Fremantle’s trade period departures put senior coach Justin Longmuir under pressure in the early stages of the 2024 season, according to Fox Footy pundits, in what shapes as a defining year for the club.
Lachie Schultz and Liam Henry’s moves to Collingwood and St Kilda respectively continue a long list of key names to depart the Dockers in recent years that includes the likes of Blake Acres, Griffin Logue, Rory Lobb, Adam Cerra, Bradley Hill, Ed Langdon and Lachie Neale.
After a promising rise through a rebuilding phase under Longmuir since he first took the helm in 2020 — including guiding the Dockers to a near top four finish in 2022 — the club tumbled to a bottom five finish this season.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s Trading Day, dual premiership Kangaroo David King suggested a slow start in 2024 could put Longmuir, whose contract expires at the end of next season, under the pump.
“It’s a worry going into a really important first phase of 2024, to lose some senior core players over the last two years,” King said on the program.
“They’ve lost four players in two years they can’t afford to lose at this stage.
“That puts them back a little bit in terms of their rebuild and regeneration of the list. As we keep saying, rebuild coaches don’t survive.
“This really puts the coach under the hammer in the first six to eight weeks next year.”
So where to from here for the Dockers and Longmuir?
Following on from the trade period, the club has a lean hand in next month’s National Draft, with just picks 34 and 46 after trading its first-round pick to Melbourne in the Luke Jackson deal and moving its second-rounder to Port Adelaide as part of a pick swap.
Fremantle is however investing heavy stock in next year’s draft with a huge haul of picks — three first-round picks (two tied to Collingwood and Port Adelaide) and two second rounders.
But that’s after next season in what looms as a defining 12 months ahead.
This is a club that’s already gone to the draft in recent years to build its nucleus, led by Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong, Sean Darcy, Hayden Young and Jye Amiss.
If anything, the Dockers would want to be consolidating their list and rounding it out with pieces, not the other way around.
“Were OK, it’s never ideal to lose players, particularly good players. It’s definitely something we didn’t want — particularly losing Lachie and Liam,” Dockers list boss David Walls said on AFL Trade Radio.
“Once they made their decision, it was really about us swinging into action and just try and get the best result possible for the club and make the most of it.
“I feel with the hand we’ve got in, we’re really well set up for the 2024 draft, but also gives us options to get back in (to the 2023 draft).”
It makes next season even more intriguing as the club enters an uncertain new phase despite a view in recent years from the footy world that Fremantle was moving in the right direction.
How it fares in 2024 could dictate the club’s strategy moving forward with its suite of draft picks.
It’s worth noting though that this Dockers list is still very young and may have come a bit before its time in 2022. The Dockers entered 2023 with the fourth-youngest squad and third-least experienced.
Another disappointing season could see the club further commit to the youth movement and take the majority of its picks to the draft, while an uptick in performance might temp it to get aggressive on the trade and free agency front.
As Walls alluded to, the Dockers could yet trade back into this year’s draft, if they so desire.
No matter what happens, the club will continue to monitor the Western Australian talent around the league, having already been linked to Sydney young gun forward Logan McDonald.
McDonald would likely be Fremantle’s No. 1 target given his link to WA and with the club’s clear need to bolster its forward line, particularly following Schultz’s departure.
At just 21 years of age, McDonald also fits the Dockers’ age demographic, while there’d be no club better placed from a draft capital perspective to make a play for him.
“Part of our list management strategy is tracking all West Australians, particularly the quality ones and ones starting to come out of contract,” Walls added.
“Logan clearly fits that criteria, but there’s also many other West Australians in the comp we’re tracking really closely and would love to bring back.
“I feel like we’ve got a really strong core group that are locked away and committed long-term and we will be targeting specific needs to really round out the last in the next 12 months.”
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