Is The Cat Out Of The Paper Bag
03/14/25 • 60 min
A brown paper bag cannot be passed under to he who has no table. Time to Restump Podcast our round one clash against the hard working, cost-of-living crisis fighting, dually employed Catters.
It’s been a brutal preseason and we're probably not in as good a shape heading into round one as we had all hoped. Have to say it feels we're a little undermanned heading down to the cattery without Sean Darcy, Nat Fyfe, Hayden Young, Michael Walters, Sammy Sturt and Shai Bolton and it's made what was already a difficult task, substantially tougher. But it's time to focus on who is there to get the job done rather than who isn't!
One man who will be looking forward to skinning a cat is debutant Murphy "Bruce" Reid and you get the feeling the smooth moving, good ball using, sharp thinking, smart decision making, Freo loving, Western Australian adopted youngster isn't suiting up because of the above-mentioned outs. Bruce has made every post a winner since arriving at the club and he made it impossible to be left out of round one. Let's hope Mr and Mrs Reid have come around to the purple way of life!
The interesting but also understandable omission is the sporadically played Neil Erasmus.
Admittedly he hasn't set the world alight and he didn't exactly do his selection prospects any favours in the recent scratchy against Melbourne, but with so many mids out maybe he could have benefited from some exposure and opportunity.
Whatever the case when you take a look at the side the cats are putting on the park, it's an ominous assignment. There aren't too many, if any, weaknesses in their line up and year in year out they seem to find a way regardless of their Morris Finance and the like personnel at their disposal.
The drugs policy is once again smack bang in the conversation. Has the AFL become an enabler? Are we now behind the eightball on the issue? We have a chat about it and try to hash out a way forward. Just a thought, but how about we give zero tolerance a go?
The Luke Jackson whispers just won't die. Surely there is zero chance of his departure?
Could Chad Warner be on the verge of delaying his trip home and sign on at the Swannies for a well-paid two years?
Plenty to discuss and preview but a quick game is a good game. We'll attempt to keep it short sharp and to the point but guarantees of no wandering, digressing and rambling just cannot be provided.
So, if you're looking for some nonsensical noise to make up a few moments before we castrate the cats, you couldn't have turned up at a better time. Purple up and get involved.
A brown paper bag cannot be passed under to he who has no table. Time to Restump Podcast our round one clash against the hard working, cost-of-living crisis fighting, dually employed Catters.
It’s been a brutal preseason and we're probably not in as good a shape heading into round one as we had all hoped. Have to say it feels we're a little undermanned heading down to the cattery without Sean Darcy, Nat Fyfe, Hayden Young, Michael Walters, Sammy Sturt and Shai Bolton and it's made what was already a difficult task, substantially tougher. But it's time to focus on who is there to get the job done rather than who isn't!
One man who will be looking forward to skinning a cat is debutant Murphy "Bruce" Reid and you get the feeling the smooth moving, good ball using, sharp thinking, smart decision making, Freo loving, Western Australian adopted youngster isn't suiting up because of the above-mentioned outs. Bruce has made every post a winner since arriving at the club and he made it impossible to be left out of round one. Let's hope Mr and Mrs Reid have come around to the purple way of life!
The interesting but also understandable omission is the sporadically played Neil Erasmus.
Admittedly he hasn't set the world alight and he didn't exactly do his selection prospects any favours in the recent scratchy against Melbourne, but with so many mids out maybe he could have benefited from some exposure and opportunity.
Whatever the case when you take a look at the side the cats are putting on the park, it's an ominous assignment. There aren't too many, if any, weaknesses in their line up and year in year out they seem to find a way regardless of their Morris Finance and the like personnel at their disposal.
The drugs policy is once again smack bang in the conversation. Has the AFL become an enabler? Are we now behind the eightball on the issue? We have a chat about it and try to hash out a way forward. Just a thought, but how about we give zero tolerance a go?
The Luke Jackson whispers just won't die. Surely there is zero chance of his departure?
Could Chad Warner be on the verge of delaying his trip home and sign on at the Swannies for a well-paid two years?
Plenty to discuss and preview but a quick game is a good game. We'll attempt to keep it short sharp and to the point but guarantees of no wandering, digressing and rambling just cannot be provided.
So, if you're looking for some nonsensical noise to make up a few moments before we castrate the cats, you couldn't have turned up at a better time. Purple up and get involved.
Previous Episode
Vanilla Ice Ice Maybe
Strategically vanilla and ice in the veins... and no, not that type of ice! We’re Fremantle, not a certain other club up the road. Time to Restump Podcast the beginnings of a plentiful and prosperous period.
There’s an uncomfortableness about going in to a new season with serious confidence as a Fremantle supporter. It just doesn’t sit right; it is a difficult feeling to adjust to. Sure, we think we’ve been confident before at this time of year, but it really has been excitement, passion and hopefulness masquerading as confidence.
Yes, famous last words, but this year feels markedly different. There is justifiable genuine confidence. We’re going in with actual achievable expectations rather than nervous aspirations.
We’re in pretty good condition, we’re hitting the historical rule of thumb age and experience conducive to deep September action, there is a definite buy in from the player group and our pre-season has been productive and strategically beneficial.
Can we win the premiership? Possibly. Would that be the goal? Definitely. Should our expectations align with our goal? Absolutely not.
Realistic expectations, from our perspective, should be a minimum of a top six finish, more so a top four and then it is game on from there. Expecting to win the premiership comes with an attached overconfidence and arrogance. They are too ridiculously tough to win and there is too little between the final top four, possible top six teams, whoever they may be, to have such expectations.
So, lets get into it and dive a bit deeper into the purple depths.
•Andy Brayshaw declaring Fremantle is his home.
•JL’s contract, that isn’t a contract.
•Luke Jackson rumours.
•What we learned from the preseason.
•Youngsters on the up.
•Murphy “the more valuable” Reid.
•Disco isn’t dead, it looks back in a big way.
•Darcy and Pearce – is their health a worry?
•The Neighbourhood Watch. Is it dead and buried?
All those talking points to discuss and we’ll find out where Jojo has been and how big is his damaging carbon footprint.
We’re armed with confidence and enthusiasm but we need to remain measured. It’s a fine line between justified anticipation and unhelpful hysteria.
So, for the first time in 2025, unfortunately our nonsense is back. If you’re desperate enough to plug in and partake, by all means you’re most welcome, after you get yourself checked out because you’re obviously not well. Season 2025... here we go.
Next Episode
Reid Between The Goal Lines
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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