"I Can't Wait To Watch This Team Respond." - Simon Garlick - Freo Dockers CEO (29.09.2026)

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

How do you want to split it? Actually, dinner's on me.

Simon Garlick (0:02)

Okay, big money.

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Well, I got a Venmo balance that I can spend with my Venmo Debit MasterCard, so.

Mark Duffield (0:08)

Well, I Venmo'd you three times last week, so it's kinda on me, actually.

SPEAKER_1 (0:12)

Yeah, you send it, I spend it.

Simon Garlick (0:13)

Did my money get reincarnated?

SPEAKER_1 (0:15)

Yeah, it's chicken shawarma. You want it back? I can't believe you ate my Venmo. Spend your balance instantly with the Venmo Debit Card. No monthly fee or minimum balance. Venmo balance, account required to get a card and use a balance. Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA.

Simon Garlick (0:39)

Ladies WA for WA. This is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA.

Mark Duffield (0:48)

Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. Tuesday morning in Perth, a few showers today and a bit chilly. Well, Freemantle is in recovery mode after the events at the MCG on Saturday. A mighty performance, a mighty grand final, but unfortunately couldn't quite close the deal in those last four minutes. Simon Garlick, the Freemantle Dockers CEO, joins us on the line now. Simon, welcome.

Simon Garlick (1:18)

Morning, Mark. Thanks for having me on the show, mate.

Mark Duffield (1:20)

Mate, how is the mood at the club in the wake of an epic grand final, but a heartbreaking loss?

Simon Garlick (1:29)

Yeah. Oh, look, it's not too fine a point to put on it. There's an element of devastation after the results.

You know, people are gutted, but those natural responses, I think, are punctuated by an immense feeling of pride.

In the way that the players performed on Saturday and the year as a whole. So we understand time will help us with those feelings of immense disappointment. And I think, you know, as we work through it, we'll understand the significant steps that were taken this year that whilst we fell slightly short on the weekend, we think places us in a really strong position to build that sustaining period of contention that I've spoken about on your show repeatedly over the last five or six years is something that we're aiming for. And it's kind of hard to look past Saturday at the moment, but it's a job to quickly get back on the horse, which is essentially started in earnest yesterday.

Mark Duffield (2:30)

Wharfie Time is dominating the narrative, Simon, in the aftermath of the grand final, which I find amusing, but let's put it to you. Do you think the playing of Wharfie Time and the timing of the playing of Wharfie Time impacted the game?

Simon Garlick (2:47)

No, Mark, it didn't.

Our fans know Wharfie Time is a fan activation tool that's been used sparingly since 2024 I think it's eight or nine times to essentially lift the crowd in a critical moment, late in the game, to hopefully inspire them to be as loud as they possibly can and get behind the team. It's always just trying to come from knowing that fans can't control what happens on the field, but so they can have a real crack at trying to influence it with noise and support. So we sort of understand, Margot, I find it a bit amusing myself, but I understand the question given we're so close and in these sorts of situations, it's probably natural for people to look for a single reason for this type of loss, whether it be an umpire decision, a missed free kick or a key injury, bounce of the ball maybe, but in this instance, it seems there's some discussion about the impact of Wharfie Time, but we just know it's not the case.

Mark Duffield (3:42)

So the fact that people are talking like this and thinking like this and feeling like this, and I'm with you, I don't think it had any impact on the game. I think Brisbane are a great team that found themselves three goals down with four minutes left and decided that it had to be then, and they went to a level that your guys couldn't quite go with in that last four minutes.

Simon Garlick (4:03)

Well, just on that, Mark, we know teams, including ours, have scenario plans for being a few goals down with a few minutes to go or a few goals up, and they train and we all train and plan for those sorts of scenarios. Brisbane executed that plan exceptionally well on Saturday, clearly, and it's clearly a plan that they would have had regardless of Wharfie Time. They were always going to attack the game and they fell 17 points down. And it was interesting to me, I think Chris Fagan even admitted that it's probably a bit of a convenient narrative or response after the fact, given the way it turned out.