Fremantle’s crucial list decisions and potential trade targets after missing out on Chad Warner and Kysaiah Pickett

If Fremantle had enough money to chase Chad Warner and Kysaiah Pickett, then you have to wonder what they’re up to now. We look at the potential trade targets and big list decisions that face Fremantle.

In a football sense, Fremantle shot for the moon and landed amongst the stars.

At the start of the 2025 season, Chad Warner and Kysaiah Pickett were the two names bolded, underlined and circled on Fremantle’s whiteboard.

Fresh off prising Shai Bolton out of Richmond, the Dockers saw an opportunity to add even more talent to a list that already contains stars like Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw, Josh Treacy and Luke Jackson.

Chad Warner is staying at the Swans. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Kysaiah Pickett is staying at Melbourne. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images

There’s arguably no better pair of trade targets in the competition. And Dockers chief executive Simon Garlick didn’t rule out acquiring both when questioned on the eve of the season in March.

“It’s a hypothetical, it’s tantalising when you mention those names but we don’t get that far ahead right now and certainly not from a public record perspective,” Garlick told ABC Radio when asked if Fremantle had both the cap space and assets to trade for Warner and Pickett.

“We think we’ve managed our TPP in a really effective way and we’ve got opportunities to be active in that market.”

We’re now halfway through the season and both players are off the trade table after recommitting to their respective clubs.

The race for Warner’s signature is on hold until at least 2027 after the Sydney midfield star put pen to paper on a two-year extension, worth approximately $2.7-2.8 million, taking him through to free agency.

After a rumoured meeting at Crown Towers last year in Perth, the Dockers would still consider themselves a chance to tempt Warner home given his strong East Fremantle ties with junior teammates Jackson and Jeremy Sharp. But they’ll have to fight with West Coast.

Jackson’s insistence on staying in purple put an end to Fremantle’s pursuit of Pickett, Melbourne steadfast that a trade wouldn’t be entertained unless the ruck unicorn was part of it.

Pickett leveraged his sensational form and WA ties to sign a new seven-year deal to remain at Melbourne on top of the two years remaining on his current contract. Believed to be worth around $12m, it makes the 24-year-old the longest-contracted and one of the richest men in the AFL.

If Fremantle seemingly had enough money to be right up to its neck in the hunt for Warner and Pickett, if not both, then you have to wonder what list manager David Walls is plotting now.

Warner’s signature will be up for grabs again in two years while there’s a chance that Pickett’s homesickness becomes a concern again at some point before 2034. But in the meantime, Fremantle wants to enhance its reputation as an emerging destination club.

“We’ll be active, and we’ll be hopeful of continuing to attract players to our club,” Garlick said in March. “We’ve had a really good record in recent years in particular, of attracting really high-quality people, but critically, talent as well, from a football point of view.”

THE CAVEAT

If Fremantle decides it is in the market for more A-grade talent come the end of the season, there is one contract cloud that continues to hang over the Dockers.

There’s been a significant on-field shift this season and it relates to Fremantle’s two ruckmen – Jackson and Sean Darcy.

Despite being contracted until 2030, there’s a genuine possibility Darcy will be on the lookout for a new home at the end of the season.

Fremantle has remained steadfast in recent years that Darcy is the club’s natural No. 1 ruckman and Jackson is of more use to the Dockers are a third tall in attack and backup big man.

Luke Jackson’s role keeps changing. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

This season, however, coach Justin Longmuir has conceded that Jackson is better suited to being a permanent ruckman.

Fremantle even opted to leave Darcy out of its team to play Essendon last Thursday night. The result? Jackson racked up 21 disposals, three goals, 48 hit-outs and 36 ranking points – the highest-rated game ever produced by a Dockers player.

Longmuir has also said the Dockers will continue to have a “horses for courses” approach with selection based on what the team needs.

It makes the next three weeks critical.

There’s still a belief internally at Fremantle that Jackson might not be up for consecutive four-quarter duels against the AFL’s bash and crash big men. Even if the 23-year-old can comfortably beat his opponent around the ground, the Dockers still value the ruck contest and Jackson is vulnerable to being pushed around.

In the next three weeks, Fremantle plays St Kilda’s Rowan Marshall, Sydney’s Brodie Grundy and Hawthorn’s Lloyd Meek.

Jackson can jump over all three but only for so long. He also wants to be the No. 1 ruckman and is currently in All-Australian discussions which further muddies Darcy’s future.

With his contract taking up somewhere between $750,000 and $800,000 of Fremantle’s salary cap a season, moving on Darcy would free up even more cash for the Dockers to chase a genuine game-breaker.

As much as the Dockers have tried to push ahead with a two-ruck strategy, no other club has that much money tied up in two of them. The question is whether that money is better spent elsewhere.

The 27-year-old doesn’t necessarily want to leave. But if it’s a choice between him and Jackson, the Dockers will favour their unicorn.

The Darcy decision has the potential to dictate how aggressive Fremantle can afford to be in pursuit of talent.

THE POTENTIAL TARGETS

Since missing out on Warner and Pickett, Fremantle has kept a relatively low profile.

The Dockers can afford to sit back and wait. There isn’t much Fremantle’s needs.

The one area the Dockers could use a boost in is at half-back.

Since Hayden Young moved into the midfield last year, Fremantle has been forced to lean heavily on Jordan Clark for run and bounce from defence.

The current Dockers metres-gained leader is an All-Australian contender and master coach Alastair Clarkson recently declared Clark is underrated because he doesn’t play in Victoria.

But he needs help. Small forward turned half-back Cooper Simpson showed some promise before injuring his shoulder while Corey Wagner has been redeployed as a midfielder.

Trent Rivers could be a name of interest. Picture: Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Melbourne premiership star Trent Rivers is a name that’s been mentioned in purple circles as a proven run-and-carry defender who could be lured home. Rivers also played alongside Jackson and Sharp at East Fremantle but he’s currently contracted until 2027.

The Dockers are reportedly keeping tabs on out-of-contract Jai Serong in hopes of a reunion with brother Caleb. Fremantle went close to drafting the younger Serong back in 2021 but was pipped by the Hawks by one pick.

Adelaide youngster and Claremont product Daniel Curtin is also a name of interest in the coming years despite the Rising Star nominee recently pledging his long-term future to the Crows.

Fremantle has previously lacked an explosive, game-changing midfielder but Bolton’s stints on-ball have given the Dockers a new dynamic this year. Warner could also be that player down the track.

Brandon Walker’s shoulder injury has also left Fremantle one lockdown defender short at times. Brisbane premiership free-agent Brandon Starcevich is still weighing up his future after returning from a long-term concussion.

ON THE WAY OUT?

Fremantle do have other options to clear up salary cap space but it will mean a few confronting conversations.

Veterans Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters are both out of contract at the end of the season and have both battled injuries this year.

After pre-season knee surgery followed by a hamstring setback, Fyfe has played the last three games for Fremantle.

He spent a fortnight as substitute before playing his first full game last week against Essendon.

Could 2025 be the end for the legend? Picture: Janelle St Pierre/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The 33-year-old was a shadow of himself and struggled to impact the game across three quarters, finishing with 11 touches. Young and Jaeger O’Meara are due to return from injury in the coming weeks, putting Fyfe’s spot in the side in jeopardy if he can’t find form quickly.

“It was sad watching Nat Fyfe on Thursday night,” Kane Cornes said on the Agenda Setters earlier this week. “He started as a forward, his first full game in a while.

“His kick-to-handball ratio is high because he doesn’t trust his kicking and his kicking has absolutely deserted him.

“Now, I think they sit him down. If not today, it’s got to be this week and just say, ‘Look, Nat, this group is young, it’s dynamic, and unfortunately the role that you play, others have gone past you.’”

Walters made his return from a knee injury via the WAFL on the weekend, his first competitive match since February’s Indigenous All-Stars game.

While he’s been sidelined, Murphy Reid and Isaiah Dudley have both emerged as genuine one-touch finishers for Fremantle in attack while the class of Bolton has given the Dockers new potency.

The problem is that Fremantle’s list is still one of the least experienced in the competition and the pair offer plenty of that.

Moving on both of will free up cap space but also rob the Dockers of two club greats who continue to educate the next generation even if they’re not performing at the level they’d aspire to be.

Young midfielder Neil Erasmus has also been linked to West Coast in search of more senior opportunity. While Will Brodie and Liam Reidy are stuck behind others and could attract interest elsewhere.

THE CONTRACT QUEUE

Perhaps the biggest threat to Fremantle’s salary cap could come from within.

Even though the Dockers clearly want to continue adding top-end talent, Fremantle currently have 17 players signed until at least the end of 2027.

Not only is Fremantle’s list one of the most talented in the AFL but it’s also one of the most committed.

Andrew Brayshaw, Jye Amiss, Jackson and Bolton (all 2029) Darcy, Josh Treacy and Brennan Cox (2030) and Young (2033) are all locked in long-term.

Despite their rise in prominence, long-term contracts have gotten clubs into trouble in the past but Walls said Fremantle had no reservations about signing players up long-term and incentives ensure that players are rewarded for performance.

The Dockers have plenty of stars locked away. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“You know the player,” Walls told CODE Sports last year. “You know their work ethic, their character, how they’re performing.

“We think that if the player is doing the right thing, we’re prepared to reward them. It shows too that it generally ends up working well for both parties.

“You can also do contracts where the player gets the security, but it’s not huge guaranteed money that they get.

“There’s incentives in there like numbers of games played, BnF results, different levers you can pull where if they’re performing at a certain level, the contract grows with that as well.”

With a large chunk of the list committed long-term, Garlick is adamant the Dockers won’t face salary cap problems in the future.

“Every contract that we offer and negotiate and finally confirm as we did with Andy (Brayshaw) is done really meticulously and with a mind to what our situation looks like down the track,” he said.

“It’s certainly not a push just for the now, we’re pretty steadfast in the positioning of our club and wanting to contend for an extended period, not just hopefully win it and fall off a bit of a cliff.

“We have a significant amount of scope and levers and other elements we can employ to make sure that we’re in the right position.”

Originally published as Fremantle’s crucial list decisions and potential trade targets after missing out on Chad Warner and Kysaiah Pickett