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Fremantle coach Mark Harvey has introduced his eight AFL draftees to the club and is confident of them becoming the backbone of a successful team for years to come.
After a disappointing 14th finish in 2008 and the retirements of Peter Bell, Shaun McManus, Jeff Farmer, Matthew Carr, Heath Black, Mark Johnson and Luke Webster, it is the beginning of a new era for Fremantle.
The Dockers had eight picks in Saturday’s draft and took exciting and athletic West Perth midfielder Stephen Hill at No.3.
Next came Peel Thunder WAFL small forward Hayden Ballantyne at 21 after he kicked 75 goals and won the Sandover Medal as the league’s best and fairest and player.
North Ballarat left-footer Nick Suban was taken at 24 after captaining the Rebels and Vic Country in 2008.
He was joined by fellow North Ballarat player Tim Ruffles, after Fremantle took Oakleigh Chargers ruckman Zach Clarke (37), another WA player Michael Walters (53) from Swan Districts and Geelong Falcons Ben Bucovaz (56).
The final pick was South Australian wingman Chris Hall at 77.
With Fremantle hoping and confident these players can set the club up for the future, Harvey will not be rushing their progress.
“It’s been a big transformation of this football club and we are all about building a new era. These players were specifically targeted and hopefully will be part of that for a long period of time,” Harvey said.
“They all want to start training straight away, but that won’t happen and they will be introduced slowly.
“By January they will be joining in with the group in some capacity, whether that’s all of it or not remains to be seen.”
While the picks of Hill, Ballantyne, Suban, Walters and Bucovaz, look likely to pay off with them playing AFL football in 2009, the selection of young ruckman Clarke is a long-term project and something of a risk.
Before arriving at the Oakleigh Chargers this year, Clarke had never played football beyond kicking around with his mates and looked set for a college basketball career in the US before being selected in the Victorian Metro squad at the national 18s championships.
“I’ve played about four years of mucking around with mates at school and then just the one year at Oakleigh. Midway through the year it was really tough to make a choice, but I made the Vic Metro squad and that pushed me towards football,” Clarke said.
“I remember 12 months ago when I got invited down to Oakleigh I wasn’t sure about going and when I did my aim was to just play a couple of games.
“To be here now is just amazing. I was starting to look towards colleges in America, but that has stopped now.”
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