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It’s January 2016, and I’ve just finally got around to purchasing an interstate membership for the Fremantle Dockers. Perfect. Last year, we were minor premiers.
We won our first final against my hometown team Sydney, and lost the preliminary to everyone’s favourite three time premiers in Hawthorn. Oh well, I thought.
We’ve got the Brownlow medallist. The Dockers favourite player in Matthew Pavlich has just announced he’ll play another year. We’ve got a great young talent in Harley Bennell from Gold Coast, and we’ve recruited a bunch of young, fine-looking players in the draft.
I’ve got my first ever club membership at the perfect time. Another top four finish beckons, and maybe, just maybe we’ll win that elusive premiership.
2016 is our year.
Um, OK. That didn’t exactly go to plan.
Fast forward to September, and while eight teams are preparing for what looks to be the closest finals series that I can remember, Fremantle is shell-shocked.
The Dockers are recovering from what must be the fastest fall down the ladder ever for a minor premier.
The stats are damning. Four wins, 18 losses. Two of those wins came against, would you believe it, the only two teams below us on the ladder. The losses are more than just on the scoreboard.
The losses include being beaten by every wooden spooner in the last 14 seasons, a dreadful ten loss run to begin the season, a Brownlow medallist that hasn’t played since Round 5, a frankly ridiculous injury list and a 2016 Freo membership card hanging above my bed taunting me every time I enter my room.
Let’s not blame the injuries, though. A look of the major stats (disclaimer: I’m no Ryan Buckland here, so there’ll be no fancy mathematical formulas or whatnot, just good old statistics from the AFL website) has seen Freo fall in nearly every statistic.
From fourth in 2015 to eleventh in 2016 in disposals (almost 10 per cent of which has come from one individual: Lachie Bloody Neale), from first to eighth in hit-outs (probably symptomatic of the Sandilands injury, it must be admitted) and from second to fourteenth in marks.
It’s obvious that the pre-season plans of Ross Lyon (or, ‘Ross the Boss’ to paraphrase everyone’s favourite AFL journo, Mr Barrett) haven’t eventuated. People complained when Ross Lyon’s stoppage-happy, defensive mindset was “boring” or “destroying the game”. To be fair, I didn’t care what people thought.
It took us to a grand final in 2013, and was winning us plenty of games in 2014/15. But, it had to evolve. Ross knew that. The industry knew that. I knew that. But, sadly, this evolution has been to Freo’s detriment. It hasn’t worked this year, clearly.
The shining lights of the ‘Annus Horribus’ have been far and few between.
To the shock and horror to many in the industry, Ross played the kids. Prior to 2016, being a young player drafted to Fremantle was like being a lifeguard at the Olympics: great honour and all, but pretty much useless.
This year, though, players like Lachie Weller, Darcy Tucker, Sam Collins, Shane Yarran, Ed Langdon, Connor Blakely and Alex Pearce (before the broken leg) have become, to varying degrees, integral parts of the main 22.
Blakely and Weller have been rewarded with Rising Star nods, while defender Collins and forward Yarran played some deeply impressive games at opposite ends of the ground.
Youngster Harley Balic (pick 37 at last year’s draft) has played two WAFL-level games, gathering 30 possessions and 11 clearances in just half a game in his first competitive game since July 2015, and is one of the players most Freo fans cannot wait to see out on the park.
Finally, a young gentleman by the name Lachie Neale has been nothing short of stunning – his 737 disposals surpassing anyone, from any team, ever. Neale’s disposals go at an accuracy of 73 per cent, to dispute common claims of his disposals just making up the numbers. Neale’s brilliance has admittedly been helped by a number of ultimately detrimental factors, but his importance to the team cannot be underestimated.
I personally see him as both a future captain and a future Brownlow winner – a controversial statement to many, but he is an absolute gun. And, despite our miserable year, the off-field side of the team is still tracking well: a brilliant new training facility is almost ready, a new stadium is progressing well and crowds are still dedicated, to name a few.
Where to now, though? First things first, getting Fyfe, Sandilands, Johnson and Alex Pearce back on the park is priority number one.
Getting the pair of Harley’s – the aforementioned Balic and 2015’s star recruit Bennell – onto the field and playing regularly is undoubtedly another goal I’d prefer Freo to reach early in 2017.
And, obviously, the upcoming trade and drafting period is something Fremantle must nail. It is imperative that Fremantle gets this season’s player movement period right.
GWS’s Cam McCarthy should make his way to Freo, but Hawthorn’s Bradley Hill (brother of likely 2016 Doig Medal third-placer Stephen) is a 50/50 proposition, depending on what compensation Hawthorn wants.
WA-native Rory Lobb would be ideal for Fremantle’s 2017 season, but that could be one to chase next year; besides, I see no reason why Sandilands and back-up ruckman Griffin can’t continue on in their brilliant and decent form, respectively.
Jesse Hogan is another name that has been listed prolifically in the media, and again, it remains to be seen whether he’d want to remain at the Dees, or come to the club that he reportedly once supported in the Dockers. A case for the 2017 trade period, in either case.
There will be countless other names that as off now I am not privy to, but I don’t doubt, as is the norm in trade periods, surprises will surprise and shocks will shock.
Moving to the draft, and Freo, for the first time I can remember, hold an early draft pick in the form of the thir pick. I don’t profess to be an expert on drafting, but Sam Petrevski-Seton and ruckman Tim English are two names linked to the Dockers.
Either one would make me very happy indeed, so long as we don’t do something as stereotypically Fremantle-esque and screw up our drafting/trading.
The drafting and trading periods are critical to Fremantle’s success in the near-future, and we cannot screw it up.
The writing is on the wall for some long time residents of the ‘Ross the Boss’ show, however. A pair of Zac’s – Clarke and Dawson – should be on their way out, so too Tendai Mzungu and Cameron Sutcliffe. Thanks guys for your service, but your time is up.
Hayden Ballantyne, Michael Barlow, Chris Mayne and Matt De Boer also appear to either want to be traded away or part with the club through free agency.
The only player our of that quartet that I’d feel bad about losing would be Barlow; who was a revelation in those three or four games he played midseason where he was in scintillating form.
The other three have been great soldiers of the club for a few years now, but with Fremantle in on a mission to “re-stumb, re-wire, and re-plump”, the question must be asked if they would be more valuable as trade-bait or be respectfully given the opportunity to potentially prolong their careers at another club.
It’s going to be a long and treacherous road back to somewhere replicating a minor premiership, or a premiership for that matter, for Fremantle.
Yup, it’s unlikely it’s going to happen in 2017. But, the fundamentals are there for a return to 2015 form by 2019 or 2020: young players who are becoming vital and increasing in ability/form, strong and stable off-field structures, brand new training and playing facilities that are imminent, and the forthcoming draft(s) in which Fremantle is well placed.
I’m still expecting some bad losses next year, but I’d ultimately be satisfied with between 8 and 12 wins, preferably more.
In the meantime, I can only hope year two of my membership for this purple club is a tad more successful than the first time.
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