After The Game With Snaps Truly - Rd 5 2025 V Richmond Tigers

Aah, Gather Round, what a brilliant opportunity for all footy loving Australians to descend on Adelaide and try, perhaps for the first time, the unique goodness of Smiley Fritz or a Kitchener Bun.

Time too, to ponder how Victoria would cope with not being the centre of the football universe, albeit for just one week.

The big games were played at the Adelaide Oval; other teams were sent to suburban Norwood and Freo headed to the Barossa to play Richmond – and how the Fox Footy commentators delighted in a picture so beautiful it might have been painted by Hans Heysen himself.

The lush verdant green of the playing surface. Rows of vines that would carry a new vintage of shiraz. And away in the distance …

“Beautiful rolling hills.” “Glorious rolling hills.” “Wonderful rolling hills.”

So awestruck by their beauty, Kellie and Co were lost for words. Meaningful ones anyway.

Indeed, at one point that barrel chested bush poet David King marvelled at how the Barossa really was “in the middle of nowhere” before checking his cheat sheet and revealing that in fact “it’s just 70 minutes from Adelaide.”

That aside, this was another great weekend of footy, culminating in Port’s surprise win over the Hawks. Part of me thinks that Gather Round probably should stay in South Australia. They do it well, the tradition is rich and remember how weird they got after the Formula 1 Grand Prix was stolen by the Vics?

Down to business.

Great to welcome back Sean Darcy, but he was still getting used to his new moustache when some bald guy wearing a headband swept the ball out to Maurice Rioli Jnr, who scored from the opening clearance.

Darcy did better next time. He found Hayden Young who immediately connected with Treacy. His was an ominous reply.

Richmond had begun brightly, but every time Freo ventured forward, Cyclone loomed large. He had three goals by quarter time and a Murphy Reid effort put Freo two points clear at the first change.

Early in the second, goals to Lynch and Green gave the Tiges a ten-point advantage, but surprisingly perhaps, they had very little left to give after that.

Richmond would manage just one more goal for the afternoon while an increasingly dominant Freo would pile on another 12. One of which came from the skipper Alex Pearce who launched a bomb and raised his arms in absolutely delight at just the sixth goal of his 126-game career.

Freo clearly benefited from the return of Darcy and Hayden Young. The latter particularly, is a very gifted player who provides much needed polish out of the middle to complement the hard endeavour of Serong and Brayshaw. He also loves to kick a goal.

Shai Bolton too gets better every week and he looked excited to be playing against his old club. For the second week in a row, he won the “Almost Mark of the Year” – kicked a couple of goals and distributed the ball beautifully to bring other forwards into the game.

Add Reid and Duds to that forward line and Freo are looking more dangerous, more creative and a lot less vanilla flavoured.

Hopefully the embattled, but talented Jye Amiss will get a lick of the action soon. He is struggling to be noticed right now.

And what about Patrick Voss?

Well, the big galoot had quite the day. He contested really well as a back up ruckman. He snapped a great goal – after which he galloped off whooping and hollering towards those “rolling hills” – and only returned to undo some of his good work by accidentally smacking Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin on the snoz with a wayward forearm.

The match review panel may take some interest in that.

All in all, a satisfying result and a 61-point victory that pushed Freo into eighth place on the ladder. What’s more Josh Treacy with 17 goals, now has a share of the lead in the Coleman.

Three wins on the trot. I feel like celebrating. P Farmers Union Iced Coffee 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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