A few things we liked from the scratchy
Jye Amiss is deep, Brandon Walker is quick, Harley is gonna go Super Saiyan and Jobe Shanahan is unreal.
G’day punchers!
Short, sharp and to the point this week with Fremantle and West Coast playing a pre-season scratchy on the weekend.
Scratchy is the right word for it too, the wind was bad enough to cancel the Rottnest Swim and it made things very hard on the footy field too.
These are the games to look out for this weekend from a WA perspective:
Sat, Feb 28: Fremantle v Adelaide, 3.10pm at Rushton Park
Sun, Mar 1: West Coast v Port Adelaide, 3.10pm at Mineral Resources Park
Also a quick thanks to Mateo from One Percenters for his shout-outs this week. If you like good, considered footy writing, consider subscribing to his newsletter too.
Alright, let’s get stuck in.
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FREMANTLE
The infamous ‘don’t touch the ball’ position is out for Jye Amiss. He appears to be playing closer to goal this year and the change bore fruit against West Coast with four goals. He kicked straight too, on a day where the wind was crazy.
He wasn’t the only Dockers forward to star. Josh Treacy looked like a Year 12 playing the Year 9s. He monstered opponents, crashed packs and took CLUNKS. Pat Voss also had plenty of nice moments. The issue is this all has to be taken with a grain of sand, given the Eagles had a depleted backline which got more depleted after half-time when they rested more talls. Good signs, want to see it against better opposition.
Brandon Walker was one of the stories of the day. The forgotten defender couldn’t get a look in after recovering from a shoulder op last year. But against the Eagles, his pace and dare stood out. I’ve always been a massive Walker fan, and copped a bit for it. Yes, he makes some bad decisions, but his willingness to take what’s in front of him and his pace stand out in a side that can be careful with their ball use out of defence. Name him round one, JLo.
After all the midfield talk, Luke Jackson just played as a ruck. Go figure.
One thing which annoys me, and looks like it still has a way to go, is Freo’s inability to lock the ball in their forward 50 once it hits the deck. It bounces out way too easily. It’s clearly why they targeted quick, defensive-minded small forwards like Tobyn Murray and Chris Scerri. The problem was still there to an extent against the Eagles. One to watch.
Also after all the midfield talk, Murphy Reid looks like he’ll play vast majority forward again. Everything he touched turned to gold, Freo just preferred to give centre-bound looks to the likes of Matt Johnson, Neil Erasmus, Shai Bolton and Jaeger O’Meara.
WEST COAST
Buying up all the Jobe Shanahan stocks available. Harley aside, no Eagles youngster in the past five years has impressed me as much as Shanahan. His ability to get up the ground, pluck marks out of a pack, and finish, is top tier, especially for a teenager. There was one 3v1 contest win at the end which had me off my seat. He got better the longer the game went on.
outbreezy@outbreezyWCit's hard not to get excited about Jobe Shanahan 👀3:03 AM · Feb 21, 2026 · 2.7K Views1 Reply · 2 Reposts · 60 LikesSpeaking of Harley Reid, I couldn’t be more excited to see what he can do this year. He has more natural talent than most people could dream of, he looks like he’s done the work this off-season, and he was one of the best on the park on the weekend. Don’t argues, instinctive stoppage goals, and plenty of niggle - the game had all the prime Harley metrics. He and Tom McCarthy were to obvious one-two in the middle for West Coast, which is as exciting as their on-ball brigade has been in years.
Was anybody else pleasantly surprised by Jacob Newton’s contribution? I didn’t have particularly high hopes for the second-round mid-season draftee, but there were a handful of moments where he showed patience and creativity at the same time (if that makes sense?). He could be a handy high half-forward.
The draftees all did what they needed to do. Willem Duursma had some very nice moments, including kicking a long-range goal to open the scoring. Cooper Duff-Tytler and Josh Lindsay showed flashes. All of them will probably be there in round one.
Prayers up for Noah Long. He’s a handy young player who looks like he’ll face another long stint on the sidelines with a knee injury. Shit news.
That’s the lot for today. Thanks again for reading.
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