Help with remembering history...

[rgauci]

I'm trying to recall the details of how our club was set up.

So far I have the following:
Key Appointments:
Phil Smart – recruiting manager (no experience in recruiting, a colts coach from Claremont), appointed 1st September 1994. Appointed 2 months prior to the inaugural draft.
Gerald Neesham - appointed which month of 1994?

I remember some vague details about our offices being a solitary shipping container, only months before our inaugural draft. I'm hoping to highlight how the WAFC dropped the ball when bringing us into the competition.

The AFL gave us the following concessions:

1994/1995 off season
1. Picks 1,4, then first 2 selections of each round there after
2. Up to a maximum of 12 uncontracted AFL players over 2 years, with each player, a compensation draft pick awarded to the opposition club, used to select 16 year old players
3. Players who had nominated for the draft, but not been selected (unlimited from the WAFL, maximum of two from the SNFL, VFL and TFL).
4. Up to 10 delisted AFL players
5. Unlimited selections from four aligned WAFL clubs

1995/1996 off season (already in the AFL finishing 13th of 16).
1. Up to a maximum of 12 uncontracted AFL players over 2 years, with each player, a compensation draft pick awarded to the opposition club, used to select 16 year old players
2. Unlimited selections from four aligned WAFL clubs
3. ????? We used picks 1,7,13, 23, however finished 4th last. We traded for 13. How did we end up with 1,7 and 23?

Initial squad size was 50. Were their rules to reduce the size of the list in a certain timeframe?
I don't think we got salary cap concessions at all, but would like this confirmed.

 

[estibador]

If you have the time this is an interesting read with some good behind-the-scenes insights into our inception and early days.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110301...-VVUT20060919.123019/public/03chapters5-7.pdf

 

[mightymouse75]

What did tell flogs next door get for their start up?
Im sure we were being punished for their success. Plus we suffered from incompetence

 

[estibador]

One excerpt from that paper I posted above:

5.3.4. Time Delays

The joint AFL/WAFC committee that recommended a second license in WA also recommended that the new club play in the expanded competition in 1995, following award of the license at the end of 1993. Ultimately however, the license was not awarded until March 1994.

This proved to be a significant delay because any contracts that the new club wished to enter into with new personnel, coaches and players in particular, had to be undertaken after all the other clubs had contracted their personnel prior to the 1994 season – the time when FFC was active in its own recruitment.

This may not have an apparent affect on the club’s identity but it was to emerge in the years to come that FFC would be regarded in a poor light for many of the decisions it made during this period in haste, particularly with regard to the AFL draft.

The issue with a new sports organization is that it is not like starting out in the corporate world where a business starts small and expands as the business develops, sometimes over decades (E06, 2004). Rather it was a case of having a complete organization, fully staffed and operating in a similar capacity to its competitors, some of whom had been in existence for over 150 years, in less than a year (E08, 2004).

E08 recognised that a later start was unacceptable to the AFL because of a proposed national rugby league team, “The Western Reds”, starting up in Perth for the 1995 rugby season which ran concurrently to the AFL season (E08, 2004). The concern was that a later start would mean lost financing and sponsorship opportunities for Fremantle.

Certainly, FFC would have had more time to address the recruitment of players and the mechanics of the AFL draft and regulatory environment. E06 implied with hindsight that because of the compressed timetable poor decisions were made. The implication was that with more time it would have been better prepared and made better decisions.

An example he cited was the appointment of the first coach, Gerard Neesham, made after round 9 of the 1994 Western Australian Football League (WAFL). He was selected as the best of who was available rather than being able to select from a wider range of candidates no longer available.

Similarly, one of FFC’s senior recruitment managers only joined the club on September 1st, 1994 giving him about eight weeks to prepare for the first draft. He described how he had never seen a game outside Western Australia, “so we were totally unprepared for it (the draft) compared with what we do now”. FFC had appointed a football manager and at the start of September 1994, he was appointed: …which was totally inadequate to prepare yourself for a national draft in 7 or 8 weeks time and so there was (sic) a few mistakes made in regard to all that (F12, 2004)

Realising it was totally under-prepared, FFC appointed consultants to assist with setup and recruitment tasks. Interestingly one of those early consultants later became the club’s CEO and his function was to act as a forward and recruitment scout for FFC in Victoria.

Whilst this initial work of establishing the core business in the football department was carried out, it was creating an image for itself that would emerge of a club that ignored several potential AFL stars because of its lack of preparedness and attitude to the AFL draft.

 

[Frank J Moose]

What did tell flogs next door get for their start up?
Im sure we were being punished for their success. Plus we suffered from incompetence

Saying that Freo suffered from incompetence is harsh. Apart fron the AFL Freo were also battling the WAFC who were much more concerned about Freo not losing money (and hence affecting the Eagles) and not too concerned with on field performances, as they only really cared sbout the Eagles performances.

 

[BettercallSaul]

Ron Alexander said at a club function years ago, "FFC were the step-child the WAFC never wanted".

 

[kwikfix]

The wafc made the call to base the new franchise at Fremantle oval, home of the south fremantle FC , SFFC had no say in it and were hostile to the new tenants. The new franchise change rooms were the visitors room and the weights and meeting room was under the dilapidated old grand stand.

 

[Nodgey]

I've always said Sowfs were a bunch of pricks....

 

[Freo Dr]

Pick 1 (Crazyhorse Clive) of the 1995 season was part of the original concessions as well I think, pick 7 would have been our 1st round pick allowing for priority picks etc to other clubs . We got two #1 picks plus the ones you gave in 1994 draft plus as much access as we basically liked to what is now called rookie picks (overlooked) and delisted FA's. Have heard some rumours the compensation given to other clubs for uncontracted players (access yo 17 year olds like Scott Lucas) was not known to Freo either.

The fact the WAFL was by then heavily picked over and the large weighting towards the first 1994 draft when we had no support or time coming into it to prepare is chalk and cheese compared to the Eagles (hidden WA talent) and GWS (lots of time and support from AFL).

 

[rgauci]

Pick 1 (Crazyhorse Clive) of the 1995 season was part of the original concessions as well I think, pick 7 would have been our 1st round pick allowing for priority picks etc to other clubs . We got two #1 picks plus the ones you gave in 1994 draft plus as much access as we basically liked to what is now called rookie picks (overlooked) and delisted FA's. Have heard some rumours the compensation given to other clubs for uncontracted players (access yo 17 year olds like Scott Lucas) was not known to Freo either.

The fact the WAFL was by then heavily picked over and the large weighting towards the first 1994 draft when we had no support or time coming into it to prepare is chalk and cheese compared to the Eagles (hidden WA talent) and GWS (lots of time and support from AFL).

We traded away 3. And got 13. So had 1,3, 7 and 23. Was 1995 a year that a team got picks taken off them for salary cap rort? hawthorn?

7 and 23 are plausible to be our picks awarded for finishing 4th last. Factoring in priority pick to Firzroy. And two picks given to us?

 

[mightymouse75]

We were screwed over right royally

 

[mightymouse75]

It's made us the polar opposite of west coast supporters who are mean, smug, spoilt, ungrateful, sanctimonious pricks who don't have the ability to win or lose with grace.

 

[clivenator26]

No we didn't get as good a deal as WCE or the new franchises but we also shat the bed. Neesham's pig headedness/arrogance cost us. He was basically coaching a WAFL team and did wonderfully to get us 8, 7 & 10 wins in the first 3 years.

A few off the top of my head, drafting Ben Edwards from Claremont worth pick 7 in the 95 national draft and he was delisted by the time the 96 season started. We did a similar thing with pick 40 odd in 94-95 with a guy named Doug Hedland.

The Scott Lucas issue was not too bad on the surface - we have pick 4 for Delaney, Ridley & Kickett (one of these was technically assessed as one of our 10-12 other club signings) BUT Essendon (genius) made the deal with the club that we could not take any players from teams below them on the ladder - as that would give them first pick of the 16yr olds. That player was Matth Lloyd, now some simpletons on BF believe we had access to Lloyd but this was never the case. Any team that we took a player from received a 16yr old compo pick but we weren't entitled to any of the 16 yr old kids IF we didn't use the allocated amount of players from other clubs.

I'd rate Neesham's neglection of the national draft and Claremont-centric focus as the biggest reason our first 5-6 years were a disaster. He could coach though, and probably needed a bit more help from outside the Claremont circle.

Then came along the 2nd biggest reason we haven't won a flag imo Cameron 'i smell a deal' Schwab.

NB - picking Clive was still the greatest thing this club has ever done.

 

[BettercallSaul]

No we didn't get as good a deal as WCE or the new franchises but we also shat the bed. Neesham's pig headedness/arrogance cost us. He was basically coaching a WAFL team and did wonderfully to get us 8, 7 & 10 wins in the first 3 years.

A few off the top of my head, drafting Ben Edwards from Claremont worth pick 7 in the 95 national draft and he was delisted by the time the 96 season started. We did a similar thing with pick 40 odd in 94-95 with a guy named Doug Hedland.

The Scott Lucas issue was not too bad on the surface - we have pick 4 for Delaney, Ridley & Kickett (one of these was technically assessed as one of our 10-12 other club signings) BUT Essendon (genius) made the deal with the club that we could not take any players from teams below them on the ladder - as that would give them first pick of the 16yr olds. That player was Matth Lloyd, now some simpletons on BF believe we had access to Lloyd but this was never the case. Any team that we took a player from received a 16yr old compo pick but we weren't entitled to any of the 16 yr old kids IF we didn't use the allocated amount of players from other clubs.

I'd rate Neesham's neglection of the national draft and Claremont-centric focus as the biggest reason our first 5-6 years were a disaster. He could coach though, and probably needed a bit more help from outside the Claremont circle.

Then came along the 2nd biggest reason we haven't won a flag imo Cameron 'i smell a deal' Schwab.

NB - picking Clive was still the greatest thing this club has ever done.

The Ben Edwards thing was actually worse. We could have had him for nothing as he was part of our zone but didn't. Nek Minite we pick him with pick 7.

 

[clivenator26]

The Ben Edwards thing was actually worse. We could have had him for nothing as he was part of our zone but didn't. Nek Minite we pick him with pick 7.

Jeez I didn't realise he was a zone possibility.

The Giants have done things really well - they could've made a few mistakes and still been OK to challenge for the next decade but they'll probably win 5 of the next 10. The Suns on the other hand had fairly similar options but just didn't get it right.

 

[BettercallSaul]

Jeez I didn't realise he was a zone possibility.

The Giants have done things really well - they could've made a few mistakes and still been OK to challenge for the next decade but they'll probably win 5 of the next 10. The Suns on the other hand had fairly similar options but just didn't get it right.

Yeah he was a Claremont player so was part of our zone. I remember even back in those naive days that I thought it was hell of a f£%# up! I think a lot of credit for GWS list build was down to Steve Silvagni. A very astute man. Gold Coast key position picks have been excellent but I think the Gold Coast environment is not necessary great for building a team culture.

 

[mightymouse75]

Cluve waterhouse. Some times its better to leave things forgot

 

[mightymouse75]

No we didn't get as good a deal as WCE or the new franchises but we also shat the bed. Neesham's pig headedness/arrogance cost us. He was basically coaching a WAFL team and did wonderfully to get us 8, 7 & 10 wins in the first 3 years.

A few off the top of my head, drafting Ben Edwards from Claremont worth pick 7 in the 95 national draft and he was delisted by the time the 96 season started. We did a similar thing with pick 40 odd in 94-95 with a guy named Doug Hedland.

The Scott Lucas issue was not too bad on the surface - we have pick 4 for Delaney, Ridley & Kickett (one of these was technically assessed as one of our 10-12 other club signings) BUT Essendon (genius) made the deal with the club that we could not take any players from teams below them on the ladder - as that would give them first pick of the 16yr olds. That player was Matth Lloyd, now some simpletons on BF believe we had access to Lloyd but this was never the case. Any team that we took a player from received a 16yr old compo pick but we weren't entitled to any of the 16 yr old kids IF we didn't use the allocated amount of players from other clubs.

I'd rate Neesham's neglection of the national draft and Claremont-centric focus as the biggest reason our first 5-6 years were a disaster. He could coach though, and probably needed a bit more help from outside the Claremont circle.

Then came along the 2nd biggest reason we haven't won a flag imo Cameron 'i smell a deal' Schwab.

NB - picking Clive was still the greatest thing this club has ever done.

Sorry clivenator. We must remember things differently . Haha

 

[kwikfix]

If you look at Fremantle's initial squad of 50 players, it's surprising we even won a game in the first 3 years. Remember Clinton Wolf? what a champion hehehe. All I can say is, Neesham is a friggin' genius to get 8 wins in our first year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremantle_Football_Club_drafting_and_trading_history

 

[Purpletown]

Our first CEO was incompetent from my personal experience. If you can't get that right then the rest is going to be very difficult.

 

[kwikfix]

Our first CEO was incompetent from my personal experience. If you can't get that right then the rest is going to be very difficult.

David Hatt was a Labor hack and paper shuffler, clueless clown and probably the worst possible AFL CEO of all time. I crossed paths with him a few times in the early days and thought, if this is our leadership, we are in deep shit.

 

[mightymouse75]

Hatt proved that he was useles. Lol. It wasn't the cleanest of start ups by an afl club

 

[Purpletown]

David Hatt was a Labor hack and paper shuffler, clueless clown and probably the worst possible AFL CEO of all time. I crossed paths with him a few times in the early days and thought, if this is our leadership, we are in deep shit.

Exactly my first hand experience. Club house leader for the worst AFL CEO of all time without a doubt. Little wonder we floundered with such incompetent administration.

 

[Ripper]

The wafc made the call to base the new franchise at Fremantle oval, home of the south frem

Also snubbed both the Fremantle teams by NOT appointing any EF /SF people to the inaugural board.

 

[kwikfix]

5.3.8. Fremantle v Fremantle E07 said South and East Fremantle could not agree which of them should be chairman and could not even agree on meeting places. Both sets of circumstances meant that there was no consensus in any of the discussions and FFC was stuck in the middle of a domestic dispute between the two clubs out of which it was supposedly emerging. Instead of being embraced by the two WAFL clubs and drawing on their facilities, character, heritage and expertise, FFC was forced to stand apart and develop its own plans. This was devastating to the new organization and went against the very expectations and reasoning of the AFL for the new license to be given to FFC. Sh04 noted that he thought it a shame that the new club did not benefit from being a merger of South Fremantle and East Fremantle but he also acknowledged that the politics of the two WAFL clubs may also have been a hindrance (Sh04, 2003)

EFFC and SFFC hated each other with a passion.