"We Got Some Full-Frontal Action" - Craig O'Donoghue, The West Australian (14.09.2026)

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Mark Duffield (1:08)

The West Australian's Craig O'Donoghue joins us on the show. I'm just reading something that Paul Heath has typed in on the screen. Codd, welcome.

Craig O'Donoghue (1:17)

Thanks, Duff. I was gouging by your laughter. I reckon I know what he might have written.

Mark Duffield (1:22)

So we know that The West, You and Quarters do podcasts after games at Optus Stadium.

And apparently you got mooned by someone while you were doing it after the game on Friday night.

No.

Craig O'Donoghue (1:37)

He either has mistaken which side of the bloke's body was facing him.

Mark Duffield (1:41)

Oh, right. I see.

I see. You got full-frontaled.

Craig O'Donoghue (1:49)

We got some full-frontal action, that is correct. Which we were not expecting. And then when he went down the stairs shortly afterwards, he was like, OK, we need to get these guys to move on, because God knows what they're going to do next.

Mark Duffield (2:03)

Was that a freemantle fan that was overly excited? Was it a Geelong fan saying, tell the ARC to review that?

Craig O'Donoghue (2:10)

Well, he was in Geelong gear, but he had a freemantle scarf. It's fair to say that people have enjoyed their night. They well and truly had enough to drink by the time they got to us an hour after the game. Everyone was having fun.

When you get to stages where you're looking behind, you're going, what are these guys actually up to? It's time to say, fellas, can you give us just a little bit of space, please?

Mark Duffield (2:30)

So what does Justin Longmuir do this week? Does he lock this team in for the preliminary final against Sydney, or do you see some changes coming?

Craig O'Donoghue (2:39)

The only one I'm still a bit nervy about is Jud McVie, just because I didn't think he had a great game again. We had some limited game time, was a bit fumbly at different points as well. So they've got to make a call on whether or not he's the guy for the rest of the year. So you say to him, you're going to play in the prelim, and if we get through, you're in the grand final, and give him some confidence, or make the change now, because he looks like he's doubting himself at the moment, I still think. So he'd be going into games, wondering if his spot's going to be secure. And I think sometimes you need to make the definitive call on a bloke and say, look, we're well and truly backing you in, don't worry about your position, because he's not playing with the confidence he needs. In terms of someone like Brennan Cox coming in, I just don't think he's got the match fitness to be able to run around for the 90% game time that we're seeing from Sydney's forward. And on the weekend, Austin Mcdowell played 100%, Alex Pearce played about 90% as well. So if Brennan Cox comes in, he's got to be able to play massive minutes. And I'd be shocked if his body would allow him to do that.

Mark Duffield (3:39)

So physically, how close was Brennan Cox last week from what you saw at training?

Craig O'Donoghue (3:44)

Not close, because he didn't do any of the main session with the main group, he was doing his own rehab work. So he had to warm up, but he was out on the outer side doing everything else by himself still. So until he can do that sort of work with the group, he can't even be up for selection. And he hasn't been doing any of that for a while now. And then you've also remembered that he had the two weeks off leading into the middle, leading into the back end of the season because he was sore as well. So he's missed games and he hasn't trained much. And when he has played his game time has been reduced. So when you look at it, he played against Paul Adelaide and had 74% game time, then missed the next two, then it was 78%, 78% against Melbourne Adelaide, and then he played a quarter against Carlin and hasn't played since. So if he's coming in off that sort of preparation, you got to think he probably couldn't play much more than 70% game time. And that's not enough if you're going into a final.