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Fremantle’s new draftees will be given plenty of time to get ready to play at AFL level, according to senior development coach Marc Webb.
Talking to SportFM on Tuesday morning, Webb discussed Fremantle’s draft class, which included their first top-10 draft pick since 2009 in Griffin Logue, and future ruck prospect Sean Darcy with pick 38.
“It’s very early on, and we’ve got to give our new players time to adapt,” Webb said.
“The younger guys are coming into a professional environment. There’s some guys in our side who have had 10 or 11 pre-seasons while (the new draftees) are coming into their first pre-season.
“So they’re being managed to make sure that their body can cope and grow, and get used to the standards of AFL football.”
A part of that process has seen the new draft crop of Logue, Darcy, Brennan Cox and Luke Ryan, as well as rookies Taylin Duman and Luke Strnadica, train separately from the main group when they arrived to the club.
The new draftees have since transitioned into full training, and are currently taking part in match simulations as the club enters it’s final few weeks of training before the JLT Community Series commences against West Coast in Geraldton on 25 February.
“At this stage we’re starting match simulations and match practice, but we’re not really putting expectations on those players yet,” Webb said.
“We’ve just brought them into the system, and we’ll let them grow a bit and then see how their form goes.
“No doubt it’s exciting. We’ve been able to pick up some quality young men and there’s no doubt this year’s group has been really strong at working together.
“We’ve picked up a few talls, in Logue and Cox who can play back and Sean Darcy in the ruck as well.
“So we’ve got some quality talls who can complement our list, and we’re looking forward to seeing them develop over the next few months and years into being strong Freo players.”