Fremantle’s new EGM of Football Joe Brierty has his sights set on the ultimate success for both Fremantle’s AFL and AFLW program after taking on the new position as the Club’s head of football.
 
Speaking with Adam Papalia and former Fremantle great David Mundy on 6PR, Brierty said he was proud of the new opportunity and is looking forward to getting started.
 
“I’ve had over 10 years of experience in the football department and prior to starting the role of Chief Operating Officer I was the GM of Football Operations and Performance when ‘Barra’ (David Mundy) was doing his thing,” Brierty said.
 
“Being involved in the industry and now seeing the other side from an administration perspective, the football department is the heartbeat of any footy Club and to have that opportunity to lead it through a period that’s really important from a Fremantle perspective in terms of strategy and success that we’re setting out to try and achieve, I’m proud of taking on the opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”

With a focus to inspire and motivate the workplace, Brierty said one of his key aims is just to make sure people love coming to work.
 
“People that have worked with me will know that I’m a really people-based leader and my focus is really to be the person who inspires and motivates everyone,” Brierty said.
 
“We all know that success in this competition is tough, we’re seeing teams eb and flow and you need to get everything right and from my perspective we need to be firing on all cylinders across the board. That’s from our player development to our coaching department, high-performance, medical and our leadership over a sustained period of time.
 
“In my role I’ll be focused on all of those people to make sure they’re accountable to their role but really overarching that is that they love coming to the Freo footy Club, love where they work and are driven by a purpose to the Club’s first premiership across AFL and AFLW.”

In 2021, Brierty moved out of the football department to take on the role as Fremantle’s Chief Operating Officer and he spoke about the benefit that change had on his development as a leader.
 
“I’ve loved my time at the Club (in administration), the ability to broaden those horizons and understand the broader commerciality of our business and strategic focuses and some of the bigger projects has been great for me in terms of my growth as an executive,” Brierty said.
 
“What it means for all of our members and fans in terms of what we’re trying to do and execute for this young group of players, they’re a really driven group, a really talented football department and for all of us at the Fremantle Football Club we’re obviously still on that search for our first premiership in both AFL and AFLW.
 
Brierty also expanded further on the role Peter Bell would be taking on as EGM of Football Talent, Strategy and Special Projects.
 
“You look at football programs now, it’s significant business and obviously it’s everchanging off the back of COVID and really, our focuses around retention and acquisition of talent is going to be vital for us moving forward with Tasmania coming in,” Brierty said.
 
“We’ve obviously got a young group of players that we want to keep together for a really long period of time so Peter will drive our strategy around our talent ID and acquisition of players, but also football personnel, looking at trends around the industry and how we need to focus on the best possible talent around the country to make sure that we’re setup for a sustained period of success.
 
“He'll obviously work closely with David Walls and Bob Murphy across AFL and AFLW scouting for the National Draft as well which is a really critical juncture for our organisation to make sure that we can execute in the best way possible.
 
“He’ll also be involved in our NGA programs in terms of the talent coming through at that end and then he’ll step outside of footy at times as well and look at commercial opportunities with a Club lens and some of the bigger infrastructure and strategic projects that we’ve got coming in the coming years that are just vital for our stability as a business.