Mega Thread 2019 List Management, Free Agency & Trade thread

[Scham]

I'm not sure about this. West Coast won the flag with 2 good mids and a run-with player. How many do you need?

At Freo, our first rotation (Fyfe, Hill, Hill, Blakely, Banfield) is more than capable of matching the best midfields in the league. Our second (Brayshaw, Langdon, Cerra, Valente, Mundy) would be the envy of 17 other coaches. Hell, I even rate our third rotation as pretty bloomin' dangerous (Tucker, Giro, Conca, Colyer, Bennell, Walters).

I was really pleased with the draft in that we covered a lot of ground. Getting 2 forwards, 2 mids and 2 defenders was a really nice balance (I think people will be pleasantly surprised how good Carter is when he's not playing with a muscle torn off its bone).

I would like to have seen someone who can go back if something happens to Pearce/Hamling/Cox - we seem a bit thin down there, and it's not as if Pearce hasn't already had injury issues.

I would love to see a bit of Sturt, Valente and Carter all get some game time in 2019.

Plenty more delistings/draft/trading to come at the end of 2019, but we're on a really strong path. We addressed our forward line significantly in the off-season with Hogan, Lobb, Colyer and Sturt set to join Walters, Bennell, Cox, Matera, Switkowski, Ballentyne and McCarthy as options. Our midfield looks to have covered the loss of Neale with the likes of Conca coming in as a free-agent, Blakely returning from injury and (in time) Valente. Our defense will be better off with the return of Logue, who is ready for a full pre-season.

Overall, a very positive vibe around the club. Draft time does that.

Plus add Bewly to your second or third rotation. And Crowden to your third, we’ve got more than enough and good quality too.

I’m more concerned about our small and Med forwards, particularly if the club wants to develop Sturt, Giro, Crowden and Schultz as mids or part time mids. The form of Matera and Balla is concerning which only leaves Walters as our best small forward and we persist in playing him up the field too.

 

[Vimal Anand]

Can anyone explain west coast has their reserve team of their own in WAFL and we are having peel as affiliate? a news in perth news says brady grey may join west coast's newly formed reserve team in WAFL......

 

[wayToGo_]

I still feel we are at least 1 A grade player short in the midfield, at best we need Fyfe, Hill, Hill, Blakely, Walters all fit and firing for most of the year.

When you leave out Mundy and Walters from our side of the midfield ledger of course that is the case. But both will play an important role in the middle next season.

The Egos managed to win a Grand Final against Collingwood's far higher rated midfield because they go in not expecting to win the midfield battle. It's all about hemming in the opposition and forcing a rushed kick so their excellent back line can intercept and attack from defence. One way midfields do not win premierships - just ask Geelong.

The good thing about a midfield strategy that mostly requires only half decent two way role players is you don't need elite quality depth. Guys like Redden, Hutchings and Sheed are quality two way players but none are superstars so you're not going to lose as much when replacing them. Yeo, Shuey and possibly Gaff are their guys who can step up and turn around games just like Fyfe, Mundy and Walters can for us. But you need a good defence (that can read the play well) and also a dangerous forward line that doesn't waste opportunities.

It's why I am bullish that the loss of Neale could have a similar impact to them losing Priddis. Theoretically our midfield should become a lot more two way and better on the spread. Assuming it does, we shouldn't see any more 100 point smashings, and a more effective forward line should mean more scores from the opportunities we get, making us more competitive and hopefully resulting in a few more wins on the board.

I also think we need to respect that we often had 2 or sometimes even 3 first year players lining up in the middle last season. All other clubs would have had 1 at most at any given time and quite a few would have not had a first year player line up in the centre the entire season (eg West Coast). If Ross has expectations to challenge for finals in 2019 I doubt we'll see that happening as much next season.

 

[go_the_dockers]

When you leave out Mundy and Walters from our side of the midfield ledger of course that is the case. But both will play an important role in the middle next season.

The Egos managed to win a Grand Final against Collingwood's far higher rated midfield because they go in not expecting to win the midfield battle. It's all about hemming in the opposition and forcing a rushed kick so their excellent back line can intercept and attack from defence. One way midfields do not win premierships - just ask Geelong.

The good thing about a midfield strategy that mostly requires only half decent two way role players is you don't need elite quality depth. Guys like Redden, Hutchings and Sheed are quality two way players but none are superstars so you're not going to lose as much when replacing them. Yeo, Shuey and possibly Gaff are their guys who can step up and turn around games just like Fyfe, Mundy and Walters can for us. But you need a good defence (that can read the play well) and also a dangerous forward line that doesn't waste opportunities.

It's why I am bullish that the loss of Neale could have a similar impact to them losing Priddis. Theoretically our midfield should become a lot more two way and better on the spread. Assuming it does, we shouldn't see any more 100 point smashings, and a more effective forward line should mean more scores from the opportunities we get, making us more competitive and hopefully resulting in a few more wins on the board.

I also think we need to respect that we often had 2 or sometimes even 3 first year players lining up in the middle last season. All other clubs would have had 1 at most at any given time and quite a few would have not had a first year player line up in the centre the entire season (eg West Coast). If Ross has expectations to challenge for finals in 2019 I doubt we'll see that happening as much next season.

I only see Mundy running through the midfield in small stints, to me we really need Cerra, Brayshaw and Valente to have a big impact this year and be able to run back and support the back line.

Young mids normally struggle to do this. How many good two mids do we have?

Conca is very good, Langdon is good as well.

Cerra, Brayshaw probably lack the fitness base. Coniglio would transform our team, and one of the reason's is his defensive run.

 

[Taylor]

If we are relying on sub 25 game players to carry significant load we are so screwed and may as well adjust our expectations now.

 

[WilloTree]

If we are relying on sub 25 game players to carry significant load we are so screwed and may as well adjust our expectations now.

We're certainly in the business of getting games into Cerra, Brayshaw, Banfield etc, but I don't think anyone's suggesting we're "relying" on them. I'd expect midfield minutes from S Hill (203 games), Mundy (294), Fyfe (153), B Hill (127), Conca (104) Langdon (46) and Blakely (46). Lack of experience on the list would just be an excuse if we're getting belted in the middle, and not the actual reason.

 

[Dale147]

If we are relying on sub 25 game players to carry significant load we are so screwed and may as well adjust our expectations now.

I think the club are realising that, hence the Gold Coast trip team building mission.

 

[WilloTree]

Cerra, Brayshaw probably lack the fitness base

It's an interesting one, because they have both stated that the body was holding up fine, but mentally it was a challenge. Difficult to know, because Brayshaw was just starting to hit his straps when some dick-wad king hit him so we'll never know how he would have finished the season. Statistically, he was building and had his season high the week before he was hit.

 

[apuchar]

Can anyone explain west coast has their reserve team of their own in WAFL and we are having peel as affiliate? a news in perth news says brady grey may join west coast's newly formed reserve team in WAFL......

East Perth wanted their club back.Peel need Freo more than EP wanted WC.

 

[wayToGo_]

I only see Mundy running through the midfield in small stints, to me we really need Cerra, Brayshaw and Valente to have a big impact this year and be able to run back and support the back line.

Young mids normally struggle to do this. How many good two mids do we have?

Conca is very good, Langdon is good as well.

Cerra, Brayshaw probably lack the fitness base. Coniglio would transform our team, and one of the reason's is his defensive run.

But that's what I am saying, we don't necessarily need Brayshaw, Cerra, Banfield and Valente to step up. We could play a whole season without any of them lining up in the middle. Not saying that we will do that, just that we could because we have enough experienced mids to play those roles without them. Blakely and Stephen Hill will both play midfield next season - Fyfe indicated as much a few days ago. Both are good two way runners. Conca added to the mix, that's now 3 experienced 2 way midfielders in our B22.

Blakely, Hilly and Conca is the equivalent of Redden, Sheed and Hutchings. They then have their more talented play making mids in Yeo, Shuey and Gaff - and we have Fyfe, Walters and Mundy (plus Bennell if fit). On the outside they have Masten and we have BHill and Langdon. That's 6 for them and 7 for us before we even get to the youngsters for either side. Us having one more experienced mid in the mix just means we have an extra rotation (eg Mundy/Walters to the forward line). They might rotate in Cripps/Rioli like we might rotate in Bennell/Matera/Colyer.

They went through an entire premiership season with mostly just 5 of those 6 mids playing through the middle in any given game (plus cameos from flankers). Only 3 are playing inside midfield at any given time so you don't need 10 mids in your B22. We had Blakely and Hilly sitting at half back, Walters and Mundy mostly at half forward so we could pump experience into our youngsters - we didn't have to do that, we could have had them all sitting in a pocket or on a flank instead - short term pain for long term gain.

Their depth is then Venables, Ah Chee and Ainsworth - all youngsters with less experience than ours -> Brayshaw, Banfield, Cerra, Tucker, Crowden and Giro. Plus then the mids for both teams that have yet to debut.

 

[Taylor]

It's an interesting one, because they have both stated that the body was holding up fine, but mentally it was a challenge. Difficult to know, because Brayshaw was just starting to hit his straps when some dick-wad king hit him so we'll never know how he would have finished the season. Statistically, he was building and had his season high the week before he was hit.

They were both absolutely cooked during the year. Brayshaw burst back after a rest for a reason and Lyon publicly stated, I think*, that Cerra could do with a rest but he is learning about himself by playing sore and tired so they continue.

*the words definitely came out of his mouth but I can't remember whether he was saying in a media role or casually mentioning it.

 

[go_the_dockers]

It's an interesting one, because they have both stated that the body was holding up fine, but mentally it was a challenge. Difficult to know, because Brayshaw was just starting to hit his straps when some dick-wad king hit him so we'll never know how he would have finished the season. Statistically, he was building and had his season high the week before he was hit.

In 3 or 4 years they should be able to cover more ground. Not many young mids are a key part of a premiership team, but hopefully by 2020 they will be ready

 

[malpaso]

I would suspect that Mundy will be playing a significant midfield role in the FIRST half of 2019. This coupled with the Blakely and Conca contributions. This will allow our younger midfielders to contribute more in the second half of the year whilst Mundy can then step back a bit. If I had to guess, Fyfe and Mundy will probably rotate together in and out of the forward line and are not in the middle together too much.
As Taylor said, we cannot start 2019 with our younger midfielders having heavy midfield minutes, they and us will be done and dusted by Round 11.

The Vets
----------
Fyfe
Mundy
Blakely
Conca
S.Hill
Walters
Colyer
B.Hill

The Noobs
------------
Brayshaw
Cerra
Bewley (physically a vet, experience a noob)
Langdon
Banfield
Valente
Tucker
Crowden

Plenty there to work with, the balance will be key.

 

[theGav56]

Brewley highly likely to play. Why else draft a 23 year old.

 

[Eski3]

East Perth wanted their club back.Peel need Freo more than EP wanted WC.

The Eagles alignment with East Perth has frustrated the Eagles and hasn't actually been as good for East Perth's bottom line as they thought it would be, so both parties sought to terminate it. Both Freo and Peel are happy with the Freo alignment so there's no need to change it.

 

[Tbonefreo]

If it aint broke dont fix it

 

[go_the_dockers]

If we are relying on sub 25 game players to carry significant load we are so screwed and may as well adjust our expectations now.

Agree, I think this will hold us back unless we can rotate them in and out of them team.

Would you rather get 22 games into Brayshaw and Cerra, or 17 games each with 5 weeks off to rest and we play finals.

I would suspect that Mundy will be playing a significant midfield role in the FIRST half of 2019

Does Mundy still have the legs to play predominately through the midfield? I am not sure he does, especially if he is needed to push back defensively.

 

[theGav56]

Agree, I think this will hold us back unless we can rotate them in and out of them team.

Would you rather get 22 games into Brayshaw and Cerra, or 17 games each with 5 weeks off to rest and we play finals.


Does Mundy still have the legs to play predominately through the midfield? I am not sure he does, especially if he is needed to push back defensively.

I am pretty confident that Mundy will play a role in the midfield. Not a full time role, but he is so good in there. But the real thing is, is that those older players have a major on-field mentoring role. Gotta show the young fellas how it's done.

 

[blue shark]

I am pretty confident that Mundy will play a role in the midfield. Not a full time role, but he is so good in there. But the real thing is, is that those older players have a major on-field mentoring role. Gotta show the young fellas how it's done.

Also you would expect the make or break of Tucker next year, that and the fact we have speed in Logue, Hughes that needs
to be exploited.

 

[Taylor]

Darcy Tucker has looked like a gun whenever we have total midfield dominance and zero opposition pressure.

It's a bit like the temperature in the shower when you have a single tap and a single touch on the dial is the difference between freezing cold and scorching hot.

We haven't been scorching hot for his whole career.

If he isn't in the long term plan then I'd like to see him in the side when we are on fire, delivering the ball inside fifty and running forward to score himself. He will attract opposition interest with a season like that, not just from the articles written about the reasons behind a resurgent Fremantle but fantasy sport and social media relevance.

Then we can trade our two second round picks for an academy club's first rounder next season.

 

[theGav56]

Darcy "Lachie " Tucker could look great on the Gold Coast.

Just kidding. I think he steps up this season .

 

[Monument Hills]

it's the players in the best 18-25 that help win the premierships. I see Tucker as one of those. A Banfield (WC version) type. Doesn't win you games but plays his role better than his opponent most weeks, big strong body, fitness and stamina for a whole season and finals campaign, rarely hacks the ball, and can come in to fill in for injuries where needed. You don't get rid of these guys for shiny new toys. You enjoy that thing called depth that Freo has rarely enjoyed in its history and reap the rewards when you're up near the other end of the ladder.

 

[apuchar]

it's the players in the best 18-25 that help win the premierships. I see Tucker as one of those. A Banfield (WC version) type. Doesn't win you games but plays his role better than his opponent most weeks, big strong body, fitness and stamina for a whole season and finals campaign, rarely hacks the ball, and can come in to fill in for injuries where needed. You don't get rid of these guys for shiny new toys. You enjoy that thing called depth that Freo has rarely enjoyed in its history and reap the rewards when you're up near the other end of the ladder.

I agree, but Tucker was barely even depth last year (other than the odd quarter). He would need to show more not to get by-passed imo.

 

[theGav56]

it's the players in the best 18-25 that help win the premierships. I see Tucker as one of those. A Banfield (WC version) type. Doesn't win you games but plays his role better than his opponent most weeks, big strong body, fitness and stamina for a whole season and finals campaign, rarely hacks the ball, and can come in to fill in for injuries where needed. You don't get rid of these guys for shiny new toys. You enjoy that thing called depth that Freo has rarely enjoyed in its history and reap the rewards when you're up near the other end of the ladder.

Sounds like Crozier to me. Anyway, there are two boys playing for East Fremantle next season who would look good in purple.

 

[Monument Hills]

I agree, but Tucker was barely even depth last year (other than the odd quarter). He would need to show more not to get by-passed imo.

that's the definition of depth