Fremantle have seemingly backflipped on their willingness to trade their first-round draft pick, with Head of Player Personnel David Walls confirming their intent to improve their hand for the National Draft.
Speaking to Fremantle Media on Friday, Walls provided an insight into the Dockers off-season plans, which will involve trading at least two players; disgruntled midfielder Will Brodie and tall Liam Reidy.
While Walls believed the process of moving the pair will be “straightforward”, he emphasised Fremantle’s priority of improving their points tally for the National Draft in what looms as a complex year.
“We’ll get the suitable deal [for Will Brodie and Liam Reidy]. It should be pretty straightforward to get done,” Walls said.
“Our main priority with those trades will be looking at points and getting up the draft order where we can.
“We won’t be having a lot of list change and turnover this year, so it’ll probably be about upgrading the picks that we do have.
“We’re meeting different list managers, different clubs daily. Things are constantly moving with compensation picks jumping in. It’s going to be a pretty interesting year this year in terms of the number of players that are tied to Northern Academies or father-sons and NGA’s.
“There will be a lot of pick swaps going on for clubs trying to bank points and we’ll be looking at every opportunity to get up the draft order as much as we can.”
Fremantle’s current draft hand includes Picks 11, 30, 39, 48 and 66, though those could change quickly with multiple clubs anticipating compensation for free agency departures.
Despite finishing sixth and playing finals in 2025, Fremantle’s points tally of 2018 currently is the fifth best figure among the 18 AFL clubs for this year’s National Draft, trailing only West Coast, Richmond, Essendon and Gold Coast.
Walls highlighted the flexible position the club is in as they look to fill their three remaining senior list spots.
“We’ve got a number of players that we’ve spoken to and are pursuing and looking at throughout the trade period. Nothing confirmed as of yet,” Walls said.
“We’ve got three senior list spots to fill after those retirements and delistings. We’ve upgraded Josh Draper who comes up to the senior list after being a Category B rookie and Jeremy Sharp goes up from the rookie list to the senior list.
“So, we’ve got three spots available on the senior list and three rookie spots.
“The three senior spots could be [filled from] a combination of trade and draft, or it could be all draft. We’ll keep pursuing both possibilities and options.”
Fremantle were recently nominated by young Melbourne defender Judd McVee as his preferred trade destination, though the cost for his services remains unknown.
The Dockers second-rounder looms as a likely piece the Demons will be keen on attaining in any deal for the 22-year-old.
