In the 2022 AFL trade period, the Sydney Swans, coming off a Grand Final defeat, decided they didn’t need to contribute much in changing their list for 2023.
The result was a first-round exit to the Blues, which left a sour taste in the mouths of the Swans administration as if it was a wasted season.
Sydney didn’t make the same mistake in the trade period again, recruiting Taylor Adams, Brodie Grundy, James Jordan and Joel Hamling to improve on their weaknesses but it seems Fremantle has misread the room here.
Could the Dockers be falling victim to the same trap of sitting on their hands in the trade period and becoming irrelevant in the competition?
It feels like they have been in a never-ending rebuild starting from the back-end of Ross Lyon’s tenure at the club to Justin Longmuir’s first four seasons, finishing 12th, 11th, semi-final appearance to just 14th in 2023.
In fact, Fremantle has fewer games of experience than Hawthorn with 71.3 games on average compared to the Hawks’ 73.
Coming into Justin Longmuir’s fifth season in charge of the Dockers finals is almost certainly a must and relying on natural growth rather than fixing some positional needs is a big risk.
Justin Longmuir. (Photo by Jono Searle/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
WA footy in general had one of its worst years in decades with the Eagles left feeling embarrassed, finishing the season wooden spooners and the Dockers’ season wasn’t too much better.
With the football, Fremantle were ranked 13th in the competition with Docker fans infuriated by the safe ball movement across the first of the season averaging 101 marks in their first four games.
The trademark of their 2022 season, where the Dockers won a final against the Dogs, was their secure defence, but not the case in 2023 with new skipper Alex Pearce feeling the heat on and off the field.
So, what is their brand? Is it defence? In the midfield, they were ranked sixth for clearances but when the midfield class of Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong were quiet the Dockers seemed to become a one-trick pony being 14th in the competition for post clearances.
Since Fremantle legend Matthew Pavlich retired at the end of 2016 they have been searching for the next big thing up forward. The experiments of Cam McCarthy, Jesse Hogan, Rory Lobb and Matt Taberner haven’t been the blueprint with most of them exiting the club in an ugly mess.
Jye Amiss, at just 20 years of age, is turning into an exciting forward prospect winning Fremantle’s leading goalkicker award with 41 goals and only 25 games into his career but surely there needs to be assistance for the young man.
It seems there won’t be much help available for Amiss next year when the club decided to offload a truckload for Luke Jackson including pick 13 of last year’s draft, their first-round pick this year and a second-rounder for a ruck/forward rather than the other way around. Their first pick in this year’s draft is 34.
Only time will tell if Luke Jackson will be the player the club is hoping he will and no doubt he is a supreme talent. Everyone remembers the spectacular third quarter he and the Dees played in the 2021 Grand Final. But could Fremantle have used their coin and draft hand smarter?
The responsibility for goals will be on injury-prone 30-year-old Taberner, Josh Treacy and veterans Nathan Fyfe and Micheal Walters to share the load in what will be another strenuous season on the body.
Collingwood at the end of the 2022 season decided it was in their best interests to recruit a new core group of four players rather than the main star.
The results spoke for themselves as new recruit Bobby Hill won the Norm Smith Medal, Tom Mitchell proved his class in the biggest game of them all, Billy Frampton kept Harris Andrews to one intercept mark til three-quarter time and Dan McStay played his part in the first two finals.
Not only do the Dockers have an ordinary draft hand they have lost former first-draft pick Liam Henry to the Saints and underrated small forward Lachie Schultz, who has kicked an impressive 63 goals in the past two seasons. The calibre of players lost doesn’t grow on trees and may well affect the goal of making September next season.
There have been a plethora of players who have chosen to leave the men in purple in recent times which have certainly paused their premiership aspirations including Bradley Hill, Rory Lobb, Ed Langdon, and Blake Acres, to name a few.
There are many questions clouding the Fremantle Dockers for 2024. When will their year be when they can finally become ‘Flagmantle’ and when will they put all their chips in to contend and become a club the rest fears and respects?
ScottD
Roar Guru
Yes, I think that is a fair reflection of where they are at. Personally, I think their start to 2023 was the result of being over confident because they made finals the year before. I doubt they'll (the players) make the same mistake again and I expect their first 10 games to be much better than 2023.
Cavaquinho
Roar Rookie
I see that he concluded, “Their first pick in this year’s draft is 34.” It will be a miracle if that pick lifts them up the ladder, never mind wins them a premiership. For argument’s sake, for this trade period if they were trying to replicate the deal Collingwood did to get Bobby Hill they would have to give a future second-round pick and pick 43. The Dockers have banked on their current list being good enough and starting the next rebuild n 2025!
Arges Tuft
Roar Rookie
Essendon are loaded and how are they going? Much better than Freo though! Fair excuses would cut it but Freo members put there support of mediocre at, on and over all cost including success. Just saying IMO Freo are there own worst enemy. If this type of support happend at Richmond, Collingwood, WC, Crows, Port just to name a few, the AFL would be a problem, not just Freo.
ScottD
Roar Guru
This club just cant seem to get anything right., Mmm they are one of the wealthiest clubs in the league. One of only a handful that didn't need a big handout during covid. How many clubs can say that?
ScottD
Roar Guru
Jackson scored at a goal a game this year while playing over a quarter of his games as a pure ruckman where he held his own. His previous two and a bit seasons he scored at half that rate. Seems to me that for a player who has just reached 75 games he is going ok in either role. I'm not sure what point you are arguing about?
ScottD
Roar Guru
underrated small forward Lachie Schultz Underrated by whom? Shooter wanted to go home for family reasons, Freo didn't want him to go but did the right thing by him because he has been a fantastic servant to the club. Ed Langdon left 4 years ago (2019) under Ross Lyon, and has been a better player for Melbourne than he was for Freo. And Blake Acres was let go by the club , he didn't "chose" to leave. All of the departures resulted in trade swaps which they used or will use for the draft. So overall, what have their departures got to do with your premise that Freo should have been more active at the trade table?
MG
Roar Rookie
You can only recruit who's available and who wants to come to your club. I think they tried and unfortunately didn't get anyone this year. There's a go home factor at play sometimes for West Australians but it seems to go more against Freo than for them.
Shane
Roar Rookie
Which was VFL
deadly demon
Roar Rookie
gee punters saying Dogga not a ruckman I guess he is hard to place. Dee's showed so much foresight to Draft him and even tho we ended up getting a fair deal from Freo I would much rather have kept him he's an amazing talent still finding his feet I will always love him for his magic 15 minutes in the ruck 3rd quarter 2021 grand final still one of my favourite players even tho not at the Dees
TCPFG211
Roar Rookie
As a reasonably long term Freo supporter (20 years) I have noticed that Freo gets criticised (sometimes justifiably) no matter what they do. Trade in players, should have kept the picks; get or keep picks should have traded in players.
Arges Tuft
Roar Rookie
and there's the problem :boxing:
adamkiwi
Roar Rookie
Johnno, great comment. I'm a kiwi, and a Freo fan, from my time living in WA many years ago. Yes I saw Freo play at the WACA, and always positioned myself near the drums when at Subiaco. It was, and still is a joy to support them. No flag, but damn it's been a hell of a good ride. What I don't understand and can't really understand about the trolls and some Freo supporters - is why they think it's OK to force a player to stay at a club they don't want to be at? If they want out, let them. A good example was the trading out of J Hogan - good for us and him. Do we really need to watch young men self destruct in the name of Footy? I love the club for making hard decisions which at times are hard to comprehend from so far away. But I do trust we will get it right, as we have a good crop of fine young men, who will play the great game to the absolute best of their ability.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
The strange thing is, I have no need of a flag to validate my support. A flag is a bonus. It's obvious from comments, who it is that loves footy and the associated conversation...and then there are the 1diots. They are just the playthings for those of us who know what we're talking about.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
That's not the perception of real people...just trolls.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
The truth is often what we make of it.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Personally Don I admire your unshakable support of your club. Feels like I was copping a bit in here when I first joined but stick fat and your time will come.
Frodo
Roar Rookie
Ho-hum.
Arges Tuft
Roar Rookie
Actually its the most etablished medicore club in the AFLs history. Its because the members who just accept the fact thats who Freo is. If you (the members) spent half the time letting the rabble runners know that they dont have the people in place to keep good players in place and to do something about it, well nothing will change!. Instead of defending them all day every day :angry: . All I know is ATM Freo are the joke of the AFL and so they should be because of the board (doing nothing to improve) and Peter Bells general managment that thrives on the players wanting out, within a leaving environment that is well and etablished. We can all see you Don love this club, but accepting the mediocre environment isnt helping anything.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Find a way to deal with it. Your limitations are your responsibility, not mine.
Frodo
Roar Rookie
More turgid commentary.