I’m back everyone! Your favourite ever mascot has returned to the world of blogging to bring you footy expertise each week. Now I admit, I was absent last week, and for that I apologise. But it’s only because I was practicing my spear-tackle so I could take down Johnny ‘The Doc’ Docker (as pictured to your right).

So speaking of the Dockers… I know, that was a disappointing result. Not the best way to kick off the season, I will definitely admit. I was actually extremely confident before that game, I’m going to put it out there. I thought we had it in the freakin’ bag. And I think most punters thought we did as well. But alas, footy is not always a predictable game, and things went a little pear-shaped after half- time.

But I have a few theories on the matter (as I always do with most things) that I’m going to share with you now. Get ready, some wisdom is about to be dropped on ya’ll:

• Leca flustered us all a little bit. After he came off in the third term, I think that shocked the boys a bit and we may have been a little rattled and not on our A-game.

• Our midfield wasn’t up to it’s usual tip-top shape. With Sir Daniel Kerr missing, it was young Luke Shuey who copped the main tag in that match. Now, while a seasoned veteran such as Kerrey can deal with the tag, let’s remember that Shuey is still a youngster who is not accustomed to having the number one tagger sent to him, so he was understandably shut down by Mr Crowley, and did not put the type of performance that we have become used to seeing from him. But, let’s not get disheartened, because with some experience Luke is going to adapt and learn how to cope with a tag. He is a great player after all. So, all in all, our midfield was lacking a bit. In my professional opinion.

• Fremantle just play different against us don’t they?! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they lift Shannon-Noll-style when they play us. They really get fired up. Someone once told me that it’s because a derby is Fremantle’s version of a grand final (oh buuuurrrrrn).

But I won’t get sour grapes on the Dockers, they put in a solid effort and won fair and square. Well done I guess, I’m a good sportsman. But just wait until round 16 when we meet again. We’ll show you.

Looking ahead – we have the Hawks this week. The two teams that the footy world is tipping to be there at the ‘G on the last Saturday in September. This is set to be a cracker of a match, I can’t wait to see some stellar footy and of course have all our fans back for our first home game of the season.

See you all on Sunday, and go Eagles.

Love Rick