Fremantle and big picture drafting

Don, can you elaborate on why you love the new Freo recruits? I'm still learning about them and would love to hear what you have to say.

Actually, I was referring to explosively quick. Rioli, Hill, Smith, Burgoyne. Even the annoying Puopolo looks pretty quick over a short enough distance. Port have a number of good runners. We don't have many, which is one reason why our centre clearances look pretty static. We have Hill and Pearce who are very quick off the mark and good runners like Mzungu and de Boer (who are more endurance runners than "burst" runners). I'm not counting Ballas because I am thinking about players who can run through our midfield and I just don't see him having more than an occasional cameo. As for ball butchers, I don't really like slagging individual players but I'd include de Boer and Crowley and Danyle Pearce from time to time. The contrast is those with great disposal who are dead slow - Mundy, Suban and Clancee. Neale is both slow and a questionable kick but has incredible reflexes and is therefore a great distributor. Fyfe seems to have improved his speed but is "next tier down" Weller is quick and looks to have a real nice kick so can boost those outside players who can mix it up on the inside to be a little more unpredictable. The 2 last choices are seriously quick and pretty tidy too. Perhaps Blakely is maybe a bit slower (but by no means slow) but he looks like he can extract the ball. I like the look of him.

Hawthorn don't have a huge amount of leg speed on their list and you also need to look at what rates as quick, I mean you've got the Hill category and then the next tier down. You also didn't say who were the butchers?

There is a logic to their draft choices, which as you point out is driven by the level of comfort they have with the young talls on their list. It's just how comfortable they "should be" is the point of contention, which in turn will likely drive a lot of people's reaction to this article. It's always hard to properly gauge the young talent on someone's list from afar, particularly if as a fan you are happy with the young talent on your teams list compared to everyone else's.

Smith has been de-listed but expected to be picked up in the Rookie draft. His injuries meant he has been dropped. What people have forgotten is that Freo took Sean Hurley from Ireland as their off-season tall. 193cm running machine with senior experience in the GAA and a willing learner. All reports are that he will pick up the game quickly. Freo has plenty of young talls - Taberner, Hannath, Apeness, Pearce, Moller, Hurley. Expect Pearce, Apeness and Taberner to be getting more game time in 2015. Would love to see Hurley come through ahead of schedule. People also forget that Silvagni is a more than capable defender and shut down Franklin in the semi before he was forced up the ground. I like the recruiting of Blakely and Weller, but would have liked them to pick up a local kid by Keitel or Ah Sui with their last pick, but Deluca performed exceptionally well in the WAFL grand final Maybe with their one remaining rookie pick Freo will grab another prospective tall

It's not as simple or as lean as that. Apeness won't be replacing Sandi, he's a forward who may pinch hit in the draft…they'll be looking at Apeness plus Taberner for Pav, Alex Pearce and Tanner Smith will be in the backline succession planning, and Silvagni is really underrated and will really come on if he gets a decent run at it. The young ruck stocks include Clarke, Hannath and Craig Moller, who is still a few years away but showed plenty in his junior days. McPharlin will leave a huge hole, but they have been playing without him a bit lately. I think Michael Johnson will not only compound the loss of Luke, but is a very unique and massively talented player provided a huge amount of knowledge and creativity to the backlines. Hopefully they can find someone to in some way fill his boots.

Love the kids we have drafted. Fyfe will be even more value at CHF than in the midfield. Mundy is also a potential KPP as the midfield talent develops. The other one is Morabito as a potential CHB...running mostly one way. Good article...apart from the miscasting of Apeness as a ruckman. Clarke and Griffin...with Hannath have that covered but Sandi has at least 2 more years and I think Pav will go for at least 2 more.

I was going to say the same thing, Cox, Sandilands, Mumford, Jamar were all Rookie listed. Pyke, Brogan, Tippett are project players from other sports and McPharlin was traded out, my point being is so many big men get drafted but who knows which one's are going to make it, it's a total lottery.

Smith, Apeness and Taberner to replace McPharlin, Sandilands and Pavlich. Wow! that was easy. The recruiters must be absolute geniuses over at Freo.

Thanks for your reply. You make some good points. I've just been sifting through the 20m sprint data for our mids. Hayden Crozier is fast. You're right on the others though, and they certainly do have their own merits, and are obviously excellent players. Seems like Crowls can't always keep up against really fast tags. I haven't read too much on the new draft picks. Just an article here or there. It'll be interesting to see where De Boer and Crozier will be in 2 seasons time. Presumably locked in as half forwards, but these new blokes might make the competition pretty tight. It's good having blokes like Suttcliffe who can play as defensive utilities when they might not get a spot in the midfield.

I think we can afford to play Fyfe at CHF and I am confidant we will. Most of our forwards play as mids any way. They seldom stay at home. Look at the way Mayne plays. Another point is that Walters is going to be used more as a forward come mid this season and will add run to our midfield. Yes I think Fyfe will play a lot more forward and at CHF and Pavlich from the goal square. I also agree with Balthazar about our speed in the mid field. Yes we have big bodies and a good mid field but it is far from quick. Mundy and Barlow as good as they are not really fast. Not a knock on them just fact. Any way they are just my thoughts on it. I think we have done well in selections from the draft and one of the things that pleases me is that we have selected two boys who are local and have played at the second tier of the game. They have experienced the harder bodies, though not as toughened as those of the AFL. With this I think it will allow them to mature and play at AFL level sooner.

Hey Tom. I reckon we are a bit slow. We have Hill and D Pearce for speed (leaving aside Ballas, who's fast but he's best closer to goal). I don't think of any of Barlow, Neale and especially Mundy as being fast. Mzungu can run all day but he's not particularly explosively quick over the first 10 or 20 metres. I reckon the way the game is going - with teams like Hawthorn and Port - is that it is getting quicker. With less interchanges, endurance running is pretty important too. I am only judging by their highlights reels but each of the Freo picks have good endurance and evasiveness but also that more explosive speed - particularly the last 2 picks. we really do rely heavily on Hill and Pearce for quick ball movement and inside 50s. I haven't checked recently but towards the end of this year they were ranked 1 and 2 in the competition for inside 50s Not dissing the others by the way, the all have different strengths. Adding a bit more pace with the players on the outside, even better if they develop an inside games (my guess is Blakely and Josh D-C will be extractors, the other 2 more outside runners), just makes the team less predictable.

Balthazar, can you please elaborate on "finding some outside speed and class. I don’t think that Freo have that many players who can run through the middle; I can think of a fair few on our list who tend to butcher the ball and are too slow. Possibly a bit too defensively minded as well." I enjoy reading your posts about Freo, and you clearly know your stuff, but I consider this to be a strength of Freo, so I'd be interested to hear why you think it's a weakness, particularly who these "fair few" are. Is this where you put Tendai? Are Barlow and Mundy too slow? The likes of Hill, Fyfe, Danyle Pearce, and Neal (plus Crozier, Suttie, etc) makes for a pretty fast "run through the middle", for mine. Some people seem astounded that we have chosen smalls (not specifically on the Roar, but generally speaking), however with Apeness, Tabener, Alex Pearce, Tanner Smith, etc. there's a good core of talls for the future. I think the Irishman is a good pickup too.

There are two glaring issues for me with Freo. One is replacing some of our ageing talls and the other is finding some outside speed and class. I don't think that Freo have that many players who can run through the middle; I can think of a fair few on our list who tend to butcher the ball and are too slow. Possibly a bit too defensively minded as well. Each of the guys chosen have speed and look to be an offensive threat. I reckon the club has looked at how many players say the Hawks have who can play multiple roles including midfield and how Freo's midfield don't score enough. I believe this deals with one glaring issue. I also note that the club pretty much cleared out their rookie list this year, adding one very tall and fast Irishman. Perhaps they think they can get a good tall or two in the rookie draft and leave them to develop a year or two

We cant take Fyfe out of the midfield just yet. He is simply too good and in my opinion is the best midfielder in the league. Whilst I am sure at the end of his illustrious career he will spend time at CHF, he is 23 and in his prime, keep him in the middle for longer. My point is that we are putting so much hope into Apeness, Taberner and Pearce and if one of them doesn't work out we could be in big trouble post Sandi, LMac and Pav. This was also a draft considered full of high quality KPPs and to not take one when there were three highly touted talls available in Lever, Durdin and Goddard was in my opinion the wrong move. Next years draft is considered more of a midfielders draft so I am sure the midfielders could've waited for next year. Having said all this I wish all four freo draftees the very best and hope you prove me wrong.

13th man.I think you will find that Fyfe will spend a lot more time at CHF this season getting ready to take over from Pavlich the following year. Fyfe will be our next CHF, with out doubt. Check out our list, as is now, and see that as the article said, we have already looked into the future, two or three years ago. We have done well.

A well written and well thought out article Cameron. I suppose like many other had been expecting Fremantle to look for talls, but then on studying the list ,I saw that they had already begun the replacing od players like Pavlich and McPharlin etc during previous drafts. I think Lyon and co have set a solid future for our club with the previous couple of drafts. I know that the kids they have taken this year will not have much of an impact this coming season , but will be future stars for us. I look forward to a big season in 2015 for the Fremantle Dockers.

Dont know about that. Smith has been delisted and the others havent really impressed me yet. Both Durdin and Lever were available at 13 and freo needed another key defender. Dawson and Johnson both also closer to the end of their careers as well. We have a wonderful midfield already that is young and talented so that wasnt a need. We could have still brought in another great midfielder in Blakely even after taking a key defender. I am sure Weller is a good player but when the likes of Neale, Hill, Fyfe and Barlow are already there it wasnt really a need. The real need was a key defender