Pick 13 was used on 19-year-old Swan Districts player Ethan Hughes (188cm).
He played 15 reserves games for Swans before breaking into their league team with two games later in the year.
Hughes played predominantly half-back, showing excellent run, evasiveness and work ethic.
He finished fourth in Swans' reserves best and fairest after averaging 19 disposals and five marks per game.
Freo re-drafted Tanner Smith (196cm) with pick 31 and the club's final pick, 48, was used on Irish recruit Sean Hurley (196cm).
Fremantle general manager of player management Brad Lloyd was impressed with Hughes during his recent tests at the club.
“He can play small and tall and knows how to find the footy,” he said.
“He’s a boy that was driving up from Bunbury and is an apprentice glazier, so he’s really committed to his work.
“But we just thought there’s a fair bit of scope for improvement with him with the way he goes about it, so we got him in for some testing over the last couple of weeks and he moved really well, so we’re really excited to bring him in.”
Lloyd said it was always a tough choice when it comes to selecting each player.
“We were working across players from the whole national pool, so it’s never easy with who you’re working through, but we thought Ethan was deserved of a rookie opportunity, so now it’s his to grab,” he said.
“In the end we got some size in Ethan about the 188cm mark, we’ve got Tanner as a key defender and Sean Hurley who will develop as a key defender as well, so we’ve got two key defenders coming in to hopefully fill those posts and Ethan who plays tall as well.
“We feel from a list management point of view that we’ve added to the key defensive stocks.”
Smith was delisted at season’s end but was advised that the club was committed to selecting him in the Rookie Draft.
Hurley arrived at the club in mid-November after initially trialing with Freo last year and will be added as a Category B or international rookie.
Selection No.13 – Ethan Hughes (Swan Districts)
Brad Lloyd says: "He's a 188cm half-back. He's really well balanced and really smart with the way he goes about his footy. He's sort of caught our eye throughout the year as he improved. He's got a fair bit of scope from a development point of view as he worked through getting into a professional program at Peel and Swans and now coming in at an AFL level we think there's some real scope, using his clean hands and he's got a strong running ability and he's got good evasiveness and awareness and good agility. So we think there's some really good development potential with him over the coming years."
Selection No.31 – Tanner Smith (Fremantle)
Brad Lloyd says: "He has had some injury trouble in his first two years at the club. He's still a well-regarded player for the footy club as that developing key defender. He's important for the playing list. We delisted him but always had the plans to re-draft him onto the rookie list.
Selection No.48 – Sean Hurley (Ireland)
Brad Lloyd says: "He's been outstanding with his attitude. He's a really big boy. He's 196cm and he's got a really strong aerobic running capacity. He's come in and he's really given his all. We think we can develop him as a tall key position player. He hasn't looked out of place (with the Australian football). He did some of the pre-season with us last year so he's had time to prepare and hone the skills with the AFL ball. He's fine with his kicking and his ball handling. He's going well."
