Mark Duffield - The Editorial (09.09.2026)

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Mark Duffield (0:30)

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the SENWA Radio Studio. We're out here at Optus Stadium Wednesday morning in Perth, and we are here thanks to Beaumont Homes. Award-winning design, built to be loved forever. Sunny in Perth today, a top of 23 degrees. Made in WA for WA, this is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA.

Righto. Here we go. A sudden death home final against a worthy opponent to keep the Premiership Dream alive. What I hope Freemantle see here is the opportunity and not the risk.

And what I hope to see them do is to play with real conviction, unlike last week. So the opportunity is the chance to progress to an AFL preliminary final against an opponent that is going to be minus a minimum of six players from It's Best 22

Now, Geelong will not be an easy task for the Dockers. They are well coached. They are well drilled and well experienced. They will come with a plan for Luke Jackson, and they'll probably come for a plan with at least one and possibly two of Freemantle's X-Factor midfielders. And they will come with some dangerous players of their own. But at some point, Freemantle have to flex and show the belief that they should have built over six months of home and away footy. That time has to be now.

And I'll tell you what now is not the time for, and that is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and panicking off the back of one poor final's performance. It was reassuring to hear that Justin Longmuir was intending to double down on what had got them here rather than chopping and changing now. And we'll be talking to Freemantle's Executive General Manager of Footy, Joe Brydie, a little bit later on in the show.

It was also reassuring to hear from the West Australians, Craig O'Donoghue, in his crosses from Freemantle training, that Jud McVie was training with the AFL group yesterday, reassuring also that Brennan Cox is unlikely to be rushed back into the team while still suspect with a calf problem. When in doubt, go with got you here. Go with what got you here, sorry. McVie might not have set the world on fire since crossing from Melbourne, but he has played 21 of the club's 24 games this year, and that means he is an integral part of the club's defensive seven. That means he should play this week. It probably means he should have played last week too.

Now, it is also time for Fremantle to show us a ruthless edge. Now, people here, they would think that the name Chris Scott and the word Geelong, and they think of the perennial finalist and the 2022 AFL Premier. But this is not one of those awesome Geelong teams. This is a Geelong team that has finished outside of the top four in the home and away rounds. One of their very best max homes is just two-thirds of one game back from a serious injury. The bloke who kicked five to turbo charge their win over Carlton last week is an absolute champion, Patty Dangerfield, but he's also 36 years old. The bloke who might be asked to run and jump and bump his way around the ground with Luke Jackson, Footy's unicorn, is Mark Blitzhaw, and Mark Blitzhaw is 35 years old. The bloke that Freeman will have to guard against controlling the game from defence like James Sicily did last week is Tom Stewart, and he is 33

And the bloke who has terrorised teams with his ground coverage and his goal-kicking in recent seasons is Jeremy Cameron. He's also 33 and he's nursing an injured arm. None of this means the cats won't be dangerous. They will not beat themselves. They will have to be beaten. But AFL footy only gives you so many chances in finals where the odds are in your favour, not just because of your form over the season and your form at your home ground, but also because of some of the circumstances the opposition finds themselves in. Forget flag mantle for now. This game should be about flex mantle, a game where a minor premier takes a vulnerable opponent on the road, throws the first punch, gets the game on their terms, and then flexes their muscle. For free mantle, Friday night cannot be allowed to become about what might go wrong. It has to be about what they can get right in their second final of 2026 487 736 736 is the text line. 1312 55 is the Barra and Doday open line. Barra and Doday because the little things are everything.