Fremantle will head into Wednesday’s Mid-Season Draft with an eye on adding an additional player to their rookie list.
The draft will commence at 5pm WST with Fremantle holding the eighth selection.
Executive General Manager of Football Peter Bell said the Club had decided to keep a spot open on their rookie list in case a positional need came up through injury.
Fremantle only have four players in reconditioning in Sean Darcy (hamstring), Michael Walters (calf), Heath Chapman (hamstring) and Matt Taberner (back), meaning the Club will have flexibility around who they pick, or whether they pass on their selection.
“We had a couple of train ons (in Jye Serong and Sam Stubbs) through the pre-season period and it was a really tough call, but ultimately we decided to leave the spot open so as to give us some flexibility through the year,” Bell told SportFM.
“If you were to cop some injuries, particularly in a certain part of the field, you might need that flexibility to bring in a replacement.
“Thankfully, for us, that hasn’t occurred and we’ve had a good run with injuries and hopefully that continues.
“We’ll go into tomorrow night just looking to add the best player that we think is available to our list and, first of all, we have to hope that player is available as it’s not a deep pool and there won’t be a huge amount of selections across the league.”
Bell said the Club would have a long term view with any player they select.
“That would be our strategy (developing a player),” Bell said.
“It’s someone that we think has an AFL future, it’s not a short-term measure for us.
“We’re looking to add some quality to our list and if we think there’s someone there with the right opportunities and right commitment and work rate can make an impact at AFL level, then we’ll select that person.”
It will be a busy afternoon for Fremantle, with Jaeger O’Meara’s AFL Tribunal hearing to commence half an hour later at 5.30pm WST.
DRAFT ORDER
First Round
1 – West Coast
2 – North Melbourne
3 – Hawthorn
4 – Richmond
5 – Greater Western Sydney
6 – Sydney
7 – Geelong
8 – Fremantle
9 – Essendon
10 – Western Bulldogs
11 – Port Adelaide
Second Round
12 – Hawthorn
13 – Richmond
14 – GWS
15 – Sydney
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