After The Game v Brisbane - With Snaps Truly

You might remember that last week I didn’t watch Freo beat Geelong, because I doubted they could pull it off; so I chose instead to spend my Saturday afternoon eating pasta in a pub.

I fretted about it all week. Was it a sign of a disquieting character flaw? That of disloyalty?

Well, for a fleeting moment yesterday, it nearly emerged again when I almost felt a pang of sympathy for the West Coast Eagles after they lost by a point to Essendon.

This time I realised the danger signs quickly – thankfully I always keep the x-rays of Andy Brayshaw’s broken jaw in my back pocket, but Freo fans we must be alert to the evil temptress that is bad judgement and easy option.

Like voting for Sonia Kruger to win the Gold Logie for instance; or agreeing there is real merit in the No referendum argument or even believing that perhaps, one day, I might actually sit in front of Love Actually and enjoy it!

No, no and no. Well YES to number two, but you know what I mean.

We must be strong and stand firm and not stray from our purpose.

And today hopefully that was to bloody the nose of another Premiership aspirant, Brisbane.

So, this afternoon, reassured and wearing my favourite Kepler Bradley badge, I walked into Optus Stadium head held high, faith intact and with a triumphant narrative already half written.

Freo was about to cause another boilover. Hayden Young would keep Lachie Neale to six touches and we would again remind the AFL of the “it’s only a matter of time” inevitability of Freo’s rise to the top.

And friends, did we get close today?

We certainly did.

Lachie Schultz got us on the board first and a big mongrel torp from Cyclone Tracey ensured we went to the first break a couple of points up. Hayden Young did start on Lachie Neale and collected ten disposals to just four in the opening term. He really is going to be a great midfield asset.

Regarding Neale, my daughter reliably informed me that our Neil Erasmus has the distinction of being the only Neil in the entire AFL competition. When I asked for her sources, she said “I must have read it somewhere”, which was good enough for me. Its apparently an Anglicised version of the Irish Niall which means “champion.”

Strong narrative.

Brisbane pinched the lead in the second term through Spaceship Southern Hemisphere Gunston who remains a brilliant kick for goal.

And today we saw Sam Sturt or Desert Pea as we now prefer to call him, finally blossom into an elegant half forward. He kicked three lovely goals, including one from the “Don’t Mention Round 12 2020 pocket”, to keep us in it in the final term. How he must have loved casting off doubt and feeling the freedom to let his talent shine.

Freo took an eleven-point lead into the half time break and from here on it was pretty much goal for goal. Whichever midfield managed to get onto the Luke Jackson tap invariably spirited the ball forward.

With scores level at three quarter time, each side produced three goals, but it was Eric Hipwood who kicked the Lions clear. A sensational Michael Frederick snap gave us hope, but we were beaten by the clock and a team with just a little more poise when it mattered.

Today Freo gave it their all. Jackson was magnificent. My disappointment as I wandered back over the river, was not the defeat, but that our players did not receive the reward they worked so hard to earn.

Today we caught another tantalising glimpse of the future.

The Derby next week. The Eagles of course will be playing their Grand Final.

No sympathy here.

* By our multi-talented and amazingly insightful footy scribe, SNAPS TRULY. Snaps has seen and done it all. He may or may not have been a fringe player at Fremantle. Who knows? Don’t miss Snaps’ report after each Freo Dockers match throughout the season.

** In case you missed SNAPS’ and his fill-in Grumbles’ other match reports, here they are.

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