Fremantle’s success in securing a group of four young Western Australians during the 2016 AFL Trade Period has been strongly applauded by commentators, and was a “very good result” according to general manager of list management Brad Lloyd.
The addition of Cam McCarthy, 21, Bradley Hill, 23, Joel Hamling, 23, and Shane Kersten, 23, bolsters Freo’s list for the coming season while adding a foundation of talent that is expected to contribute to the club’s future long-term on-field performance.
The only departure from the club during the Trade Period was 27-year-old free agent Chris Mayne, who was picked up by Collingwood in the free agency window.
Importantly, a last minute deal with the Gold Coast Suns saw Freo improve its presence at the front end of the 2016 NAB AFL Draft, exchanging a future second round draft pick for pick 35 (2nd round) in next month’s draft, and a future fourth round pick.
“It was part of our strategy going into the Trade Period to secure an additional second round pick,” Lloyd said.
“We were already really pleased to be able to get four young players in McCarthy, Hill, Hamling and Kersten to Fremantle during the Trade Period, so to head to the National Draft with a first round pick (7) and two second round picks (35 and 40) is a real positive for the club.”
The National Draft has been touted as having a deep and even spread of talent in the early rounds, and Fremantle has seen their initial allocation of picks 3, 39 and 57 upgrade to three selections 40 and under via picks 7, 35, 40.
“Last year we traded our 2016 second round pick to secure Harley Balic, who looks a good young player, so we went into the trade period with our first two picks being pick three and pick 39,” Lloyd said.
“To come away now having pick 7, 35 and switching 39 to 40 is a really good result for us.”
While Fremantle can look forward to strengthening its pool of prospects in the National Draft, Lloyd is delighted with the incoming Freo quartet, who join the likes of Lachie Neale, 24, Harley Bennell, 24, Nat Fyfe, 25, Michael Walters, 25, and Stephen Hill, 26, as a cluster of talent around the same age.
“The players we’ve brought in were clear targets for the club,” Lloyd said.
“The focus has been on looking at some of these young West Australians that fit an age demographic of 23 and under so all of those boys, if you think of that profile, we put a specific focus on bringing them in through this period whilst also protecting our early draft picks.
“We see them all having long term futures with the football club while adding to the quality of players we feel we already have -- we think they’ll really compliment each other.”
And it’s not just the age profiles that please Lloyd. Fremantle has filled some vital positions across the ground including key forwards in 193cm McCarthy and 191cm Kersten, as well as 194cm key back Hamling, who held Sydney’s Buddy Franklin to just one goal in the 2016 Grand Final.
“On top of a really good age demographic we’ve added some positions and roles that we feel that we could really need,” Lloyd said.
“In terms of a key back (Hamling), a couple of tall forwards (McCarthy and Kersten) and a running midfielder in Bradley Hill, we feel we’ve added to the depth of our positional needs.”
