With three games left in the season, finals not a possibility, mad Monday sorted and holidays already booked, you’ve got to wonder what is left to play for this weekend at derby 57.
On paper, this appears to be a meaningless game, but regardless of ladder position or time of the year, there is always something to play for when West Coast and Fremantle meet.
Whether you’re playing for your career, for crosstown dominance or just for your individual pride, the derby this weekend is basically both teams’ 2023 grand final.
This weekend comes at a very interesting time for both clubs.
For Fremantle, the loss on the weekend completely ruled out playing finals, so while the four points is irrelevant, for their entire club this game means a lot more.
For a team many predicted to finish top four, they have underperformed this year and haven’t met the expectations of the footy world.
Facing a team on the bottom of the ladder, a loss would see the Fremantle help lines blow up with angry calls from members, the scrutiny on players and coaches would be dialled right up and the pressure cooker would start to boil over.
Their results over the next three weeks — the derby especially — will go a long way in either alleviating, or piling on the pressure as they head into a very important off season.
For the Eagles, this game is significant and important for one main reason — for all the footy fans that say West Coast want to finish last to get the first pick in the draft, I guarantee you there will be 22 players on the weekend giving everything they can to give a club great the derby finish he deserves.
With Shannon Hurn announcing his retirement last week and only having two home games left, there won’t be a single Eagles player thinking about draft picks when they run out Saturday night.
His record against Freo sits at 28 games played, 14 wins and 14 losses, so this weekend will decide which side of the derby ledger his career ends up.
Bunga is hands down the most respected person inside the four walls of the West Coast Eagles and there wouldn’t have been a bad word said about him in 18 years.
Highlighting the man he is, last Saturday we had an AFLW intraclub match, he had finished his training in the morning and stuck around to watch.
At the quarter time break, he came and asked me and the other coaches if it was alright that he listened in to the huddles.
I felt like saying: “you can take the huddle if you want, tell them anything you see, go for your life.”
Instead I said: “of course mate” and he listened to them and then explained things he was seeing to our defenders on their way back out.
He is a true champion of the game and his teammates will absolutely find another gear to try and put another win in his tally.
While the four points might not matter, both teams this Saturday night will be fighting for a whole lot more.