After The Game With Snaps Truly - Rd 15 2025 V Essendon

This was more like it. 37 thousand Freo fans on a Thursday night and only a smattering of Essendon supporters, most of whom were surely fearing the worst.

The Bombers? Never much of a fan, me. Sheeds was fun when he used to wave the scarf and bait Eagles fans, but these days he presents a bit like the mad uncle who refuses to go into care. I did like it when Tony Buhagiar and Billy Duckworth played for them, but after that …?

Thing is, I well remember a long cold evening at Colonial Mutual stadium 25 years ago watching Essendon flog Freo by 87 points. Their fans carried picnic baskets, warm blankets and an air of superiority that rubbed the chip on my shoulder raw. They then drove their Saabs back to Moonee Ponds, knowing nothing, I thought, of real struggle.

That would arrive later, when their team, both wilfully and naively started to pop the peptide Thymosin beta-4. The football gods have not forgiven them and it’s now more than 20 years since Essendon made finals.

Still, they get talked up.

Last season, their marketing department created a slogan called “The Edge” which, they claimed, their players possessed. And true enough, they did come from 25 points down in the final quarter to humiliate us by a point at the MCG in Round 24 – but there has been little sign of it lately.

Injury ravaged and with three losses on the trot, the Bombers appear to be stumbling towards what their marketing department should probably call The Precipice.

Freo had to push them over. And win well.

And they delivered. Thanks largely to a brilliant dominating midfield trio of Luke Jackson, Caleb Serong and Andy Brayshaw. Down back, Luke Ryan marked everything that came his way and the creative – surely All Australian – Jordie Clark mopped up, set up and ran away with dash.

An emphatic three goal haul to big Josh Treacy marked an overdue reward for effort and was indicative of Freo’s control of the contest.

Let’s be magnanimous. Essendon tried hard – and the Nate Caddy mark and goal was a beauty – but Jackson was so clean at the bounce and at stoppages he either took the ball himself or handed it to Serong or Brayshaw waiting to charge forward. Best afield, Dogga topped it off with three goals.

Importantly, both Serong and Brayshaw hit the scoreboard too.

Add the brilliant Bolton and the almost delicate subtlety of Murphy Reid and Freo looked dangerous every time they went forward. Either kicking for goal or distributing the ball cleverly to a player in a better position.

That’s real craft improvement.

In fact, the only time Freo ever got into any great trouble was when they over finessed or got a bit cute. There was a ten-minute period in the third quarter where the Dockers dropped marks, messed about, and appeared to lose some of their concentration. Poor Neal Erasmus occasionally appearing overwhelmed by the speed and expectation of the contest.

And I am sorry to the young Essendon fan sitting to my right. At one point I called the umpire “a bastard.” That was not appropriate.

It was true though.

What a pleasure to see Nat Fyfe start the game and although he finished it early, his was an encouraging contribution. He even remembered to kick the ball on occasions, but probably won’t make the same mistake again.

And what of the Prancing Pony? How did he fare against the club that let him go?

Well, how shall I put this? He appeared to be in a state of hyper arousal. Which meant he spent long periods trying too hard and slipping over. After getting into a scrap with some of his former teammates and so filled with “Let me at ‘em!” enthusiasm, it required Fyfe, playing the role of horse whisperer to stroke him on the nose and quietly suggest he might like to calm down a bit and just get a kick.

And right at the start of the final term, he did. And what a moment it was.
Serong burst clear and Voss on the lead shrugged off a defender with a firm “don’t argue” and wheeled around on his right to kick Freo’s 14th. He flexed, he grinned and we absolutely loved it.

A good win. And having opened the round, Freo rise another couple of places in the eight. Next week, it’s St Kilda. Hard to believe how easily they demolished the Dockers earlier in the season, but both teams have been on different trajectories since.

As for Essendon? Well tonight Freo did push them past The Edge and over The Precipice. How delightful to see them disappear into the void, like Wile E Coyote, marked only by a small cloud of dust to announce their hard landing at the bottom.

Yours Truly (and doing a little dance of smug revenge)

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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