The Footy Boss: An in-depth look at all aspects of Fremantle
Justin Longmuir is one of the rarest situations in footy given his current contract status as an ongoing employee. So what happens if Freo’s stacked list fails to reach its potential yet again?
In the tough Western Australian recruiting landscape, Fremantle is always aiming to bring in great players from across the country while keeping a strict eye on the WA talent pool.
The Dockers have a young core of players that should only improve in coming years and the list management team has the runs on the board.
A few picks that worked out well for the Dockers show why David Walls and his list team can keep adding talent and the cat-and-mouse nature of drafting gun players.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DRAFT STRATEGY
Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters retired this year as Dockers greats while Lachie Neale won a second flag at Brisbane.
I was fortunate to see all three recruits in my time at the Dockers and each pick carried their own strategic work by the recruiting network across the country.
Back in 2009, Fyfe was a bit of a surprise choice at pick 20.
I was the list manager at the time and the recruiting team in Phil Smart and John Nykyforak – plus current club coach Justin Longmuir – were very strong on him.
So strong that they had him ranked in their top five players in the country.
That was a massive surprise to some given he was seen around the country more as a third rounder, only North Melbourne to our knowledge saw him potentially as a pick in the 20s.
The pre-draft meetings are intense and you are pressed really hard in the order the recruiting team has landed on by coaches and the football committee.
It was my role as list manager to make sure their order stayed intact.
Experienced list and recruiting managers are critical not just for their eye but for the process of managing up. You should enter these meetings close to locked in with your draft order and have an understanding with the recruiting team where you may have some flexibility.
You don’t want to be having conversations with coaching staff and it warping the order you have spent a couple of years building.
It is really important the list and senior recruiting staff are strong in the views and body of work so they are open to feedback but they aren’t going to be pushed around and make changes. The CEO’s role is crucial to ensure the final call is with the recruiters.
I have had a philosophy that the person with the most information should have the most influence, whether you are a part-time recruiter or a billionaire board member.
If the draft order is changed, the CEO should be asking questions as to why, to make sure the recruiters are comfortable.
More than any other player, I had a really strong local recruiting network pushing this ‘Nat Fyfe’ player really hard. On the national stage he wasn’t seen in that light and it takes a bit to get your head around that.
Nat came in from Claremont at 68kg and my brother Simon was Fremantle’s head of development at the time and Simon came up to me at one point and said, “What is Nat Fyfe all about, I just had an interesting chat with him”.
Simon was having a conversation with him out on the grass during one of his first sessions and said to Nat that he would probably play a bit of footy for the Claremont reserves until his body developed.
Nat had told him not to worry about Claremont reserves, “I won’t be playing much WAFL footy at all, I will be straight in the AFL”.
Sure enough, Nat made his AFL debut in round 5 and lit the AFL up really quickly.
Michael Walters, another retiree this year, shows the value of time.
He was the No.1 16-year-old in the country and he slid in the draft to end up at pick 53 in 2008.
When he came in, he wasn’t the fittest and didn’t work the hardest and was sent back to the WAFL by Ross Lyon. From there he really discovered his purpose and came back fit and strong and looked like that 16-year-old version and became a wonderful player. Credit to Michael for putting in the work and also to Ross for seeing an angle that may spark his player into action.
That just shows some players take a bit of time but he was always a competitor and he found a way.
Lachie Neale was playing for Glenelg and state South Australian footy in his draft year of 2011 and the head recruiter David Walls at the time was really strong on him as a player.
We interviewed him over lunch at a Glenelg cafe and really fell for him not only as a player but as a strong character.
He didn’t get an invite to the national combine but received a late invite to the state combine in SA. We instructed the whole recruiting team that nobody was to go near Lachie Neale at the combine so nobody in purple was spotted talking to him.
We did have someone watching to see if anyone in other colours did talk to him. The only club he did talk to that day was Sydney.
Later on he played in the grand final for the Glenelg under-18s. He had a blinder of a first quarter and must have had 10 centre clearances in typical Lachie Neale fashion.
David Walls stood up, I could see his arms flapping and he spat the dummy and said, “The cat’s out of the bag. There is no way he is getting through to us now”. Wallsy nearly stormed out of the game at quarter-time.
We had three picks early in the draft and did our homework and found the only club that seemed to have interviewed him to a high level were the Swans.
They had a pick just three after what would be our fourth choice, which was No.58.
We made a decision to take him at pick 58 and we were fortunate he was still sitting there.
Sydney did approach us after the draft and long-time recruiter Kinnear Beatson said they were ready to pick him up three spots after us. It does show you have to get your order right and there is also some strategy involved.
They all don’t turn out to be the success stories of Fyfe, Walters and Neale, with many players failing to make the grade along the way, but it was a pleasure to see them have enormous careers at the Dockers.
LIST OVERVIEW
List changes – In: Judd McVee (Melbourne)
Out:Liam Reidy (Carlton), Will Brodie (Port Adelaide), Nat Fyfe, James Aish, Michael Walters, Quinton Narkle (retired), Odin Jones, Jack Delean (delisted)
List gaps
On the trade front, Freo were pretty quiet coming off a few big years trading in Shai Bolton, Luke Jackson and Jordan Clark. They are in a position where they want to be improving their list around the edges, and think they have done that with Judd McVee.
McVee complements what they already have in their backline with Alex Pearce and Brennan Cox being the taller defenders.
Clark is an All-Australian and he gives them drive and rebound but he gets sat on a little bit these days with a tag. McVee can come in and help out if Clark is being watched closely.
One of the areas they still need to address is their wing spots. They have some young wings coming through but it is an area they haven’t been able to fill quite yet.
They are pretty healthy across the ground but will also be looking to add some extra firepower into the front half.
List strengths
Even having played finals this year, Fremantle’s list is still quite young. They are going to be around the mark for years to come and there were very few weeks last year they had an older side than their opponent.
On top of that they haven’t really lost anyone that has played a significant amount of footy this year.
Freo are pretty well stocked across the field and traded out Liam Reidy to Carlton and Will Brodie to Port Adelaide.
Reidy is a young ruck who I think has made a good decision to move on considering he is behind Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy.
It can be a good move to take on a ruckman who has had a couple of years put into him by another club, so Carlton has done well in trading for Reidy.
The Dockers still have Aiden Riddle, who they have high hopes for who is on their rookie list and they may look to bring another ruckman through the draft.
And the Dockers have indicated they will consider bringing in some mature state league rucks to train in the pre-season for a rookie spot.
Some people may have looked at trading Will Brodie for pick 103 as a wasted move because the pick holds no value but Fremantle have managed to open up a list spot and free up salary cap relief with a contracted player who hasn’t played senior footy in either of the last two seasons.
Draft hand – 20, 47, 69
Fremantle will have two spots available at the draft.
When you manage the list, you can have 36 listed players plus six rookies, or 37 and five or 38 and four.
Freo will take that flexibility into the draft period and decide who is available that they would like to take or they can turn them into rookies.
Working for a West Australian club is the toughest recruiting set up in the country because 70 per cent of the draft comes from Victoria so you need to have full coverage of Victoria but you also need to be all over the WAFL to make sure good West Australian players don’t escape your clutches.
You need to be across everywhere.
With your early picks you will take the best player available, but if there is a close enough call between a West Australian or a Victorian, you certainly lean towards the local based on the go-home factor and free agency.
In the 2017 draft, I was at Fremantle and we had two picks inside the top five and we took Adam Cerra and Andrew Brayshaw. A lot of the top end picks in the draft weren’t keen to go to WA because they were from interstate so you need to look at the talent and also the character to make sure you get a really good fit with your selections, particularly at the top end.
Salary cap
Freo’s list is on the younger side and a lot of their better players are only entering their prime.
Ideally at the moment they are stockpiling TPP (total player payment) funds for some big salaries in coming years, but they have brought in Shai Bolton and Luke Jackson in recent years.
It was a smart call to sign Brayshaw up until the end of 2031 and Serong is out of contract at the end of 2027, so he will entertain some really big offers in the coming years.
HIGH PERFORMANCE CHECK-IN
They have had a bit of change with high performance manager Phil Merriman moving to West Coast and strength and conditioning manager Jackson Dennis poached by GWS.
Adam Beard has been promoted to replace Merriman.
Having lost their two most senior high performance staffers, that is a watch area for the club to make sure their new staff settle in and can continue on with the program.
THE COACH’S BOX
The Dockers are very settled with Justin Longmuir, they have some experienced coaches who have been around for a number of years with Jaymie Graham, Joel Corey and Jade Rawlings.
The one area they need to focus on is getting a bit more aggressive with their ball movement. They are quite a defensive-minded team. As their players mature, knowing when to take the game on a bit more as opposed to focusing on the defensive side of the game.
Freo have been a good, steady side over the last couple of years and you don’t want to over index because the defensive side of the game is so important. You don’t want to go all one way and worry too much about attack.
They have a group that is starting to mature and some younger players who are now very good senior AFL players, so it is continuing working closely with that group to educate on when to take opportunities and move the ball quicker at the right times.
Justin is one of the few coaches who is on an employment agreement more so than a set contract.
Justin strikes me as an individual who would live in the moment and loves what he does so I don’t think the structure of his contract would take up a lot of his time.
The key with these agreements is to look at the termination clause and whether it is a three, six, nine month or full termination payout because that is where the security is for the coach.
There is pressure on every coach, even those on longer term deals. It certainly gives the coach more security that has a longer termination clause.
It may well be that a club chooses not to terminate a coach one year because they don’t want to have to make the significant payout.
FRONT OFFICE
I think Freo is a great club with great people and footy fans over in the east don’t realise how big it is. Personally it reminded me of my days at Williamstown, given it is that seaside town.
Their supporters are really rusted on. They have been starved of success like some other supporter bases but they keep fronting up, the membership and sponsorship is always strong.
Everyone at the club is excited about the ‘be the first’ theme, who are the people and players that are going to be around when they win their first premiership.
In 2013, I was at the club when Fremantle played in a grand final, which the Dockers lost to Hawthorn. To see purple everywhere all through the streets of Western Australia and massive waves of purple through the streets of Melbourne was special.
The club merchandise boss Tony Godden told me at that time he could “sell purple s--t on a stick at the moment”, that’s how popular the Dockers were.
The players of years ago in WA used to travel a lot and now Fremantle is a team that really pushes for extra home games and in the pre-season they try to avoid travel. They are really maturing as a club and really pushing, through CEO Simon Garlick, to work every angle to give the club the best possible chance.
It would have a huge effect, you think about the wonderful careers of David Mundy and Matthew Pavlich, these guys travelled so much. It is still a big part of the game but every game you could remove from travelling would make a big difference.
Originally published as The Footy Boss: An in-depth look at all aspects of Fremantle
$16k Labor nightmare in Grand Final scenes
Top End footy battles wild weather following Tasmania’s stadium debate
Fixture reveal: Every clash of the 2026 AFL pre-season
Petracca, Oliver, Goodwin: Drastic overhauls footy’s new normal
Stephenson wins praise at Port as new Eagle pushes for early debut
