After The Game With Snaps Truly - Rd 3 2025 V West Coast, The Derby

In the week leading up to the Derby I pulled aside those I loved most and whispered that perhaps I would not watch the game live; simply unwilling to bear the health and happiness implications of another final minute fumble or miskick or needless fifty metre penalty.

And yes, even the possibility of defeat against the Harley Reids; that empty echo of a once proud footy club.

I didn’t think I could bear it.

My words were received with a polite “fair enough” as if I was an old digger deciding not to march on Anzac Day any more. Or an old dog who didn’t want one more walk. The poor sad old bugger who had finally had enough.

But after a good hard think, I asked myself – was I really ready to accept another doom-laden, defeat-laced season?

Had I already thrown in the towel after just two weeks?

Bugger that.

And I took a deep breath and realised there was plenty more room in this purple heart for despair and crushed hope. Freo fans like me sometimes underestimate our capacity to endure disappointment and worship false Gods. So, I sat down to watch.

Harley Reid had barely adjusted his sneer when Nathan O’Driscoll opened the scoring inside thirty seconds. The West Coast boo factory immediately complained and I leant in.

One man stood tall for Freo in the first quarter. And he was the smallest player out there. Isaiah Dudley is Eddie Betts’ nephew and Kysaihah Pickett’s cousin, so we assumed the kid was genetically predisposed to be pretty bloody handy. And he was. So low to the ground as to be unnoticed by his opponents, Dudley Did Right with a couple of fine opportunist goals.

Freo led by 15 at quarter time.

The second term belonged to Josh Treacy. He imposed himself on the game with three goals. Absolutely barnstorming. The lead stretched to 26 points at the half.

Perhaps timely again to speak of Patrick Voss, who last week I suggested would probably be the first person to volunteer to go and fight a war and then sadly, the first person to be killed.

Again, he presented very well and marked expertly on the lead. But he sprayed his set shots, poked Josh Treacy in the eye and began to remind me of another of Essendon’s abandoned children – I speak of the remarkable Kepler Bradley. Will Voss be another “if only” player and a figure of head shaking comedy? Or will he turn hard effort into goals?

Not that he was alone. For all Freo’s dominance, the set shot shooting was ordinary at best.

In the second half we were never threatened. Luke Jackson ensured Serong and Brayshaw were given first use of the ball and as the margin grew, so too did the confidence of Jye Amiss. He would kick four for the afternoon.

Serong loves a Derby. This would be his fourth best on ground performance and he then lay on it for a while after a shove from Harley Reid.

Right now, Reid looks every bit the school bully. I said it last week, but he plays a sulky game. I only hope there are strong characters within the club to steer him in the direction that helps him play his best footy.

Or perhaps he should just leave when he gets the chance. West Coast is not going to win many games in 2025.

In the end, a comfortable 38-point victory, which would have been 44 had Freddy not banged the last kick of the day out of bounds.

But finally, a win. And with that Freo leapt from 17th to 13th on the ladder. The Bulldogs lie in wait on Sunday.

And just in closing. What to say about Bailey “Remember the Name” Banfield’s, 100th game?

He’s resolute I’ll say that.

And he has very nice hair.

And I bet mothers everywhere wish their daughter had brought him home rather than that feckless idiot Brayden, who is now lying on their new sofa, snoring loudly after spending the afternoon at the pub.

So, well played Bailey. But between us, I’d prefer you not get to 150 games. That would tell me something about the next couple of years at Freo which I don’t want to know.

Congratulations and we’ll say no more about it.

Fancy a brisk walk anyone?

Yours truly,

Snaps Truly.

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. Don’t miss Snaps’ report after each Freo Dockers match here on the Shipping News throughout the 2025 season.

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