The search for Fremantle's soul
By Patrick Smith
May 06, 2008
WHILE the AFL is considering new teams all about Australia it ought consider putting a second league team into Western Australia.
West Coast, three premierships from five grand finals, have more than done their bit since joining the AFL in 1987.
Since the AFL established Fremantle as a shelf club in 1995, the side has not played in one grand final and just one preliminary final in which it was beaten by 35 points. They have had five coaches in 12 years and barely win four out of every 10 games they play. They hardly deserves to be in the competition.
Presently, they have won a single game from the first seven rounds of this season and somehow managed to give up a 51-point lead against Melbourne, who had not won a match this season and just five of their past 29.
West Coast's insipid second quarter against Carlton on Friday night had been washed away by Sunday afternoon.
You can look for mitigating circumstances - the Dockers were knackered after pushing defending champions Geelong to within a kick the week before - but Melbourne had been appalling in the first half and promised to be appalling in the second. Somehow, Fremantle gave Melbourne a sniff of victory and a 51-point lead ended up as a six-point loss.
Between them, West Coast and Fremantle have won two of 14 games. In 2001 the two clubs had done no better. Fremantle would win just two matches for the year and West Coast five. Such was the state of football in Western Australia the AFL ordered then-general manager of football operations, Andrew Demetriou, to investigate.
His controversial and highly critical report considered the Fremantle board to be dysfunctional and the tension between the Western Australian Football Commission, the Dockers and the Eagles unhealthy. While these elements might not be in play now, both clubs are uncompetitive to the point of embarrassment.
West Coast is working through what no other club has endured. The players' self-respect has withered after 18 months of constant criticism, investigation and introspection. The players have the yips, unprepared to commit to actions because they fear the consequences - any consequences.
Fremantle have been a puzzle from the start. It began with Gerard Neesham as coach, a man of ideas and a water-polo background. He had a unique game plan that was at first beguiling but ultimately floundered because it paid little respect to conventional wisdom. For all his inventiveness, Neesham was eventually out-coached. He never won more than 10 games in a season, never fewer than seven.
In various trade deals and pick swaps, the club have delivered other sides Scott Lucas, Andrew McLeod, Phillip Matera, Luke Power, Brad Ottens, Luke Hodge, Jared Brennan and Sam Mitchell.
Players who have left the Dockers have become better footballers at their new homes - James Clement and Brodie Holland played in grand finals with Collingwood. Paul Medhurst, also at Collingwood, has never played better. Adam McPhee won a best and fairest at Essendon and was named All Australian in 2004. Peter Bell won the Kangaroos' best and fairest and played in two premiership sides before returning to the Dockers. Winston Abraham played in North Melbourne's 1999 premiership side.
The club had Jeff White, Trent Croad and Troy Simmonds at various stages but lost them. The club swooped on Croad in 2001 and offered Hawthorn pick No.1 (Hodge) and selection 36 (Mitchell). Croad was sent back to Hawthorn two years later and Fremantle picked up Riley Dunn at selection 10 in the deal. The word you are looking for is no-brainer.
There will be no AFL investigation of football in the west this time around. Both West Coast and Fremantle are financially secure and are controlled by efficient boards.
But there does seem something intrinsically wrong with Fremantle. One AFL heavy described the club as an enigma. Lately it has turned to Victorian nous to lift the club. Chris Connolly took the club to their only preliminary final and now Mark Harvey and Robert Shaw, two gruesomely tough competitors from Essendon, run the ship.
Football manager Shaw has told Melbourne radio that he does not know what is wrong with the club. Certainly, if there is a switch to flick he cannot find it. For coach Harvey the problem is equally perplexing. He could point to injuries - important defenders Anton Grover, Heath Black and Roger Hayden all missed and Luke McPharlin went down in play - but he doesn't.
Rather he is searching for Fremantle's soul. Leading Melbourne by 51 points and succumbing by a goal is not about skill and it shouldn't be about coaching. It is everything about personal pride. Ryan Crowley, who played a cracking game on Melbourne's midfielder Nathan Jones, walked off the ground in tears - embarrassed.
After the game Harvey made a curious comment. "We have to work out what we stand for as a football team and quickly. And if not I will sort it out," Harvey said.
The coach has set himself a task. Connolly was no fool but he could not unravel the mystery that is Fremantle.
The club lacked - still does - steely discipline, confusing courage with puffed-up toughness. Shaw and Harvey are both in their third year at the Dockers. You know what you get from good teams, you know what drives them. Aggression, courage, teamwork are givens. Nothing can grow without them. Speed, zone strategies, defensive pressure, tall forwards, myriad midfielders, numerous interchanges are the blooms.
The club has made no footprint on Australian football. It has remained stunted in the shadow of West Coast. Harvey says if the players will not define the club then he will. The coach will need to start afresh, keep the few jewels he has and barter away the rest. That will take time and a patient board. The coach needs to erase 13 years of pretending at being a football team.
He must right what went wrong at the start. Any group of people who thought the Dockers' club song was appropriate for a league club had no idea what AFL culture was and therefore no chance of building one. Harvey must remake Fremantle from the studs up.
By Patrick Smith
May 06, 2008
WHILE the AFL is considering new teams all about Australia it ought consider putting a second league team into Western Australia.
West Coast, three premierships from five grand finals, have more than done their bit since joining the AFL in 1987.
Since the AFL established Fremantle as a shelf club in 1995, the side has not played in one grand final and just one preliminary final in which it was beaten by 35 points. They have had five coaches in 12 years and barely win four out of every 10 games they play. They hardly deserves to be in the competition.
Presently, they have won a single game from the first seven rounds of this season and somehow managed to give up a 51-point lead against Melbourne, who had not won a match this season and just five of their past 29.
West Coast's insipid second quarter against Carlton on Friday night had been washed away by Sunday afternoon.
You can look for mitigating circumstances - the Dockers were knackered after pushing defending champions Geelong to within a kick the week before - but Melbourne had been appalling in the first half and promised to be appalling in the second. Somehow, Fremantle gave Melbourne a sniff of victory and a 51-point lead ended up as a six-point loss.
Between them, West Coast and Fremantle have won two of 14 games. In 2001 the two clubs had done no better. Fremantle would win just two matches for the year and West Coast five. Such was the state of football in Western Australia the AFL ordered then-general manager of football operations, Andrew Demetriou, to investigate.
His controversial and highly critical report considered the Fremantle board to be dysfunctional and the tension between the Western Australian Football Commission, the Dockers and the Eagles unhealthy. While these elements might not be in play now, both clubs are uncompetitive to the point of embarrassment.
West Coast is working through what no other club has endured. The players' self-respect has withered after 18 months of constant criticism, investigation and introspection. The players have the yips, unprepared to commit to actions because they fear the consequences - any consequences.
Fremantle have been a puzzle from the start. It began with Gerard Neesham as coach, a man of ideas and a water-polo background. He had a unique game plan that was at first beguiling but ultimately floundered because it paid little respect to conventional wisdom. For all his inventiveness, Neesham was eventually out-coached. He never won more than 10 games in a season, never fewer than seven.
In various trade deals and pick swaps, the club have delivered other sides Scott Lucas, Andrew McLeod, Phillip Matera, Luke Power, Brad Ottens, Luke Hodge, Jared Brennan and Sam Mitchell.
Players who have left the Dockers have become better footballers at their new homes - James Clement and Brodie Holland played in grand finals with Collingwood. Paul Medhurst, also at Collingwood, has never played better. Adam McPhee won a best and fairest at Essendon and was named All Australian in 2004. Peter Bell won the Kangaroos' best and fairest and played in two premiership sides before returning to the Dockers. Winston Abraham played in North Melbourne's 1999 premiership side.
The club had Jeff White, Trent Croad and Troy Simmonds at various stages but lost them. The club swooped on Croad in 2001 and offered Hawthorn pick No.1 (Hodge) and selection 36 (Mitchell). Croad was sent back to Hawthorn two years later and Fremantle picked up Riley Dunn at selection 10 in the deal. The word you are looking for is no-brainer.
There will be no AFL investigation of football in the west this time around. Both West Coast and Fremantle are financially secure and are controlled by efficient boards.
But there does seem something intrinsically wrong with Fremantle. One AFL heavy described the club as an enigma. Lately it has turned to Victorian nous to lift the club. Chris Connolly took the club to their only preliminary final and now Mark Harvey and Robert Shaw, two gruesomely tough competitors from Essendon, run the ship.
Football manager Shaw has told Melbourne radio that he does not know what is wrong with the club. Certainly, if there is a switch to flick he cannot find it. For coach Harvey the problem is equally perplexing. He could point to injuries - important defenders Anton Grover, Heath Black and Roger Hayden all missed and Luke McPharlin went down in play - but he doesn't.
Rather he is searching for Fremantle's soul. Leading Melbourne by 51 points and succumbing by a goal is not about skill and it shouldn't be about coaching. It is everything about personal pride. Ryan Crowley, who played a cracking game on Melbourne's midfielder Nathan Jones, walked off the ground in tears - embarrassed.
After the game Harvey made a curious comment. "We have to work out what we stand for as a football team and quickly. And if not I will sort it out," Harvey said.
The coach has set himself a task. Connolly was no fool but he could not unravel the mystery that is Fremantle.
The club lacked - still does - steely discipline, confusing courage with puffed-up toughness. Shaw and Harvey are both in their third year at the Dockers. You know what you get from good teams, you know what drives them. Aggression, courage, teamwork are givens. Nothing can grow without them. Speed, zone strategies, defensive pressure, tall forwards, myriad midfielders, numerous interchanges are the blooms.
The club has made no footprint on Australian football. It has remained stunted in the shadow of West Coast. Harvey says if the players will not define the club then he will. The coach will need to start afresh, keep the few jewels he has and barter away the rest. That will take time and a patient board. The coach needs to erase 13 years of pretending at being a football team.
He must right what went wrong at the start. Any group of people who thought the Dockers' club song was appropriate for a league club had no idea what AFL culture was and therefore no chance of building one. Harvey must remake Fremantle from the studs up.
