If that was the trailer for the upcoming ten to twelve season series of Young and Younger, pass me a pen and point out where to sign! Time to Restump Podcast the downing of the ducking dogs.

We've seen prolonged purple patches and periods previously suggesting the Hayden hysteria was warranted, but, after Friday night's performance, it's official.

Forget about their work around the ground for a moment because we don't want to suffer a celebratory overdose, but Hayden Young and Murphy Reid's antics in front of the Sean Darcy toothpicks was the height of absurdity!

Murphy Reid destroyed the ancient Egyptian sun dials and timekeeping techniques with his scintillating siren snatcher, while Sir Isaac Newton is now questioning everything he thought about physics after Youngy's banana bender from the boundary.

However, while their highlights steal the spotlights, Sammy Switkowski deserves a ton of love. His first half work and 2 important goals kept us in the contest. And let’s not overlook the magnificent game from Karl Worner who not only defended and marked everything that came his way, but partook in numerous offensive plays.

As a team, we seem to be surviving on bursts at the moment, and of course on Boltons, but is it a sustainable 4-point business model?

Take nothing away from the thrill and excitement of the victory and the manner in which it was secured, but did we allow it to become a tougher task than it should have been?

Let's be fair to the Bulldogs, they were injury ravaged, depleted and the walking wounded. While he probably only needs one of them, Bontempelli was on one leg, Ed Richards was under a cloud all week, Tim English was underdone and, with all due respect, their backline consisted of Coffield, Busslingler, Selwood and a guy called Buku.

Again, similar to last week, you can only beat who is in front of you and we are making that a habit, albeit against lesser opposition. But can we continue relying on operating in bursts and letting teams back in? I'm just not sure we can regularly escape suffering bouts of opposition scoreboard assaults in quick time against better credentialed opponents.

Last week Carlton kicked 5 goals in 7 minutes against us to almost cause us a disaster. Friday night the Dogs came back half way through the final quarter from 28 points down to get within 5 points. Don’t get us wrong, we're loving winning and it is exciting football, but that is unsustainable!

We're now 7 and 1 after a third of the season and we’ve set our year up magnificently. But on some level, we are yet to face a test of the current best. This coming Thursday we'll get answers and a much clearer picture of where we are.

However, we probably shouldn't rely on bursts of freakish dominance or leave doors open late against the Hawkers.

Anyway, right now it's about just enjoying the moment. So, if you're still reminiscing about Friday, and looking for like-minded Freo folk to join you in calling the ridiculous high tackle free kick count a load of Bullduck, your search is over.

More adulation, plenty of nonsense and a sprinkle of balance on the pod.

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He did his best from beyond the field, but the days of Jack Newnes' haunting Freo are done! Time to Restump Podcast the little too close for comfort Carlton clash.

Luke Jackson and Shai Bolton went on a ghost busting rampage, ensuring the hint of haunting from the previously problematic Jack Newnes was extinguished. Two finer games from the pair may never have been seen previously.

It's difficult what to really make of the Saturday night result. The four points were secured which is obviously the main goal but to be 40 points up in the final quarter and win by 14 against a broken team that was minus 121 points in final quarters this year, is a little unnerving.

Was it simply that 'cue in the rack complacency' crept in or something more sinister, sinister beyond the supernatural Newnes nudging?

It felt like we kept Carlton just at arm's length for the first three quarters before turning up the heat and stunning them with an absurd period of purple dominance at the start of the fourth. It was a 40 point margin over the Blues in a blink of a Bolton eye as we banished the battle from being in the balance.

However, with 7 minutes left on the clock Carlton repaid the punishment of sorts. They scored 6 times in those 7 minutes kicking 5 goals 1 to reduce the final margin to a tick over 2 goals.

Were we under siege, unable to undermine the assault? Or had we timed our prevalent purple patch earlier in the period with precision?

If it was the latter, it is probably not a practise we should get too familiar with because, while we appear in final four form, a fellow final four outfit may not allow us to finesse so freely!

Football is rarely perfect though and the unpredictability is part of the presentation. We know all too well that inexplicable performances occur. So, when a period of perplexity plays out, it's more palatable when you still procure the 4 point prize.

We're enjoying the best start to a season since 2022. We've only been six and one after seven games twice, once in 2010 and the aforementioned 2022. We're in good nick, we’ve pretty much done everything we could have and we've set out season up perfectly.

So, why does it feel like we need a proper test? Why does it feel we need to touch the fire to see if we can handle the burn? Is it because 5 of our 7 games so far have been against current bottom 8 teams?

You can only beat the opponent in front of you but maybe there's cause to gently lean on the hype brakes. A hapless Eagles two weeks back, a broken and known second half deficient Carlton on the weekend got within a couple of goals of us and we have a shell of a Bulldogs team this week. All you can do is win but do we need to reserve some judgement until we face the likes of Brisbane, Hawthorn or Sydney?

They’re questions we all don’t want to ask or be asked, but they need asking. Thankfully, everyone has an opinion and it’s all momentarily subjective. Consequently, there are currently no wrong answers.

So, pick up your proton pack and PKE metre, pile in, pitch in and partake in the process of probing the preceding potentially paranormal purple performance on the pod.

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Sometimes they’re derbies, sometimes they’re simply leg stretching, workload management periods. Time to Restump Podcast what was arguably the most mundane Western Derby in history.

Inevitability is the thief of suspense. Has there been less excitement to the build up to a Western Derby? Unsurprisingly the lack of hype and interest for the game met expectations. There was no pulse, not a moment of angst as it all felt a bit soulless.

No Optus Stadium fire hydrants need replacing because there wasn’t a single spot fire on the day. Derby greats of yesteryear from both teams would be shaking their head in disappointment, bewildered about what the Derbies have become.

Is it a sign of the times, where the “It isn’t a good look” folk have too much influence? Are the finger wagging purists in charge, frowning upon anyone who colours outside the line? Are the players prioritising earning capacity over the love of the jumper?

Or is it simply the West Coast Eagles are so dreadfully uncompetitive, they’ve sucked all the derby fun out of existence? While the smart money is on the latter, it was still played in far too good a spirit.

I simply can’t recall ever having these thoughts regarding a derby ever and I have seen every single one.

From our purple perspective it was pleasing to see Jye Amiss get on the end of a handful of goals. A day out indeed, but he probably left a couple more out there. Is he back on track? His recent games have shown promise, but we reserve full judgment as you can’t assess accurately against that non-existent pressure.

Murphy Reid is going the right way to get himself a hard tag each week going forward. If Murph was playing for Freo in the early modern period in the 16th century and delivered the same sorcery he is today, he’d have been burned at the stake!

Josh Treacy and Andy Brayshaw both took the opportunity to let the foot off the pedal as their usual hundred miles an hour input just simply wasn’t necessary.

Jordan Clark was awarded the Rosco Allan medal but… really? We’re not talking about or taking any notice of accolades for anything against that abysmal Eagles outfit. To be fair, the West Coast fans should have all gotten medals for sitting through and watching that tripe their team served up!

All in all, it was a difficult watch in terms of enthusiasm. However, the overriding positive is we’re 5 and 1 after 6 rounds and sitting second behind the Swans on percentage. That’s something to get excited about.

Not much more we can say about western derby 62, but whatever can be said, we’ll save it and say it on the pod. So, if you’re ready to throw away another good hour of your life after the hours we all lost yesterday, bring your ears, rulers, marker pens and shovels as we finish up, rule a line through it, dig a hole, burry it and never speak of it again!

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