soft victories. How did we think the consistent, less than substandard performances were behind us? Prior to Saturday we stated how poor our defensive efforts have been, and have been against the least offensive teams! Yet even so we could not fathom being unable to convincingly beat the Dees. 

Are we overrating the list? Do we have a team of talented players that do not comprise a genuinely talented team? Or is the list still not ready or equipped to handle the relentless rigors of AFL football? Yes, Sean Darcy is severely underdone and Heath Chapman’s absence hurt us. But they weren’t reasons for getting rolled by a zero and five team.  

Whatever the case we had 15 players with 80 or more games of experience, 11 of them with beyond 100 games under their belts out there on Saturday. So, there is no excuse for that lack of intent, the unwillingness to compete at the contest or the failure to chase and tackle. They’re called non-negotiables for a reason! They’re all prerequisites for being on an AFL list.

Fresh off signing a long-term deal, you wonder what is going through Andy Brayshaw’s head? Next to no one went with him in that final quarter when the game was there to be taken. Caleb Serong was monstered by Jack Viney who was magnificent in his role. Where was the help for him? Did anyone cause Viney any discomfort? Did anyone attempt to block Viney for Serong? 

The “Sack the Coach” crew have predictably come out of hibernation as its their easy go to answer for everything. But if you think 80+ gamers aren’t bringing the basics unless the coach drills it into them, then the problem probably isn’t entirely with the coach. And four quarters of the basics wins that game! 

That been said and to be fair to the coach doubters, Justin Longmuir now inevitably finds himself under immense pressure as another of this type of performance warrants putting everything on the table for questioning. With the ominous fixture ahead, things need to change overnight and for more than a week or two for JL not to be in a more precarious position than he unfortunately is right now.

Is it overdue for an actual example to made at the selection table? More often than not, players have seemingly been given the opportunity to respond and rectify a poor performance the following week, and have usually done so. But given the continual sporadic nature of the same poor performances occurring, maybe they’ve used up all their redemption chances? There has seemingly been a reluctance to cut other than the usual suspects. What did our former coach Rosco say? “Execute one to educate a thousand.”

Yes, we will regroup as we always do and we will go again. It is emotionally taxing and it is frustrating, at times excruciating and demoralising. But while we’re in for a long and often painful season if Saturday is indicative of what is to sporadically turn up, this is football and Fremantle is our team.

This isn’t everyone’s first grief counselling rodeo. We’ve all been here more times than we care to recall. So, you know the drill. Join us as we search for answers, for reasoning and for purpose. Let’s work through the pain on the pod once more. 

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