Was that a career best performance from Uncle Sam Switkowski? Or as a commentators call him Sam Swiskowski or Sam Sierakowski. Time to Restump Podcast that season setting up win over the Suns.

Have we moved from cautious optimism to guarded enthusiasm? Or has that magnificent victory seen a release of the shackles, sending us into expectational elation? But we must be measured and keep some perspective, as we know the dangers of getting ahead of ourselves. With that been said… we may never lose again!

Are we seeing the team and the performances we thought we’d see at round one this year? There has been a conspicuous shift across the board. There is a notable difference in the unwavering intent and effort, there is desire to contest, to run for each other and there has been widespread adoption of the non-negotiables.

The game plan has been tinkered with and there have been a couple of personnel changes and positional adjustments, but the predominant the change has been mentality.

It feels that the St Kilda game was the catalyst for change. Whatever happened post-match, whether it was the reading of the riot act, hard truths being aired or ultimatums given, it flicked the switch and snapped them out their funk. Will we look back in history and remember that game as our Keating recession moment, the horrendous performance we had to have?

But back to Saturday to that almost impossible victory.

It was so pleasing to see Sammy Switkowski put in a monster, arguably a career best game. All anyone is asking of him is to bring that consistency in effort and intent.

Did we learn anything about the prospects of team JackArce? If that combo allows that type of performance from Jackson, then it works and it’ll only improve. Darcy spent just 50% time on ground but got to 57 ruck contests and won over half of them. Let’s not forget he’s far from full match fitness. Jackson was mental… 27 influential possessions… 19 ground ball gets… for god’s sake… he’s 2 metres tall. What world is he from!

Can we give some love to Corey Wagner? What a wonderful pick up he has been. His tweaked role has unleashed his inner midfielder. He was superb on Saturday with his versatility, hitting the scoreboard, taking territory and defending.

But as much love as we’re throwing Wagner’s way, we’ve got a little bit more than that for Shai. Were we sure we’d get such effort-based leadership from him? I’ll admit I thought he’d be the cream on the top and would cap things off when we were going well. I didn’t expect him to be the buy in guy and lead with such attitude. And I’m not sure I ever contemplated he’d win a game for us with a fatigued, last gasp tackle in the wet. Its like we donned the balaclava and shotgun on Richmond!

But let’s pull up a bit, the big love-in is getting a bit much.

So, for some balance and to keep us grounded, is it too far to tongue in cheek suggest Caleb might not hit water if he fell out of a boat? You know your foot skills need sharpening when you’d contemplate backing Fyfey in a one-on-one goal kicking contest! We still love you, Caleb!

Speaking of the great man, how good was it to see Nat Fyfe run out there at ¾ time and a have a meaningful impact on the game. Shut up… I wasn’t crying… it was a Gold Coast rain drop in my eye….

To hell with the lid, let’s start some safe, non-Voss style high fiving and yahooing about that season setting up win on the pod. Feel free to join us but if you’re going to come in hot with your ‘one week at a time’ stick in the mud pessimistic nonsense, you’ll be shown the door!

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Talk about going from chocolates to boiled lollies back to chocolates and then boiled lollies again! The loss of Captain Pearce is far from ideal and we literally did the hokey pokey with him all week. Time to Restump Podcast the stoush against the Suns.

This is almost as tough an assignment as there is in AFL at the moment. Playing the Gold Coast Suns on their home deck usually doesn't end well for the touring teams in recent times. They've won 9 of their last 11 games at home, they're sitting pretty in 3rd on the ladder and they still have a game in hand.

Considering they've only had 2 games at home so far this year, it means they've won 6 games away from People's First Stadium, something they've struggled to do up until this season. So, it is it pretty safe to say the Gold Coast Suns have now finally arrived?

Making our tough task more difficult, we've lost Captain Pearce, to the absolute delight for Ben King. We've also lost livewire forward Izzy Dudley and obviously Cooper Simpson. However, Nat Fyfe, Sean Darcy and Josh Draper return fill the void and they're 3 handy ones to pick up the slack.

It’s an interesting decision to bring both Darcy and Fyfe back in when the forecast is for big bloody buckets of rain. Not that you can't get injured in the WAFL, but it's a little surprising they didn't go around in the twos. However, you'd imagine both will somehow be on managed minutes.

Is it the ideal time to restart the validation trial of project JackArce? Up against Jarrod Witts and Ned Moyle in the expected torrential conditions, it just feels that maybe we haven’t set Sean Darcy up for success. But we’re not conditioning coaches or sport scientists so, who knows.

Beyond the project are we making an error going in extremely tall? It failed a couple of weeks back and those conditions were pristine. Maybe the selection committee are backing the courage of their conviction.

Not going to lie, as much as we tried to stave it off, the cautious optimism crept up and infected us again over the last couple of weeks. But Saturday is a different kettle of fish.... and given how much rain is forecast, that might be from a literal sense!

Matty Rowell, Noah Anderson and Bailey Humphrey give you the impression they'll drink up the wet conditions. We did play well in dampness last week but we may need to swim a few extra training laps before Saturday.

But, we're Dockers, we're waterside workers! Aren't storms and overcast conditions the natural enemies of the sun? What are we talking about here... we have the traditional conditional upper hand! And what do we always say at the Restump? If the world floods, it matters not to the duck!

Time to wander into the upcoming watery wrestle in greater in depth. So, join us as we take a quick preview dip and a cold plunge in the purple pod pool.

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He looks like he’d use a ladder to pick strawberries! Yet this Murphy Reid character continues to show us all he’s never out of his depth. Time to Restump Podcast Freo’s paddling of Port.

We don’t want to jump to early conclusions... God knows we’re not doing that injury again. However, a question need asking. Have we ironed out the kinks, rectified the glitches and exorcised the psychological demons?

Admittedly there'd be some concerns in the Port Adelaide camp but regardless of their issues, Saturday night Freo was impressive. We weathered the storm on multiple fronts, took all Port Adelaide could muster, before upping our game and returning serve.

The numbers escape me, but if memory serves me correctly, and it usually doesn’t, we’ve rarely been good wet trackers. Aren't we often the side throwing everything at an opponent, not getting scoreboard reward and leaving the door open? We reversed those roles on Saturday and it felt a little mature. Our efficiency and skills in the wet were something to behold.

And speaking of maturing, while they definitely lifted in the 2nd half, holding our own and not having to rely on Andy Brayshaw and Caleb Serong early, was an important growth.

If Murphy Reid isn’t leading the Rising Star award... open an investigation! His body of work, his nomination and now absurd 4-goal feat in what were often torrential conditions, should have him at unbackable odds. How can an 18 year old possess such composure and creativity! I’m starting to get nervous about his future and he’s here til the end of 2027!

Give whoever it was at the club that found Izzy Dudley, a pay rise. He’s been in the system 5 minutes and he’s doing ludicrous things. Imagine lining up on him… you’d be whispering to yourself, “I’m sorry what you’re about to be put through, ankles, but hang in there.” What is he going to produce when he gets a couple more preseasons under his belt?

What a tribunal result for the Captain. Our first win ever there? Maybe the AFL saying, ‘we want you to play this fast, brutal, full contact game but make instant decisions, at times while airborne, to protect someone who has no duty of care for themselves. And if you don’t defy the laws of physics and gravity and work intellectually at AI speed, you’re not playing within the spirit of the game, so we’ll penalise you 3 weeks’ has realised its own nonsense!

Charges aside, Alex Pearce is flying. Who would've thought we’d ever refer to him as a “good for a goal a game player?” He's been in super form and Saturday night was no different. He looks more fluent, comfortable and even nimble. Physically and mentally he must be tip top.

The off-field lead ruck battle isn’t behind closed doors any more. The 'sharing is caring' arrangement is gone as Luke Jackson is making his intentions clear. And in his current form, it’s hard to argue. Isn’t possession 9/10ths of the law? However, as good as Jackson is going, he's had a couple of favourable opponents of late. Sean Darcy has to first find some resilience, but there's still a bit to play out.

Dare we say it? Have we turned the corner? We still haven’t really beaten genuine top 8 sides, but our form feels different, like something has clicked. There’s a freer flowing footy style with greater balance and it seems players are more assured of their role. That said, Gold Coast on their home deck where they’re virtually unbeatable, will tell us where we’re at.

We’re 6 and 5 and just % out of 7th. Our season somehow feels very much alive and, damn it, if there isn’t cautious optimism growing.

So, you know the drill. If this written nonsense doesn’t fill your quota, then, providing you've no respect for your ears, tune into the pod and supplemen

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