After The Game With Snaps Truly - Rd 13 V Gold Coast Suns

The build up was odd. Fyfe and Darcy added to the squad. The expectation of heavy rain, but muted assessments of whether Freo could win this one.

As for the Suns, they’d opened the season brilliantly, but last week earned only the damn with faint praise observation from Ross Lyon, that they were a team of “Nepo Babies.”

Spoilt. Indulged.

I reckon we need to wise up to Ross. He’s become a “Hey, look over there!” coach. St Kilda keeps losing but he wants you to notice there is a chimpanzee “over there” smoking a cigarette or a man playing the bagpipes, drawing only from the warm breeze expelled from his buttocks.

Ross wants everyone to be distracted from the fact his coaching record at Moorabbin is decidedly grim.

Now, to the game.

And Dwayne Russell immediately declares it ”a top of the table” clash.

I check the ladder. It is third versus ninth.

I pause to worry about the importance of truth in these strange times.

Thankfully Freo seem to pay no attention to the suggestion that this match might represent an honourable loss ahead of the bye and three winnable games at home. The opening quarter performance was excellent. And it was all to do with front fifty pressure.

Freddy opened the scoring, before Voss applied a huge tackle and goaled from the free kick.

Wagner intercepted a poor clearance and brought up our third and Switkowski, having laid a huge tackle moments earlier, bobbed up to mark on the lead and goal.

When clean hands under pressure released Voss to kick his second, Freo had banged on five for the quarter to lead by 20 points at the break.

Brilliant.

Gold Coast responded strongly in the second and began winning regular clearances. The dangerous Ben Long kicked their third and newcomer Leonardo Lombard followed shortly after. A free kick to Ben King cut the margin to a point and it took the ever-brilliant Shai Bolton to give Freo a thin advantage at half time.

I suddenly felt queasy, wheezy, and uneasy. The rain set in and when Jed Walter received a soft free kick, he tied the scores and then the Suns hit the front.

I was watching this from home. Mrs Truly was out on important business and the Whippersnapper Truly’s are all over the country so we were relying on a WhatsApp chat for reassurance.

It got wetter and I felt very alone.

Bugger it, I thought.

I turned off the television and walked outside onto the mean streets of the People’s Republic. Hands thrust deep in my pockets, quite unable to watch my team and fearing perhaps that I, by witnessing it, might somehow just be making it worse.

Note: There is no logic associated with this. I just didn’t think I could bear it.

And so, with an autumnal wind whipping the leaves around my ankles, I wandered past The Local Hotel, not to peer in or drown a growing sense of sorrow, but hoping to catch some good news on the breeze.

A huge cheer went up. I would learn later it was an Andy Brayshaw goal.

I kept walking, now past the South Beach Hotel. Again, my timing was perfect. Another eruption of delight. This time it was Shai Bolton kicking Freo clear. I went past Running With Thieves. And heard nothing.

I kept checking the AFL app, stumbling on blindly and damning myself for my weakness. Late in the fourth quarter I checked again to see that Gold Coast were now coming hard.

I could barely breathe and held onto a lamp post. Two ambulances went past and I almost hailed one of them down.

(Half an hour later)

Courageous, loyal me is now sitting in front of the television again.

Actually, when Nat Fyfe is injected into the game I am standing and shouting out nonsense.

I watch the Bolton goal again and pump the air.

I see the Suns draw closer and watch Ned Flanders kick that ludicrous soccered goal to reduce the margin to six points.

“Doesn’t matter.” I bellow. “We’ve got this.”

Yes. Now I am laughing, like some monstrous bully. “Just wait” I shout, “until Shai lays that big tackle and Jye slams home the winner!”

Which Jye does.

Obviously.

Great courage Freo. Not much from me. But sometimes we have to protect our hearts.

I watched the replay again this morning and got so nervous I nearly had to go out for a walk.

Enjoy the bye boys.

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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