Being a Fremantle supporter for my entire life was essentially signing up to a yearly subscription package of disappointment.
Over the years the club has brought in some big-name players that get fans varying degrees of excited, only to manifest as a colossal letdown. Here are my five biggest letdowns signed by the Dockers, either through trades or free agency.
Harley Bennell (2015)
Fremantle were more than aware of the baggage carried by the exciting Bennell when he crossed over from Gold Coast in 2015. He’d been embroiled in scandal after scandal at the Suns, but there was hope that a return to his home state would get him back on track. That was unequivocally not the case.
Calf issues plagued him the entire time, managing just two games over three seasons while a cavalcade of off-field issues followed him around. Now at Melbourne, Dockers fans watch with bated breath to see whether a player that caused so much excitement can get it sorted.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Trent Croad (2001)
This one just makes me sad, really. Fremantle could not take a trick in 2001, getting battered on a weekly basis. The silver lining was a number one draft pick in what would unfold as a stacked draft.
Who would Fremantle get? Would it be the perennially underrated Luke Ball or possibly the greatest player of the noughties, Chris Judd? Who could forget the exciting Luke Hodge, touted by many at the time as one of the most promising young players around?
In a word, no. Fremantle traded their first pick away to Hawthorn but they still had pick four, where they would take Graham Polak. From Hawthorn they received future club legend Luke McPharlin and Trent Croad.
The reason the latter lands in this list is simple. Acquired as the main piece of the trade, Croad never took a shine to the West, despite kicking 60 goals over his two seasons. He requested a trade back to Hawthorn in 2003, which Fremantle took full advantage of by using the pick ten they got back for him to draft Riley Dunn. Croad would go on to win a flag at Hawthorn and be an All Australian, while Dunn would play a whopping total of eight games for the Dockers.
Colin Sylvia (2013)
This is obviously a very difficult one to talk about, given Sylvia’s untimely passing in 2018. Sylvia came across from Melbourne as a free agent in 2013 after years of consistent performances for the Demons.
He never settled and struggled with fitness and form, leading to his retirement in early 2015. Sylvia was tragically killed in a car accident outside Mildura at age 32, rocking the football world with his tragic death.
Shane Kersten (2016)
This was a massive off-season for the Dockers, with Joel Hamling, Brad Hill and Cam McCarthy – who avoids this list by a length shorter than the margin between Might and Power and Doriemus in the 1997 Melbourne Cup – all coming in through the doors.
Another promising signing ushered through the door was Shane Kersten, with the club desperate to fill the Matthew Pavlich-shaped hole in the boat. I remember vividly being really excited for Kersten to come in. I thought he’d shown enough at Geelong to justify a chance to potentially play a more significant role out West.
He was phenomenally disappointing, stringing together form so poor Ross Lyon even tried to jam him into defence. What could have been.
Jesse Hogan (2018)
While this is an early judgement on Jesse Hogan’s blockbuster trade to Fremantle, I don’t think any supporter can honestly say it’s worked out.
(Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
Off-field issues began before the first game of the 2019 season and have continued throughout his spell at the club. These issues have left a fan-base crying out to replace Matthew Pavlich shaking their heads in frustration and at times bewilderment.
While his current mental-health battles obviously need to be addressed and he should be commended for having the courage to seek help, there is a growing sense that things aren’t going to improve from an on-field standpoint.
As a Fremantle fan, I want nothing more than for Hogan to get his ducks in a row professionally and personally, but you have to wonder if we are going to see it.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Yeah I rate the aish trade, I think the dockers need to stop taking a maximalist position when it comes to trading because that never works out well. I also think that moving on Lyon was the right call, whilst the exit might be acrimonious, it was the right decision.
ScottyJ
Roar Rookie
I totally agree with you ScottD. All teams in fact all of us have made/make mistakes it's going forward from those mistakes that defines us and that obviously goes for Freo as well. Barring another injury riddled season things are looking really exciting.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
What call on Longmuir?
Jorge of Brisvegas
Roar Rookie
Wow! Don, that is a remarkable statement. Your call on Longmuir alone is a shout out from the wilderness. You are trampling over several multiple All Australian winners / Best & Fairest winners and highly recognised and successfully acknowledged key defenders. THEN to rate him better than one of the widely touted best players of the last 20 years is another significant leap through a purple haze. I can understand you being defensive about your team but as far as a player who played, lead and influenced a team through a period of enormous success including 4 premierships. In the two games during the premiership years their teams opposed each other, Hodge’s side won and he was named in his side’s best players. McPharlin was only mentioned for giving away a 50m penalty for Franklin’s first goal in the 2013 Granny. I am potentially open to some sort of rational AFL game based comparison where the “other Luke” comes out on top ....... but I just do not see it. :silly:
Jorge of Brisvegas
Roar Rookie
I would take Hugh over McCarthy and Logue 10 times of 10! He will be a star – probably best out of top 3 for draft. And Berry was a steal at 15. I think one of the worst player moves over last decade is Freo losing their best & fairest winner over previous 2 years so that they could get Hogan. Neale had an okay year last year …..
ScottD
Roar Guru
Thanks for the article. It's probably accurate although I'd challenge whether enough time has gone by to characterise the Hogan deal as a failure. As I understand it the Dockers have a deal where match payments are heavily weighted on him actually playing. So it is fair to say that the Dockers walked into that one with their eyes open and were aware of the risks. Some of the deals were dogs as you have described although as with McPharlin, sometimes we did get a silver lining with that cloud! As far as Cam McCarthy is concerned I actually thought he was pretty good for big parts of last year. His best is certainly good enough but its his consistency that is the issue. I'll be interested in seeing him play in a structure where he isn't expected to be the #1 forward and in a team game plan that is a bit faster and more attacking as i can't help feeling that he has had some roles that just didn't suit him - either in body size or role request. Someone pointed out above that every club has a "fish that got away" story but the Dockers had several years where almost all the fish got away. part of that was because we had several really unsuccessful years and nobody in their right mind would want to be recruited to a club that was such a disaster zone. I think the last 10 years have been a lot better in that respect but we have certainly missed a couple of golden opportunities. C'est la vie as they say. move on from here..
RT
Roar Rookie
Mate, this whole discussion is about Phillip Matera, not Peter Matera.
RT
Roar Rookie
No he wasn't
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Matera had played 5 seasons for West Coast by 1995.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Nothing wrong with Bandy, Koops, Hunter or Simmonds either
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
He was drafted to them.
RT
Roar Rookie
No imagining here. It is not something I remember well enough to not research before commenting. I think you should try the same. While you are at it you can find me a source that tells me how Matera got to to West Coast that doesn't involve Freo.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
You could check Matera's career. Never a Dockers player. Never on a Dockers list. Your "multiple sources" seem to be in your imagination.
RT
Roar Rookie
There are multiple sources with this information. You are the only source with something contrary. I know what I believe. You are wrong as usual.
RT
Roar Rookie
It is simply ridiculous to say a player that hasn't played for two years bar 2 games I think it was, was one of the top 5 players in the competition and better than Duatin Martin. It is like saying (only it is worse) that Gary Ablett Jr is the best midfielder in the competition based on his time at Gold Coast. Sorry, he may have been, but not any more.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Yep. All there. All he took was Dawson, who you decry. The club crumbled without Ross. He has them perfectly placed.
1DER
Guest
So Luke Ball, Baker and Xavier Clarke were all there not at Collingwood, retired or at Brisbane and since retired? Of that initial group in your listing six (6) were 30 years of age or more in 2012, five (5) were 28 including kid Dempster, Goddard and Raphael Clarke 27, and Gilbert, Gwilt both 26. Of the six teenagers that were drafted in the drafts 2009 and 2010 Ross managed to give them a total of 14 games in his final two seasons as coach. Plus Ross left the Saints without a key position backman with the recruiting of Dawson. Another one of your manufactured statements similar to the statement that Fyfe was never coached by Harvey.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Sure. I'll put it down to a bad day for you.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
The game Reiwoldt played on the wing. Ah yes. Duffield was his man.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
The grey hairs was actually a compliment. You're supposed to have acquired wisdom and a phlegmatic approach to life at your age, but instead you have this student politician approach where you simply cannot comprehend anyone who might have a different view, and seek to destroy them