Dr Sean Gorman - Duff and the Doctor (03.06.2026)

**SPEAKER_2** (0:08)
Yes, welcome back to the SENWA studio. We're out here at Optus Stadium.

**Mark Duffield** (0:14)
It is a Wednesday morning in Perth. It's been chilly, but it's warming up. 13.9 degrees outside at the moment, building to a top of 18 degrees. And thanks to Blackline, Aboriginal-owned business-delivering signage, print, promotional products, and creative services with cultural integrity and impact.
The good Doctor. Well, no, just the Doctor. Doctor Sean Gorman joins me.

**Sean Gorman** (0:41)
The mediocre Doctor. How are you, Duff?
Just a quick shout out. I've got a shout out to all the old fellas down at the Navy Club in Freo. They were all hassling me out the other day. They said, oh, you've got a job on the radio, Sean. And I said, yeah, yeah, I do. So I didn't know what digital radio was and I couldn't explain it to them and they wouldn't have known what the dab is. So anyway, we left it at that. So we've got a few more on the wireless today. So there you go.

**Mark Duffield** (1:05)
So make sure you make the switch. Of course, we are available on dab plus now and just get in your car. Hook it in as one of your favourites and get on with it.

**Sean Gorman** (1:19)
Absolutely.

**Mark Duffield** (1:19)
Listen up, crystal clear. Sean, making bets on the Geelong versus Carlton result. Now, I believe this is to do with a, this may have been a text conversation you had with our producer, Paul Heasel.

**Sean Gorman** (1:35)
Here we go. He's letting the cat out of the bag. This was a, yes, I must admit.

**Mark Duffield** (1:39)
I think it's the cat that was threatening to be let out of the bag.

**Sean Gorman** (1:43)
The weasel.
No, it was one of those things. Don't drink and watch Carlton or Geelong, I think is the key to that. But no, it was quite a good little text exchange between myself and the heater, who's clearly my secrets are not safe with him, and they never will be ever again. But anyway, there you go. Anyway, but there you go. It's been an interesting week, Duff. It's been a very interesting week, obviously, what with Essendon, and I've been following that immensely, only simply because it's just a fascinating addition to, I suppose, the storied Essendon situation since the Supplement Saga 2013, which I followed quite closely too. And just seeing where things are at at the moment and turning on the computer this morning and going through the mid-year ratings on the AFL site. Who would have ever thought? Freo, obviously 9.5 out of 10, according to Nathan Schmook, and for Callum Toomey has given Essendon a 1 out of 10

**Mark Duffield** (2:54)
Yeah, 1 out of 10, yeah.

**Sean Gorman** (2:55)
So yeah, so it's a tale of two cities.

**Mark Duffield** (2:59)
We've been on the other foot of that, and certainly, I actually, I feel for the Bombers. I never like to see a team down the bottom.
I just think that a team down the bottom with what appear to be few visible prospects of climbing the ladder quickly worries me. It's not good for them, it's not good for their supporters, and I think it's not good for the game. The interesting thing about Foody at the moment is that Essendon are there, Richmond are virtually there, Carlton is only just starting to climb clear of there. So if you talk about the four clubs that Brian Cook used to call the Beatles, and the Beatles he referred to when he was at Geelong, he said, you don't take on the Beatles, and that was Collingwood, Carlton, Richmond, and Essendon, and three of the four, you know, down near the bottom at the moment. Now, you've been inside the four walls of AFL House. What would the league be making of that?

**Sean Gorman** (3:59)
Well, it's interesting. I haven't heard that Cookism of the Beatles, but it stands to reason in that regard. And, you know, the thing for me, listening to those sorts of pieces of commentary and then seeing it, but obviously the ways that the Channel 7 don't want to have those big Friday night games, which are the, obviously, they have a duality to now with two games on on a Friday, but not having any of those big names, particularly Carlton and Essendon, play on a Friday night.

**Mark Duffield** (4:34)
They don't want them?

**Sean Gorman** (4:34)
Don't want them. And you go, that's a big deal, because, you know, these are cash cows. These are big clubs. You know, Essendon won the very first, effectively, VFL Grand Final. So they're a foundation club like Carlton and Richmond in these ways. And it's quite interesting to sort of think about and process these things, I suppose, from a business point of view. And not that I am a business-orientated person. It's obviously the narratives that go with it.