The importance of the upcoming draft and trade period isn’t lost on Justin Longmuir, with the senior coach recognising the opportunity for Fremantle to add more talent to their list.

Freo currently hold picks 8 and 27 in the upcoming NAB AFL Draft but that hand is likely to strengthen in the Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period due to Adam Cerra’s request to be traded to Carlton.

In the latest episode of Old Bull, Young Buck, co-host David Mundy asked Longmuir if the trade period was Peter Bell’s ‘Christmas’.

“No, the draft is Belly’s Christmas, this is just a little entrée into that,” Longmuir said.

“He does like this time of the year and it’s a really important part of the year. A large part of being a successful Club is getting good people and good players in the door.

“We’ll make some changes to our list clearly, so this is really important to make sure we get it right.”

Longmuir said Fremantle’s priority in the trade period, which commences Monday 4 October and ends Wednesday 13 October, is to get fair value in the Cerra trade.

Cerra was drafted with pick no.5 in 2017 and Longmuir said Cerra should command a higher price after an impressive 76 games to date.

“I never like to see a good player walk out the door and I feel like we drafted ‘Cez’ with a high pick, we’ve put four years of development into him and he’s about to hit his peak,” Longmuir said.

“We’ll do the best thing for the Club and that’s to get maximum value for him. Hopefully we can turn those picks into good players.”

Mundy asked Longmuir if he watched the WA v SA U18 curtain raiser before the AFL Grand Final at Optus Stadium.

“I did get to see some of it. The thing with the WA talent this year is it’s a bit more exposed than talent across the rest of the country,” Longmuir said.

“Most of the picks usually come out of Victoria with probably a smaller percentage coming out of WA. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

“I think some of the younger kids in Melbourne have only played 12 games in two years, so it’s hard to get a read on their form.

“It’s going to be an interesting draft and one we’ll have a good hand in. It’s over to the recruiters to make sure they get it right.”

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