Fremantles approach to List Management

[GVGjr]

I have watched Fremantle go about building their playing with a bit of interest.

There isn't a lot of tall players on the list.
They haven't been big traders over the last two seasons except for McPhee.
They have focused on getting a lot of players from the various state leagues primarily defenders and promoting players from their rookie list.
They improved dramatically last season.

I'm not sure if there are any lessons to be learned by their approach but it's quite a contrast to ours.
Have they struck on a winning formula or has there just been an element of luck?

[soupman]

Surely it's a bit of both.

They've targeted mature age players who are likely to slip through the draft and have fixable deficiencies. Mature age players were also very unfashionable for a time and Fremantle have been happy to ignore that and give them an opportunity. That said, like all recruiting, a fair bit of luck is involved.

[LostDoggy]

I have watched Fremantle go about building their playing with a bit of interest.

There isn't a lot of tall players on the list. And that cost them a final when Sandilands pulled up lame
They haven't been big traders over the last two seasons except for McPhee. But prior to that they merrily traded for Soloman and Johnson etc which probably put them off for a while
They have focused on getting a lot of players from the various state leagues primarily defenders and promoting players from their rookie list. Nobody has a better record of success with the Rookie list than us
They improved dramatically last season. About time

I'm not sure if there are any lessons to be learned by their approach but it's quite a contrast to ours.
Have they struck on a winning formula or has there just been an element of luck?

They got Barlow and now they are the yardstick?

[Bulldog Revolution]

I've also been impressed with what Freo have done over the past 2 years

Under Harvey and co they've completely re-jigged their list

I've been particularly impressed with their rookie picks Duffield, Barlow, De Boer, Broughton obviously Sandilands etc - hard to describe that as anything other than brilliant

And when they get early picks their recruiting crew do a good job: Hill, Morabito

Plus they knew what they were doing with Broughton, Ballantyne, and loved what I saw of Fyfe in 2010

I wasn't completely sold on Silvagni, but hes competitive and Faulks gives them more depth back there,

[LostDoggy]

They got Barlow and now they are the yardstick?

Tend to agree with EJ's post. They've probably under-achieved more than most, so a goodish year looks better than it really is.

We've probably eked out as much from our list as could have been expected over the last 5 years, with the number of successful rookies and mature age trades that we've made. The only disappointment would be with some of the earlier draft picks from 6-10 years ago, but of those with Coons and Griff being genuine guns, and serviceable to very good players in Williams, Higgins and Grant I guess that's probably on the right side of average. While having a solid list with plenty of good stories, we've always been just two or three genuine match-winners short, and a lot of that just comes down to the luck of the draw at times, you can't really plan for a deep draft year vs. a shallow one -- with Ward and our two F/S pickups this year the wheel may just have turned our way a bit, although I do wish at times that we were just that bit more bold with our trading, but that's probably the soccer in me talking.

[MrMahatma]

They got Barlow and now they are the yardstick?

Agree - one swallow a summer does not make...

However, they're better than they were only a handful of years ago. Harvey has been good for them IMO.

[GVGjr]

They got Barlow and now they are the yardstick?

Not at all. Their whole approach over the last few seasons has been to raid the state leagues and push undervalued rookies through their system.
I also like they way that they worked with GC and got a couple of more guys that will add some depth to their list.

Rather than being critical of what they are doing I thought it offered somewhat of a contrast to our approach and worth discussing.

[GVGjr]

Agree - one swallow a summer does not make...

However, they're better than they were only a handful of years ago. Harvey has been good for them IMO.

I think Chris Bond also might have been one of the architects with their focus on State League footballers.

[Go_Dogs]

Their whole approach over the last few seasons has been to raid the state leagues and push undervalued rookies through their system.
I also like they way that they worked with GC and got a couple of more guys that will add some depth to their list.

Agree with that. It's not just Barlow, but quite a few other players too that were more mature, and have also not been afraid to pull the gun on mature players early in the ND.

They've also snared some good young players through the rookie draft recently who have played quite a bit of senior footy over the past couple of years.

Their top end drafting has also been pretty good too IMO.

Their strategy is pretty good IMO, as whilst they don't ignore the longer term at all, they also slightly balance the favour towards the shorter term too, which has probably been a good move given the age of some of their core, star players.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Agree with what's been said, but how do Fremantle improve? Besides natural development in their younger list? They still look like they are lacking a bit. In 2-3 years time, Pavlich and Sandilands won't be where they are currently.

They are in a good position in that they should consistently make finals for the next 3-4 years, but I can't see them making the jump to top 2 or 3.

Barlow getting back to his best is a huge key to any future success.

[The Adelaide Connection]

Bah! Ignore this, computer froze.

[The Adelaide Connection]

I think their recriuting of late has been very good and they have beautifully assessed and targeted their needs like Sydney always seem to do or Collingwood did last year.

However IMO I think that it could be more of a case of finally playing closer to their potential. On paper versus results I think they have massively underachieved for a long, long time.

It always amuses me that year after year the experts would tip them to break into the eight (and you would look at their team and agree) and year after year they would be a sensational flop.

Getting off to a good start last year and breaking their losing culture may have been the most critical element of their turn around. They talk about teams not being able to break the mental barrier of finals, what about teams not being able to break the mental barrier of getting the job done in the regular season (especially on the road in their case)?

[LostDoggy]

Agree with the above. Not top 4 side.

I would expect Barlow to find it a little harder next season. I doubt Pav has another level to go to and I think a lot of the younger list is still very developmental - as shown in the late season punishment we dished out at Etihad. Some of them I am still not convinced about - Palmer, Duffield, etc. But I thought that about Mundy and was wrong there.

That said, there is a lot more depth than we are used to from Freo. I guess they can finally leave Grover out.

They've got a few likeable players too. I'm a big fan of Ibbotson, Hill, Pav and Hayden.

[Raw Toast]

I think Chris Bond also might have been one of the architects with their focus on State League footballers.

Any chance we can get him back at some stage in the nearish future? He left to further his coaching ambitions but now seems content with a more managerial role. I wonder how much of a role he had in the trades with GC.

From an outsider's point of view he seems ideally suited to a list management role, which could suit us down to the ground...

[Greystache]

Any chance we can get him back at some stage in the nearish future? He left to further his coaching ambitions but now seems content with a more managerial role. I wonder how much of a role he had in the trades with GC.

From an outsider's point of view he seems ideally suited to a list management role, which could suit us down to the ground...

Agree, if we can find the funds I think he'd be an excellent list manager.