Gary Buckenara analyses Fremantle’s list after 2016 season
ALARM bells are sounding at Fremantle, it’s time for a rebuild but that doesn’t mean it should trade Nat Fyfe. GARY BUCKENARA on the only trade scenario Freo should entertain for Fyfe.
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ALARM bells are sounding at Fremantle and it’s time for a rebuild.
The retirement of Luke McPharlin and now Matthew Pavlich combined with the injuries to Michael Johnson — who’s held down centre halfback — Aaron Sandilands and Fyfe; you can understand why there was pressure on the list this year.
Trying to cover those types of players is really hard, especially Sandilands because he’s a bit like Nic Naitanui’s influence at West Coast, it’s so hard to beat him in the ruck and at stoppages.
They’ve done a fair bit of trading away of their picks in the past and that hasn’t helped the depth they have with young players. Yes there have been injury problems but not investing in the draft has seen a bit of a full stop be applied to where Fremantle can go with this group.
They’ve got a lot of those big-bodied midfielder types like Fyfe, Nick Suban, Michael Barlow, David Mundy and Lachie Neale who were destroying teams at clearances when Sandilands was there giving them first use. But without him a few of those struggled, they were found out.
Where is the key position talent? Are Sam Collins and Michael Apeness key position players? Will Matt Taberner be the next Pavlich? To me there are a lot of question marks on those talls because they’re the players Ross Lyon will be relying on to be key position players for them and I wonder whether they’ll be the answer. I’m not sure they will.
When I look at the list there are questions about their spine — where is it going to come from? It’s a really important part of a team’s make-up — full back, centre halfback, centre half forward and full forward — I can’t see them on their list. It’s a concern.
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LIST ANALYSIS: BUCKENARA ON THE TIGERS
Taberner is going to be a nice player but I don’t think he’ll be a star and Apeness has the size but he’s just a good honest player.
It’s not all negative. though. There are some good players on the list. Obviously Fyfe is a gun, Neale has taken his game to another level, Michael Walters is a good player, Lee Spurr has turned into a bit of a general down back, Lachie Weller showed some signs, Hayden Crozier has been there a while and looks likely, Darcy Tucker and Connor Blakely are good young kids. Shane Yarran also came in and showed a little bit.
And Harley Bennell comes in like a new recruit next year.
But outside that there are alarm bells. In 2014 Fremantle was in a Grand Final and now they’re bottom four — it’s a real concern to drop that quickly.
In terms of trades we know Hawk Bradley Hill has met with the club and he would be an excellent fit — he’s exactly what they need. He’s got elite endurance, elite speed and has been in a system that has been the benchmark for the last three-to-four years.
Minimum Fremantle would need to give up their second-round pick but that alone isn’t enough. They’ll need to give up something else, possibly a player.
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Cam McCarthy from GWS — his price won’t be as high as it was last year because of what’s happened but he’s the type of player Fremantle desperately need so it’s high priority to get a deal done. They might need to give up their first pick, currently No. 3 and get something back, like a second-round pick between 20 and 30 so they still stay in the draft. That might even help them get Hill. That will be very good value for Fremantle.
WHAT THEY NEED
Who’s their next ruckman? You take Sandilands out and you’ve got Zac Clarke, Jon Griffin and Jack Hannath. Clarke has been around a long time and just hasn’t come on and Hannath is mid-aged at 25 but played two games this year, so where’s he at? Ruck is a critical area to address for Fremantle.
Then there’s the need for key position players forward and back now that Pavlich has gone. They’re set for big-bodied midfielders but could do with another Stephen Hill and Danyle Pearce type, those quick outside players who can run and carry and are good kicks. On the long ground at Subiaco good kicks come to the fore because it’s a long ground and you need the ball to penetrate further.
Michael Walters is a good player but does he need more support? It looks like Hayden Ballantyne wants to leave so that only amplifies the need for another clever small forward.
WHO’S UNDER THE PUMP?
Matt de Boer, Clancee Pearce, Alex Silvagni, Garrick Ibbotson, Ryan Nyhuis, Brady Grey and Anthony Morabito need to have big seasons if they get another chance next year and probably Ethan Hughes as well. Clarke, Griffin and Hannath will need to pull their fingers out also, they might be fighting for one spot, whoever outperforms the others will stay and then the club might go for a young and developing ruckman.
WHO SHOULD GO
In my opinion de Boer is probably done as is Clancee Pearce and possibly Silvagni but they might hang onto him because of their lack of height.
And I really feel for Anthony Morabito — he showed all the right signs of being a really good player but his body has let him down and now time has probably run out for him. It’s a real shame, he hasn’t had any luck whatsoever.
CRYSTAL BALL
There are worrying signs but if the Dockers can get Fyfe and Sandilands back in that will make them far more competitive. They need to keep playing the young players — that’s the way forward now because the depth of the list is a worry, they’ll need to invest in the draft. Bringing in mature-aged players around 27 or 28 years of age isn’t the answer. But McCarthy and Hill fit the bill as they’re young.
Fremantle have few A-graders but then it just drops right away. At this point they don’t have enough of a balance to their list in terms of A and B-grade talent that will push them up there for finals.
THE FYFE FACTOR
If he’s offered a fair deal I think he’ll stay — he’s that type of guy. His manager and he are doing what they should be and that’s testing the market but I don’t think Nat Fyfe will go anywhere. I think he’ll be staying in Perth.
He’s got a bit of WA history so you’ve got to bank on that if you’re Fremantle and he’s been the face of the club for a while now. There’s a lot to be said about being a one-club player and the doors that can open for you if you do play out your career at just one club, especially in WA. They’re very parochial over there so Fyfe can do well business-wise and set himself up.
On the other hand, if a club came to you and said we’ll give you a mega deal — like three top-10 picks — you’d have to look at it but even then, he’s the face of the club so you have to be very careful how you go about that. You might be selling your soul and could come back to bite you.
If, as a list manager, you saw the type of quality the Hawks got in 2004 with Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis in the top-10 in one year, then maybe that benefit would sway you. If the draft wasn’t as strong, where you could get that type of quality, then you might not do that deal.
Gary Buckenara helped build Hawthorn’s three-peat premiership list and now he runs a rule over club lists in an exclusive column for the Herald Sun.
Buckenara was a major part of Hawthorn’s recruiting team between 2004-2015 and was responsible for bringing Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jordan Lewis to the Hawks in 2004 when he was the Hawks’ sole full-time recruiter.
Originally published as Gary Buckenara analyses Fremantle’s list after 2016 season
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