First the dust settles. Then the shock passes. Finally we look at pictures of Ross Lyon in a poorly knotted purple tie and think this isn't some strange practical joke. 

There are many angles to this incredible story. The Melbourne media is obsessed (as usual) with the implications for their own clubs, namely St Kilda and Lyon's expected destination of Melbourne. The Perth media is both petulant and bemused, not least because there wasn't a single journalist in the ABC/Channel Seven, Nine, Ten/6PR/West Australian fraternity who saw this coming. Words like 'honour', 'integrity' and 'culture' have been bandied about in the press conference, on talkback radio and online discussion threads. 'Freo is a PR basket-case', some say. 'It's like Damien Drum at the Duxton Hotel all over again' (no, it's not). 

There is a lot of sympathy for the man now departed. Understandably so. Many supporters are (rightly) interested in knowing what Mark Harvey did wrong? Rumours swirl of erratic match-day behaviour, clashes with Chris Bond over list management and the overruling of medical staff. This author isn't going there: to speculate on such matters sullies the good and honest work Harvey did over five years at the club. Who of us really knows what went on behind closed doors? It goes without saying every supporter wishes him the best, but the decision is made now: it's for history to judge whether it will be the right call in the long run. 

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By Seven Hours Behind

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By Seven Hours Behind

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By Seven Hours Behind

Trade week. Silly season. Whatever it's to be called it's the peculiar time of year. Media reporting reaches its lowest standards given anything is printable. The AFL even has 'trade week radio'; they're surely no longer able to take the moral high ground on player welfare during the horse-trading anymore. The science is pretty inexact: are picks in the 50's far more valuable than picks in the 60's? In a way one could be justified in feeling it's all academic: it takes 3-5 years to judge whether most trades and draft picks are worthwhile, by which time all the scouts and advisers have since moved clubs in the great merry-go-round of the AFL industry.    

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By Seven Hours Behind

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By Seven Hours Behind

Every year has a vintage but special seasons always stand out. Like 2010 each memorable campaign is different. 

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By Seven Hours Behind

"Pressure makes diamonds".
    (General Patton, WWII US General)

There isn't much that beats your team still playing in September. From the amateur country league to the AFL, it's still the same feeling. You sense the atmosphere change around football clubs when finals arrive. Everyone from the finance office to the physiotherapy table walks with an added spring in their step. It can't be avoided. Players - and especially supporters - are caught up in the enthusiasm that comes with possibility. The media and fan numbers swell at open training sessions. Supporters from the member to the casual observer lose focus at work and find themselves subconsciously floating back to the internet to see if the smallest news update might affect the upcoming fixture. Flights and match tickets are frantically purchased with little care for the expenses. After all, who knows when the next time might be. 2006 sure seems a long time ago now.  

Friday night was an excellent performance and one to be be proud of. The margin might have been close but we were good enough for long enough. Watching the game interstate, there was a begrudging nod from the Carlton supporters and other onlookers in the pub with me saying this was a steely showing. Our clearance work deserves particular mention, which has come so far in twelve months. The similarities with 2003 are uncanny. We were tested under lights in Round 22 that year which decided where we would finish. That time it was a decent West Coast team and an epic derby win which meant we secured a home final. That year was also a side of young players with their best ahead of them. Carlton were a stern test and one I think we will be grateful for. Hopefully next week is a different result to 2003. The exciting part now is that anything is possible.

There is a natural order to things and form displayed through the season is generally a good indicator. This year there seemed an even spread. A number of teams displayed a combination of pedigree, depth or the belief that comes with being premiers or close to it in recent years. With the form of several weeks ago, none of us would've been surprised if Geelong, Collingwood, St Kilda, Hawthorn or the Western Bulldogs were on the podium at the end of Grand Final Day. This picture has narrowed somewhat since and there are now two (more than others) with credentials and a worthy claim. Then again, stranger things have happened and all five Victorian teams mentioned above have the key ingredients of a premiership side: (1) several 'game-changers' who can break off their opponents and do something special when a game and season are in the balance; (2) a solid core of 'middle-tier' players (usually 5th-15th in a best and fairest count) who can outplay their opponents of respective or superior ability; and (3) an experienced coach who can use his flexible players to best effect or call on key position players to do something special.

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By Seven Hours Behind

Another derby is upon us.  Say what the players might about how they treat this game like any other, I (and every other Fremantle supporter) certainly do not.  The buildup might become consumed with the present state of the two teams - and our (hopefully temporary) slide to fifth - but fifteen years since the first and ten years since the most important derby suggest a bit of perspective is in order.  As is often my inclination when penning thoughts, a brief glance into the past always gives the present a different look. 

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By Seven Hours Behind

People are creatures of habit and custom and as everyone from Esperance to Katherine is all too aware, these are unprecedented times for one of WA's teams.  The publicans of the state's many alehouses have heard one long composite conversation over the last fifteen years about poor draft choices, ill-considered trades, games that should have been won and the begrudging acceptance of Fremantle's place with mediocrity.  Since 1995, flashes of brilliance have been tempered with moderate quality. These however are not times for such fruitless reflection.  It is worth instead to recall where the exceptions have been and what lessons exist for the 2010 vintage.    

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