Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has launched a staunch defence of boom recruit Luke Jackson.
According to Fox Footy experts, Fremantle’s trade period departures put senior coach Justin Longmuir under pressure early in the 2024 season, which is shaping up to be a crucial year for the club.
Lachie Schultz and Liam Henry’s departures to Collingwood and St Kilda, respectively, add to a lengthy list of notable Dockers players who have left in recent years, including Blake Acres, Gryphon Logue, Rory Lobb, Adam Cerra, Bradley Hill, Ed Langdon, and Lachie Neale.
After a promising ascent during a rebuilding phase under Longmuir since he took over in 2020, including steering the Dockers to a near top four finish in 2022, the club has dropped to the bottom five this season.
As a result, the departures of more senior players, like Joel Hamling to Sydney and Schultz, who finished sixth in the club’s best and fairest this year and was its second-highest goalkicker, are cause for concern ahead of a pivotal year in which Freo hopes to rebound.
On Fox Footy’s Trading Day, dual premiership Kangaroo David King claimed that a sluggish start in 2024 could put Longmuir under pressure, since his contract expires at the conclusion of next season.
“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 stated in the course of the interview.
“They have lost four players in two years and cannot afford to lose at this point.
“That set them behind a little in terms of rebuilding and regenerating the list. As we always say, rebuilt coaches do not survive.
“This really puts the coach under the hammer in the first six to eight weeks next year.”
