Fremantle will look to extract maximum value from their draft collateral after finalising their player movement for the 2023 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period, according to Executive General Manager of Football Peter Bell.
The Club currently holds three first round selections in 2024, as well as St Kilda’s future second, after seeing Lachie Schultz depart to Collingwood and Liam Henry to St Kilda via trades made on Monday.
Fremantle received pick 34 for the 2023 draft via the Schultz trade, as well as holding picks 46, 60 and 64 in 2023.
The 2023 draft it set to be significantly impacted by early academy and father son bids and Bell said Fremantle were excited by the talent that would be available in 2024.
“We really like next year’s draft, but we’ve also been able to improve our draft hand in the 2023 draft by virtue of (Collingwood’s) pick 34,” Bell said.
“We have a strong hand, and whether we use that to get further up next year’s draft or potentially we might use it for some trade collateral as well.
“There’s a long time between now and the end of 2024, so we have options and we’ll look to use them in a really prudent manner.”
Bell said Fremantle were reluctant to trade a player of Schultz’s quality, but the Club had to be cognisant of the reasons behind the trade request.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate to go into it too deeply, but Lachie expressed a desire to return to Victoria and play for Collingwood for family reasons,” Bell said.
“We had expressed to him that it might be difficult, but credit to Collinwood that they were able to offer up some real value for us and we’d like to wish Lachie, his partner and their respective families the best for the future.
“We feel it’s really strong value for Schultz, in particular the first round (selection). We know Collingwood can’t go any better than what they did this year, so potentially there might be a bit of upside if they don’t win the premiership next year.”
Bell reiterated his confidence in the talent of Fremantle’s playing group and their commitment to the Club’s cause.
“It’s never nice to lose players through a trade period, although it’s becoming more prevalent and commonplace with the player movement mechanisms and levers the AFL industry now has,” Bell said.
“We’re really comfortable with the list that we have at the moment and the commitment by the list, we have a number of players from all around Australia who have signed long-term contracts.
“Some of the names include players like Brennan Cox just recently, Luke Jackson, Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong, Hayden Young, Matthew Johnson, Michael Frederick and there’s many more as well. We feel it’s a really exciting and committed group.”
