Can't Fence Tommy In

What’s going on at that Mineral Resources Park? It’s a mine site of a ground and now we’ve got Sean Darcy on his 4-week Fifo spell! Time to Restump Podcast everything that’s as purple as Darce’s knee!   

You don’t want any player getting injured at all, but especially on the eve of a season. And given how vital it is we get off to a positive start this year, we couldn’t afford to lose part of the Jackarce combo. Luke Jackson will cover Darcy but it robs us of Luke Jackson magic up forward. 

Speaking of injuries, sadly Corey Wagner is done for possibly a third of the season and how long Disco Nathan is out is anyone’s guess! But on the more positive side, Brennan Cox and Freddy are pushing for round one and the Qatar sorcery has seemingly done Heath Chapman no end of good. 

The pressure is already on Justin Longmuir and the season hasn’t even begun. Such is the irrational world of fanatical sport. What constitutes an acceptable season performance? Is it finals? If so, can he survive should we miss the top eight? Can the club stand up to the external pressure and noise if they then still think he's the man for the job?

The Chief is back on Sammy Switkowski’s case and is asking the question, could Switta be more productive in a semi-foreign role? 

We all know ‘league equalization’ is an AFL buzz term with no meaningful substance but after finishing 14th in 2023, did we get a little torched with our draw this year? Or maybe the nerves creeping in for us fans is causing us to subconsciously grasp at pre-determined reason for failure straws! 

Wait a minute… that’s loser talk! Let’s nip that defeatist attitude talk in the bud right now and amp up the positive affirmations!

All that and no doubt plenty more to get through. So, as Jojo has finally decided to turn up… let’s strike while the iron is hot before his less than disciplined pre-season interruptions continue.     

So, in the highly unlikely event you’ve got nothing better to do and you can’t suddenly make other arrangements, by all means pull up a pew, plug in and partake in the perpetuation of our purple prattle. 

It’s been a long preseason and we’re all a tad rusty. But we can’t wait to see how the Emmett bros, who Will Schofield introduced us to last Saturday, go this year. Let’s focus and get the 2024 Restump Podcast on track.

There was, and in some sectors still is, a lot of doom and gloom around Freo’s chances this year (hello Kingy) but unsurprisingly, as we edge closer to round one, the expectational tide is starting to turn.  

Maybe it is just my eternally optimistic nature but I’d go as far as to say the term ‘anomaly’ has been negligently overlooked. It has been absent in the external conversations and assessments of Fremantle’s 2023 season.

There seems a different attitude and a different mindset this preseason and it appears they returned in better nick this year than they did the same time last year. The youngsters have another year and a preseason under their belts, Andy Brayshaw looks like he’s about to return to his 2022 best and while praying to any and all gods that he holds together, Nat Fyfe is showing why he is still a vital cog in the purple wheel. 

There were good signs regarding the ball movement last Saturday but…  we weren’t exactly inconvenienced or hampered in our endeavours. So, we’ll momentarily reserve judgement…

However, on what we’ve seen so far, I can’t recall hearing…. “Gee we miss those Lachie and Liam guys and that Hamling bloke.”

Setting a horrible Restump example, Jojo has been preoccupied and absent the entire preseason boarding private jets on his own national Taylor Swift concert going tour! But he assures us he’s back and got his head in the game. However, the best he could do was promise to try and cut down the in season European holidays.

Is Simon Garlic pivoting from the five-year strategic plan to the ten year extra breathing space project? Is the “break out year” label a dangerous prediction? And is there an early episode of the Neighbourhood Watch? God, we hope not!

Bucket loads to get through so let’s get season 2024 underway. If you join us, please note the legal disclaimer that it will most probably be another hour of your life wasted and we can offer no refunds! 

It’s been a great, old fashioned, hot sand feet burning, car seatbelt buckle branding summer! And as we desperately need him this year, we’re hoping it’s also the Summer of Sam. Time for the Restump Podcast return.

January and we’re talking footy? It’s a tad confusing but we won the bat flip, we’ve elected to serve and we’ll kick with the wind, to the right of screen. It feels a bit Twelfth Man-ish… “Pakistan are going to kick off? What ‘effin’ game are we playing here?”

Like most years, the external expectations are high. However, there seems to be a lot of doom and gloom about Freo’s prospects this year obviously based on season 2023. Happy to say we don’t share that sentiment. Sure, the current few injuries to Luke Ryan, Sammy Switkowski and Brennan Cox aren’t ideal but they don’t appear overly serious. 

In this late January return podcast, we ask where will the necessary improvement come from this year? Are there any players under serious pressure? Is coach JL under the pump or is it the trashy traditional media going earlier than usual?  

The Chief is not suggesting any serial killer accusation vibes but wants to talk the Summer of Sam Switkowski. 27 years of age, just 68 games over 6 years. We desperately need not only a full season out of him, but a career best one as well.  

After successfully seeing David Mundy off, attempting to trade Sonny to the Suns and calling for Fyfe’s finale …. does Jojo have concerns over the Captain’s future?

There's a groundswell of support building for the return of a fit Matthew Taberner and when you take a step back and look at it from different angles, you can see the reasons why. 

Is Fyfe going to beat the old man battered and bruised body odds and hold together? The old dog still has his tricks if the arthritic body allows him to perform them.

Did Joel Hamling two-face us? Full of gratitude for Freo on his way out but amongst the hi-brow Sydney sect he suddenly decided he was disrespected. 

Despite Mrs Corbet keeping the boys well fed with homemade ‘yoyo melting moments,’ they are back in better shape than this time 12 months ago, they’re a year older and they’ve got another season and pre-season under their belts. So as far as we’re currently concerned…. off with your heads, you defeatist doom-mongers! 

We’re up, we’re arked up, revved up, probably a little too hyped up… possibly overstepping the mark and giving away free hits, but offloading the nervous and excited energies is what pre-pre-season is for. 

So much to discuss so join us for the first Restump Podcast episode for 2024. Roll up your blinds and pull back your curtains because the premiership window is only just starting to open! 

Going into the draft with very few bullets to use, you’d have to be pleased with what Wallsy and the gang have picked off? Time to belatedly Restump Podcast our 2023 draft results. 

So, the draft dust has now settled! Unless you’re the eternal pessimist, surely, you’re keen on the decent handful of new Dockers it has revealed. And if that doesn’t float your boat, you have to give the club credit for reducing the risk and avoiding anyone named Lachie.

The first purple cab off the rank, Cooper Simpson, an inside outside speedy line breaking goal kicking midfielder. Was the thought of a winger front and centre in the minds of the Freo drafting crew when they pick traded up the order to secure Cooper at 35? 

Half a dozen picks later the 200cm defender Ollie Murphy joined his mate Cooper Simpson as they shared a cab to Freo. A lot of chatter that Ollie should have gone first round and that Freo should be charged for stealing… but it’s all inconsequential now. 

Safe to say the most surprised and thrilled draftee was jumping Jack Delean. At pick 60 the forward from South Australia must have been losing hope of getting onto a list. Then the purple hand was extended and all hell broke loose! If you listen carefully, you can still hear Mrs. Delean’s lingering screams of excitement!   

We then put the cue in the rack until the following day. 

The rookie draft is where we excel! Antoni Grover, Roger Hayden, Aaron Sandilands, Paul Duffield, Matt de Boer, Michael Barlow, Lee Spur, Matthew Taberner, Ethan Hughes, Bailey Banfield, Josh Treacy are some of the ridiculously great Fremantle names that have come from our rookie drafting skills. Dropped pick 5 Wednesday on the 96kg 18-year-old ruck / forward Odin Jones…. it’s safe to say he’s in great company.

We’ll go through them in a bit more depth and we’ll run the eyes over the entire draft to see if anything stood out. In other news, preseason training has amped up but sadly Sebit Kuek is about to join the long-term injury list alongside Josh Corbett. 

We’ll do our best to find out where Jojo has been swanning about and who he has been hobnobbing with the last week and why he didn’t show for a draft night podcast. 

So, if you’ve got too much free time and you decide to spend 60 minutes of it on our nonsense…. all we can say is thank you, but… you’re too generous and you’re severely undervaluing your time! 

“Best club and supporter base and most passionate fans in the AFL. It was the incentive to come to Collingwood.” Is Lachie being a little too Lobb-like? Time to Restump Podcast that and whatever we can scratch up and masquerade as Freo content.  

We’ve closed the door on the Lachie Shultz love-fest. Sure, his interview at Collingwood was probably edited with cherry pickings but that is not getting in the way of a villainous narrative. He’s not exactly dead to us but he’s off the Christmas card list and almost in the Rory Lobb basket! 

Fixtures are starting to leak out. Is there anything the AFL doesn’t milk dry? We’ve got a tough home game against Brissie to kick things off and we’re off to the Northern Territory later in the year. 

Zero round? Is there a potential the AFL is biting off its nose to spite its face? Is it watering down the spectacle and occasion of the traditional round one?

The strategic plan… how are we actually travelling? Have we deviated from where they thought we would be? Can we still tick off the boxes with two years to run?

From a wider, all-encompassing perspective, what is the feeling of the fans about the current Fremantle club? Do fans feel part of the club? Is there that deep emotional tie or are there degrees of separation?  

Oscar McDonald has joined the purple and Jeremy Sharp looks like he’s days away from doing the same. Handy gets for no cost.

Josh Corbett is done for 2024 after a hip injury that came with little to no detail. The Chief has been some digging around to try and find out what actually happened to Ronnie Corbett. 

Bailey Banfield got engaged after getting his beautiful partner to say yes. We couldn’t be happier for him but we’re disappointed he didn’t get down on one knee wearing the sub vest.  

So, there’s all of that and no doubt plenty more of the stuff no one asked for or will benefit from!

Are we podcasting anything truly enlightening? Probably not! But hey… the bottom of the content barrel isn’t going to scrape itself! So, if you’ve set the listening bar low, then join us as we try and inject some much-needed purple nonsense into the offseason airways! 

Deals done early, seemingly little conjecture… it kind of feels like there might be something cooking. Time to Restump Podcast Freo’s quiet trade week update.

Sure, Belly said we’re now looking to the draft but Wallsy also said we’re in for a quiet trade week! We’re armed with a rich bag of future picks, are they just keeping their cards close to their chest or is there a twist in the purple trade week tail?

Well Liam Henry is now a Saint and Lachie Schultz a Pie. There was a lot of shouting that we got stooged by the Saints and we took massive unders for Liam. Oddly enough much of the shouting came from the same folk who all year said he wasn’t worth a ham sandwich. 

The Saints future second round pick does seem very compensatory light, but Liam put half a season of big runs on the board. Is that plus potential and improvement worth more than the currency received? Oh and yeah thanks Hawthorn for not giving us some little leverage by not entering the Henry negotiation! We tried to help you out with Brockman…. But no love back the other way?

While we may have gotten clipped on the Henry trade, the roles were reversed in the Lachie Schultz deal. Collingwood parted with their pick 34 this year and their first rounder next year. We’d all prefer Schultzy stayed but that sort of package does soften the blow. In fact, you could almost argue that even if Schultzy wanted to stay and the Pies threw that deal on the table…. you’re having the discussion!

So far this trade period Joel Hamling has headed to Sydney, Liam Henry to the Saints and Lachie Schultz to the Pies. It currently leaves us with picks 34, 46, 60 and 64 in this year’s draft while we’ve got a massive 3 first round picks, one second, one third and one fourth round pick in 2024. 

If this is a quiet trade week in Wallsy world, there wouldn’t be enough trade period days for us if Wallsy said we’re going to be pretty active!

Looks like Brennan Cox got on with the job and with his lovely partner Keah, they have produced us a future father son pick!  

Two days of the overblown, overhyped and dramatically delivered meat market to go. Are we done? Are we now unpacking our draft picks and putting them on the shelves…. Or is Wallsy and co just keeping them warm for one last 2023 hurrah? 

As if there isn’t enough hysterical nonsense in the AFL airways at the moment but we’re believers in that too much hysterical purple nonsense is never enough. So, if you’re a member of that club, by all means join us. And we’re not the gate keepers of opinion so feel free to throw yours in the mix.   

Seems to be a fair bit of angst directed at the club for some reason, but hey, don’t shooter the messenger! Time to Restump Podcast the latest trade week nonsense.

There is no doubt Lachie Schultz is a loss and we’d all rather he stayed but the level of angst and anger towards the club and Peter Bell is misplaced. No disrespect to Lachie Schultz intended, but it’s as if its Caleb Serong or Hayden Young who has opted to leave!

We get it, footy is an emotional opinion-based business and all views are welcomed and entitled to be presented. But talk of culture issues and mentions of player exodus just seems so wide of the mark.

Could it be the club is doing something we have never done before? Is it showing ruthlessness in its pursuit of success? Understandably, cutting deep and holding its nerve to deliberately go after genuine sustainable success is a foreign policy to us, but it takes some courage to implement it.

If there were a culture problem at Freo, we wouldn’t have the rich deep vein of players we do and they wouldn’t have committed to the deals they have. 

On that note it seems unlikely Freo entering the Tyler Brockman chat is for anything other than a mutually beneficial tactic with Hawthorn. Tyler Brockman, despite his ability and upside, doesn’t seem the type of player we would suddenly be interested in, especially as he isn’t like for the like with Lachie Schultz.

We've lost a Lachie Weller and a Lachie Neale.... we can lose a Lachie Schultz standing on our heads with one arm tied behind our backs.

So, the week goes on and in Wallsy world, it’s just getting quieter and quieter for Fremantle! We’ve chipped in with our two cents worth so far but even at that it’s debatable anyone is getting listening value for money. But hey, feel free to come along for the ride and don’t be shy in getting involved. 

There are many ways to the poor house but our annual Restump Podcast Buy Sell Hold investment report will probably get you there the fastest.

It’s been a turbulent time in the Freo economy over the last twelve months. Does the overall regression re-determine individual player values? Have their 2023 performances changed investor sentiment? Has panic selling set in or are we doubling down and opportunistically buying the dip?

It is probably safe to say its fortunate that we’re using fictitious funds and making unaccountable investments because we imagine the otherwise resulting financial books may be under a fair bit of stress. That said, we’d probably be in possession of substantial tax losses for future profits to be written off against. 

Does Brandon Walker’s injury heighten risk and lessen his value? With minimal exposure and little to really get excited about, has Josh Corbett’s value held or diminished? Is Lachie Schultz at full market value? What’s the sentiment on Switta? Are the 2022 Sammy Sturt sellers scrambling, having to pay up for stock? Can anyone afford Caleb Serong or Hayden Young stock? All these financial questions and many more! 

We’ll also cover the “quiet” trade period that has ironically started with a bang! The departure of Joel Hamling, the strategic pick swaps and the shock news from Lachie Schultz wanting to join the Pies.  

So come along for the conversation as we cover the current news and go over each Freo player on the list, review their seasons and apply our individual investment recommendations in our annual lengthy Buy Hold Sell report podcast episode.

Seems North didn’t need to Twist the AFL’s arm too hard. Has the policy crossed over from equalisation to an equitable model? It may just be that us Freo folk still haven’t gotten over our limited league entry concessions! Time to Restump Podcast all the goings on.

Former Freo man Lachie Neale joined Nat Fyfe in the very elite group of dual brownlow medal winners. Sure, he may have snuck 3 votes when he probably shouldn’t have but like the pre-hotspot era, sometimes you snick it and survive, sometimes you miss it and you’re given out. You can admire Lachie Neale’s achievements and simultaneously spare a thought for the Bont.

Lachie is a magnificent player and a deserving winner…. and just maybe that is what the West Australian should focus on rather than drag Freo into it and play the tabloid clickbait headline game.

Caleb Serong’s stella year continued with his 24 votes, taking 36% of Fremantle’s votes. Had the team won a few more games we may well have been celebrating Freo’s second brownlow medalist. 

In other great news Brennan Cox has been locked away until 2030 which pretty much makes him a Docker for life. Lukey Ryan can now rest easy his best mate is staying put.

Jojo suggests its time to dismantle and rebuild the numerous trade, NGA eligibility, father son and free agency compensatory pick systems? The add-ons and amendments over the years have made it clunky, tricky to navigate and in some aspects open to manipulation. 

It’s the off season so we’re having a bit of fun with fake trades to be discussed and we kick off the one football related and one non-football related questions we’re asking listeners to send in.

So, with no Freo footy in the finals you may be looking for something to rattle around in your head. If so, and you’ve exhausted all other options, here is an hour of relative nonsense to help you pass the peak hour traffic time.

We must strengthen the Ubulus and upper Dorsinus muscles if we want to be kind of a big deal. Head anchorman JL is leading by example challenging the boys to come back in tip top shape. Time to Restump Podcast all the goings on in purple.

The season that promised so much delivered little but, in review, there was a lot to take out of it in a positive sense. Wins away from home against quality opposition will do a group of kids no end of good. 

Getting 20+ games into and 40+ goals out of Jye Amiss was a remarkable feat. Luke Jackson has surely put his doubters to bed, Hayden Young into the midfield paid big dividends and the unearthing of Tommy Emmett surely has us all waiting with anticipation for season 2024.

Did we turn up to preseason in less that good nick? We’ll never definitively know but having made fitness references throughout the year and then emphatically asking for the boys to come back in better shape this year, JL said as much.

There were no surprises Doig Medal night as Caleb Serong added the 2023 Doig medal to his 2020 Beacon award. The rest of the night was fairly predictable but we’ll check in and see if Jojo saw anything of note. The Chief spent his time reviewing the red-carpet arrivals.

Sadly, the news we feared was coming, arrived. Liam Henry is on the move informing the club of his hopes to join Ross the Boss Lyon and the Sainters. It's disappointing on many fronts but none more so than the fact we’re once again wing deficient. 

The purple wings, or rather the absence of talented and competent wingers, has been a huge problem since Brad Hill and Ed Langdon both departed at the end of 2019. Does this open the door for a Jeremy Sharp to come home? Is he the player we hope? Does he tick all the boxes on and off the field?    

Blake Acres would probably still be at Freo had the club had a crystal ball that told them O’Driscoll wasn’t going to instantly take the next step and Liam Henry was leaving. Was it a mistake to move him on at the time? Opinions are mixed on the matter.

We’ve had a few weeks forced break so we might be a little bit rusty. If so, that’ll be business as usual. Finals are on but our season is obviously over. However, plenty has happened and there’s plenty to come. So, if you’re not ready to hang up your purple scarves for the year just yet, then stick around with us and let’s stretch the purple period out as far as we can.