Are we tapped out? Do we have any emotional investment currency left to continue the deposits in the purple bank? Time to try and Restump Podcast the shattered pieces of Sunday’s spectacle against the Swans.

Well, that wasn’t the most pleasant Sunday arvo we’ve ever had! It’s difficult to think we put in that sort of performance, and not only on the back of last week against Geelong, but we had the Cold Play song! Cold Play indeed. Did the wrong people get the wrong messages.

Ugly is in the eyes of the beholder, but winning ugly and losing ugly are poles apart. The ability to win ugly is the sign of a good team, whereas losing ugly, like we did last week against Geelong and for much of Sunday's game, tells a completely different and worrying story.

It’s not the losing that has Freo fans outraged. We can deal with loss standing on our heads. No one can endure the hardships of losing like we can. But there's losing and there’s losing. It is the way we're losing that has gutted us. 

Something is missing and it feels psychological, possibly communicative. There is a loss of the connection and cohesion we saw often last year. There is little fluency in our play, there appears a self-preservation aspect at times and, while unintentional, there seems some dismissiveness about our form and results in the pressers and interviews. Maybe repetition breeds unwitting complacency?

Suggesting calm because it's only round two is a little ignorant. For a team who is now at a stage all us fans and the club believe it is, “its only round two” is a damaging excuse of the past. And hanging our hat on the fact that we, unlike last week, brought intensity this week... I’m sorry, but that actually should be a prerequisite for every player, in every single team, in every single game, and not something to be praised for.

To be brutally honest, the scoreboard flattered us at 1/4 time. Will Hayward kicked two behinds and Tom Papley kicked one. We were competitive but by no means did we have a genuine four goal lead. The spectacle was such that had we fallen over the line to win, the same questions and fears would be there, albeit with a sigh of four-point relief. 

We don’t have a hard edge, an ability to dig in and wrench back momentum and then we don’t have the capacity to put teams to the sword when we do have the ascendency. 

To give us some sort of reasoning for the performance, I’d like to make a point that we were up against last year’s grand finalists. But against us on Sunday there was no Errol Gulden, Callum Mills, Robbie Fox, Luke Parker, Justin McInerny, Harry Cunningham or Logan McDonald. Admittedly we have a few important outs but weight of numbers tells a story. 

We’ve obviously got some serious issues that require sorting out and rectifying in rapid time. Last year 13 wins were required to make the finals and 15 wins were needed to finish top four. We’ve now got two less games to get it done, if we’re to play in September. 

To try and end on a positive note, Jaegar O’Meara did a pretty handy job on Isaac Heeney and has started the year in very good fashion. Josh Treacy is doing everything he can, even if he ended up in the ruck. And if we want the ball being handled cleanly and efficiently and delivered on a silver platter, get it to Murphy Reid. Lastly, give us a Chad Warner over a Shai Bolton and Kozzy Pickett every day of the week, although we’ll gladly have them all.

Well, we want to put this behind us as soon as we can but we can’t move on until we’ve worked through the grief counselling. Let us once again, start the healing. So, if you haven’t buried Sunday and blocked it from your consciousness, join us on the therapeutic pod as we try to clear out the negative e

Send us a text

Support the show