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Fremantle Football Club drafting and trading history

Fremantle Football Club's drafting and trading history is often cited as a reason for their poor on-field record; the club took eight years to reach a final, and won their first final in 2006. In recent years, however, they have been successful in finding good players with late round and rookie list selections.

Recruiting staff

Phil Smart was the recruiting manager at Fremantle from when they were formed in 1994 until 2008, remaining at the club until the end of 2009 as their draft manager. Smart was the Claremont Football Club colts (under 19) coach in 1994, and wasn't appointed until near the end of the 1994 WAFL season on 1 September 1994, just 2 months before the team started training. He had also never seen a game outside WA, something that would factor in the trade of future Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Andrew McLeod to Adelaide, considered one of the worst trades the Dockers have ever made. Brad Lloyd replaced Smart as the national recruitment manager, until he resigned in 2018 to join Carlton. Mark Micallef held the job for only a single year before David Walls took over in 2020.

1994/95 off season

Fremantle's initial squad of 50 players was compiled from a mixture of uncontracted players from other AFL clubs (maximum of 12 over two years), players who had previously nominated for the AFL draft but not been selected (unlimited from the WAFL, two each from the SANFL, VFL and TFL), up to ten delisted AFL players, trades with any other AFL club, unlimited selections from their four "aligned" WAFL clubs and selections 1, 4 and then the first two selections in each round of the 1994 AFL draft.

The McLeod trade

Fremantle had flown the 18-year-old McLeod and his father to Perth for an interview, but none of the coaching or recruiting staff had actually seen him play, despite McLeod having played in a premiership for Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) a few weeks earlier.

McLeod was puzzled and insulted when Fremantle coach Gerard Neesham asked him to stand up to see how tall he was. The result of this short meeting was that he was traded to Adelaide in return for promising centre half-forward Chris Groom, who they also hadn't see play. McLeod went on to play over 300 games, whilst Groom played only seven for Fremantle before being delisted at the end of the 1995 season.

Fremantle made similar trades with Melbourne to obtain Phil Gilbert and North Melbourne to obtain Troy Polak, trading away Jeff Farmer and Glenn Freeborn respectively.

Uncontracted players

Attracting uncontracted players from other AFL clubs would prove to be very difficult, except for some West Australian players willing to move back to Perth. The AFL also awarded compensation selections to any club that lost a player to Fremantle, of a 16-year-old player, which had the effect of reducing the available talent in the following year's draft, with Fremantle the only club who would be unable to recruit these 16-year-old players.

Prior to the 1994 draft, Fremantle arranged a deal with Essendon where they would recruit three players, all originally from Western Australia, and agree not to recruit any uncontracted players from any team that finished below Essendon in 1994. This would ensure that Essendon would have the first choice of the 16-year-olds in the compensation draft. Officially Todd Ridley was recruited as the uncontracted player, with Tony Delaney and Dale Kickett being traded for later picks. Whilst Kickett had a long and distinguished career at Fremantle, becoming the first player to play 100 games for the club and winning the Doig Medal in 1997, Delaney and Ridley weren't as successful. Essendon, however, recruited Matthew Lloyd with the 16-year-old compensation selection and Scott Lucas with the 4th selection, who would each play 270 games and kick a combined total of 1397 goals.

Fremantle also recruited its inaugural captain, Ben Allan and three of their first four best and fairest award winners, Peter Mann, Stephen O'Reilly and Jason Norrish through the uncontracted player process. Only one of the uncontracted players recruited, Andrew Wills, was not originally from Western Australia. In contrast to the outstanding career of Lloyd, the careers of the other compensation selections was mixed. Whilst West Coast's Chad Morrison and Geelong's Steven King had long and successful careers, and North Melbourne's Stuart Cochrane and Geelong's Adam Houlihan each played around 100 AFL games, Hawthorn's selection of David McEwan didn't play an AFL game and Melbourne's David Cockatoo-Collins only played two games.

Traded to Fremantle

1994 National draft:

1: Jeff White (Southern U18)
22: Winston Abraham (Perth)
42: Douglas Headland (Perth)
56: Ryan Smith (West Perth)
72: Dean Grainger (Northern U18)
73: Sam McFarlane (Subiaco)

Pre-season draft:

2: Greg Madigan (Hawthorn)

Pre-draft selections:

Foundation Selections

Zone selections:

Uncontracted player selections:

Delisted before season started:

1995/96 off season

Traded to Fremantle

1995 National draft:

1: Clive Waterhouse (Port Adelaide)
7: Ben Edwards (Claremont)
13: Brad Rowe (Collingwood)
23: Jay Burton (redrafted)

Pre-draft selection:

Zone selections:

Pre-season draft (uncontracted player selection):

Delisted

Traded Away

1996/97 off season

1996 National draft:

12: Heath Black (Oakleigh Chargers)
31: Jess Sinclair (Eastern Ranges)
46: Matthew Clucas (East Fremantle)

Rookie draft:

4: Cameron Venables (Subiaco)
19: Matthew Richter (Claremont)
34: Rupert Betheras (East Perth)
49: Scott Gooch (redrafted)
64: Gavin Milentis (Claremont)

Retired

Delisted:

1997/98 off season

Traded to Fremantle

1997 National draft:

6: James Walker (North Ballarat Rebels)
21: Clem Michael (South Fremantle)
26: Brodie Holland (Tassie Mariners)
32: Troy Johnson (South Fremantle)

Rookie draft:

5: Brad Dodd (East Fremantle)
21: Paul Maher (Perth)
37: Cameron Jackson (Central U18)
53: John Neesham (East Fremantle)

Retired

Delisted

Traded Away

1998/99 off season

Traded to Fremantle

1998 National draft:

2: Justin Longmuir (West Perth)
18: Daniel Schell (Central District)
49: Garth Taylor (Swan Districts)
64: Andrew Shipp (Springvale)

Pre-season draft:

2: Ashley Prescott (Richmond)

Rookie draft:

2: Darren Bolton (Peel Thunder)
17: Ashley Clancy (Subiaco)
31: Antoni Grover (Subiaco)
45: Andrew Smith (Subiaco)

Rookie Elevation:

Delisted

Traded Away

1999/2000 off season

Traded to Fremantle

1999 National draft:

2: Paul Hasleby (East Fremantle)
4: Matthew Pavlich (Woodville-West Torrens)
5: Leigh Brown (Gippsland Power)
46: Adam Butler (Murray Bushrangers)
49: Ben Cunningham (Claremont)

Pre-season draft:

2: Brad Bootsma (South Fremantle)

Rookie draft:

2: Nathan Carroll (Claremont)
18: Robbie Haddrill (Perth)
34: Luke Newick (Subiaco)
49: Dale Walkingshaw (Peel Thunder)

Rookie Elevation:

Retired

Delisted

Traded Away

2000/01 off season

Traded to Fremantle

2000 National draft:

39: Adam McPhee (Dandenong Stingrays)
51: Dion Woods (Perth)
66: Scott Thornton (Sandringham Dragons)

Pre-season draft:

4: Simon Eastaugh (Essendon)

Rookie draft:

5: Keren Ugle (South Fremantle)
21: Roger Hayden (South Fremantle)
36: Daniel Haines (Peel Thunder)
49: Andrew Siegert (Geelong)

Rookie elevation:

  • None

Delisted

Traded Away

2001/02 off season

The Croad trade

After a disastrous 2001 season during which Fremantle sacked coach Damian Drum mid-year and only won 2 games, Fremantle then became only the second club to trade away the first selection in the national draft (after Sydney Swans in 1992), which it received in addition to selection 4 as a priority draft pick due to their poor performance. In what would end up being considered one of the strongest drafts ever, Fremantle traded its first three draft selections for Hawthorn's key forward Trent Croad, along with injury prone former East Fremantle junior Luke McPharlin. Two of those selections were used by Hawthorn to draft four time premiership players and club captains Luke Hodge (#1 selection) and Sam Mitchell (#36). Fremantle had not yet appointed a coach, so the recruitment was led by the chief executive officer (CEO) Cameron Schwab, who also had only recently been hired.

Schwab is quoted as saying that it didn't matter if they traded draft pick 1 or 4, they still would have drafted Western Australian key position player Graham Polak with their first selection, ahead of the three Victorian midfielders that were chosen in the actual draft, Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd. "It didn't matter whether we could take him (Polak) at No 1 or 4 — the issue was that we ranked the wrong player number one". Part of the reason for choosing three tall players in Croad, McPharlin and Polak was that they were concerned that Matthew Pavlich could leave Fremantle to return to Adelaide the following year, and they had no other key position players in their squad.

Croad would only stay at Fremantle for two years, leading Fremantle's goalkicking in 2002, before being traded back to Hawthorn at the end of the 2003 season. He then played mainly in defence for Hawthorn and was a key member of their 2008 AFL Grand Final winning team. Polak played over 100 games for Fremantle before he was traded to Richmond in 2006, whilst McPharlin played over 200 games for Fremantle and was named in the 2012 All-Australian team. Pavlich didn't return to Adelaide and remained at Fremantle later becoming the club's longest serving captain, games and goal scoring record holder, 6-time All-Australian and 6-time Doig Medalist and in 2014 became the first Western Australian based player to play over 300 AFL games.

Traded to Fremantle

2001 National draft:

4: Graham Polak (East Fremantle)
52: Andrew Browne (Claremont)
56: Paul Medhurst (Claremont)

Rookie Draft:

1: Luke Webster (East Perth)
17: Josh Head (South Fremantle)
33: Aaron Sandilands (East Fremantle)

Rookie Elevation:

Retired

Delisted

Traded Away

2002/03 off season

Traded to Fremantle

2002 National draft:

13: Byron Schammer (West Adelaide)
48: Greg Edgcumbe (Eastern Ranges)
55: Ryan Crowley (Calder Cannons)
63: Brett Doswell (NSW/ACT Rams)

Rookie draft:

4: Ricky Mott (Sydney)
20: Ben Colreavy (Claremont)
35: Daniel Gilmore (South Fremantle)
51: Steven Dodd (East Fremantle)

Rookie elevation:

Retired

Delisted:

Traded away:

2003/04 off season

2003 National draft:

10: Ryley Dunn (Murray Bushrangers)
12: Ryan Murphy (Gippsland Power)
19: David Mundy (Murray Bushrangers)
27: Adam Campbell (North Ballarat Rebels)
43: Brett Peake (East Fremantle, Father-son selection)

Rookie Draft

9: Paul Duffield (South Fremantle)
26: Dylan Smith (North Melbourne)
41: Michael Warren (Claremont)
55: Ben Colreavy (redrafted)

Pre Season Draft

8: Michael Johnson (Perth)

Rookie Elevation:

Delisted

Traded Away

2004/05 off season

Traded to Fremantle

2004 National draft:

59: Benet Copping (Sturt)
67: Toby Stribling (North Adelaide)
69: Daniel Haines (redrafted)

Pre-season draft:

5: Jarrad Schofield (Port Adelaide)

Rookie draft:

8: Joseph Krieger (Sandringham Dragons)
24: Jack Juniper (Glenelg)
39: Ryan Crowley (redrafted)

Rookie elevation:

Delisted:

Traded away:

2005/06 off season

2005 National draft:

10: Marcus Drum (Murray Bushrangers)
26: Garrick Ibbotson (East Fremantle)
42: Robert Warnock (Sandringham Dragons)

Rookie draft:

8: Paul Duffield (redrafted)
23: Toby Stribling (redrafted)

Rookie elevated:

Delisted:

Traded away:

  • No trades

2006/07 off season

Traded to Fremantle

2006 National draft:

31: Clayton Collard (South Fremantle)
52: Brock O'Brien (Peel Thunder)
77: Calib Mourish (Towns Football Club, Geraldton)

Rookie draft:

13: Chris Smith (Mt Gravatt)
28: Andrew Foster (East Fremantle)
42: Darren Rumble (Subiaco)
52: Benet Copping (redrafted)

Rookie elevated:

Retired

Delisted:

Traded away:

2007/08 off season

Traded to Fremantle
  • None

2007 National draft:

7: Rhys Palmer (East Fremantle)
24: Clayton Hinkley (North Ballarat Rebels)
40: Chris Mayne (Perth)
55: Mark Johnson (Essendon)
69: Kepler Bradley (Essendon)

Pre-season draft

6: Josh Head (South Fremantle)

Rookie draft:

6: Brent Connelly (Gippsland Power)
22: Luke Pratt (Swan Districts)
37: Calib Mourish (East Fremantle)
50: Ryley Dunn (East Fremantle)

Rookie elevated:

Retired

Delisted:

Traded away:

  • None

2008/09 off season

Traded to Fremantle
  • None

2008 National draft

3: Stephen Hill (West Perth)
21: Hayden Ballantyne (Peel Thunder)
24: Nick Suban (North Ballarat Rebels)
37: Zac Clarke (Oakleigh Chargers)
53: Michael Walters (Swan Districts)
56: Ben Bucovaz (Geelong Falcons)
68: Tim Ruffles (North Ballarat Rebels)
77: Chris Hall (Woodville West Torrens)

Pre-season draft

  • None

Rookie draft:

3: Casey Sibosado (Oakleigh Chargers)
19: Matt de Boer (Claremont)
34: Hamish Shepheard (East Perth)
48: Clancee Pearce (Swan Districts)
62: Jay van Berlo (West Perth)
74: Greg Broughton (Subiaco)

Rookie elevated:

  • None

Retired

Delisted:

Traded away:

2009/10 off season

Traded to Fremantle
  • None

2009 National draft:

4: Anthony Morabito (Peel Thunder)
20 Nathan Fyfe (Claremont)
36: Joel Houghton (Perth)
48: Jesse Crichton (North Launceston)
49: Dylan Roberton (Dandenong Stingrays)
52: Justin Bollenhagen (South Adelaide)
68: Pass
79: Greg Broughton (rookie elevation)

Pre-season draft

3: Adam McPhee (Essendon)

Rookie draft:

8: Michael Barlow (Werribee)
24: Alex Silvagni (Casey Scorpions)

Retired

Delisted:

Traded away:

2010/11 off season

Traded to Fremantle
*Peter Faulks (Williamstown) and pick #61 from Gold Coast for pick #56
*Tendai Mzungu (Perth) and pick #45 for pick #39
*Jonathon Griffin (Adelaide) for pick #61

2010 National draft

20: Jayden Pitt (Geelong Falcons)
44: Viv Michie (Oakleigh Chargers)
56: Josh Mellington (Murray Bushrangers)
72: Pass
87: Michael Barlow (rookie elevation)
100: Matt de Boer (rookie elevation)
109: Alex Silvagni (rookie elevation)
112: Jay van Berlo (rookie elevation)

Pre-season draft

6: Jack Anthony ()

Rookie draft:

20: Gavin Roberts (Norwood)
37: Nick Lower (Norwood)
53: Ben Bucovaz (redrafted)
68: Tim Ruffles (redrafted)

Retired

Delisted:

Traded away:

2011/12 off season

Traded to Fremantle

2011 National draft

16: Tom Sheridan (Calder Cannons)
20: Hayden Crozier (Eastern Ranges)
29: Alex Forster (Norwood)
58: Lachie Neale (Glenelg)
71: Cameron Sutcliffe (Woodville-West Torrens)
83: Nick Lower, (rookie elevation)

Pre-season draft

Rookie draft:

8: Lee Spurr (Central District)
26: Haiden Schloithe (South Fremantle)
44: Sam Menegola (Hawthorn)
61: Jordan Wilson-King (North Adelaide)
75: Clancee Pearce (redrafted)

Retired

Delisted:

Uncontracted player

Traded away:

  • Nil

2012/13 off season

Traded to Fremantle
  • Pick 36 for Greg Broughton and pick 58

Free agent recruits:

2012 National draft

17: Josh Simpson (East Fremantle)
36: Tanner Smith (North Ballarat Rebels)
39: Max Duffy (East Fremantle)
78: Clancee Pearce (rookie elevation)
93: Lee Spurr (rookie elevation)

Pre-season draft

8: Jack Hannath (Central District)
14: Jesse Crichton (redrafted)

Rookie draft:

11: Matt Taberner (Murray Bushrangers)
25: Alex Howson (East Fremantle)

Category B Rookie selection

46: Craig Moller (NSW AFL Scholarship)

Retired

Delisted:

Uncontracted players/Free agents

  • Nil

Traded away:

2013/14 off season

Traded to Fremantle

Free agent recruits:

2013 National draft

17: Michael Apeness (Eastern Ranges)
37: Alex Pearce (Ulverstone/Devonport)
58: Brady Grey (Burnie Dockers)
73: Matt Taberner (rookie elevation)

Pre-season draft

  • None

Rookie draft:

16: Michael Wood (Subiaco)
32: Tom Vandeleur ()
47: Jacob Ballard (Northern Blues)

Retired

Delisted:

Uncontracted players/Free agents lost

  • None

Traded away:

2014/15 off season

Traded to Fremantle
  • None

Free agent recruits:

  • None

2014 National draft

13: Lachie Weller (Southport/Broadbeach)
34: Connor Blakely (Swan Districts)
54: Ed Langdon (Sandringham Dragons)
68: Josh Deluca (Subiaco)

Rookie elevation:

  • None

Pre-season draft

  • None

Rookie draft:

13:Ethan Hughes (Swan Districts)
31:Tanner Smith (redrafted)
48:Sean Hurley (Kildare GAA, Ireland)

Retired

Delisted:

Uncontracted players/Free agents lost

  • None

Traded away:

  • None

2015/16 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
Free agent recruits:
  • None
2015 National draft:
27: Darcy Tucker (North Ballarat Rebels, TAC Cup)
38: Harley Balic (Sandringham Dragons, TAC Cup)
55: Sam Collins (, VFL)
61: Shane Yarran (Subiaco, WAFL)
Rookie elevation:
Pre-season draft
Rookie draft:
16: Matt Uebergang (Redland, NEAFL)
34: Ryan Nyhuis (Nightcliff, NTFL)
50: Anthony Morabito (redrafted)
60: Josh Deluca (redrafted)
Retired:
Delisted:
Uncontracted players/Free agents lost:
  • None
Traded away:
  • Picks #16, #56 & 2016 2nd Round

2016/17 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
2016 National draft:
8: Griffin Logue ()
38: Sean Darcy (Geelong Falcons)
41: Brennan Cox ()
66: Luke Ryan ()
Rookie draft:
3: Taylin Duman (Oakleigh Chargers)
21: Luke Strnadica ()
38: Brady Grey (Redrafted)
50: Josh Deluca (Redrafted)
Retired:
Delisted:
Uncontracted players/Free agents lost:
Traded away:
  • Pick #3 for McCarthy, picks #7, #35 & #73
Pick swap:
  • Sent pick #73 and a 2017 second-round pick to Gold Coast, received picks #35, #71 and a 2017 fourth-round selection

2017/18 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
2017 National draft:
2: Andrew Brayshaw (Sandringham Dragons)
5: Adam Cerra (Eastern Ranges)
44: Hugh Dixon (Kingborough Tigers)
59: Mitch Crowden (Sturt)
65: Tom North (Eastern Ranges)
69: Lloyd Meek (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
73: Sam Switkowski (Box Hill Hawks)
75: Scott Jones (East Perth)
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
5: Bailey Banfield (Claremont)
21: Stefan Giro (Norwood)
Delisted:
Retired:
Traded away:

2018/19 off season

Free agent recruits:
Traded to Fremantle:
2018 National draft:
17: Sam Sturt (Dandenong Stingrays, TAC Cup)
32: Luke Valente (, SANFL)
57: Lachie Schultz (Williamstown, VFL)
59: Brett Bewley (Williamstown, VFL)
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
5: Ethan Hughes (redrafted)
22: Tobe Watson (Swan Districts, WAFL)
37: Ryan Nyhuis (redrafted)
Category B rookie nomination:
Delisted:
Retired:
Traded away:

2019/20 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
2019 National draft:
7: Hayden Young (Dandenong Stingrays, NAB League)
8: Caleb Serong (Gippsland Power, NAB League)
9: Liam Henry (Next Generation Academy, Derby, Claremont, WAFL)
61: Michael Frederick (Woodville-West Torrens, SANFL)
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
6:Jarvis Pina (Peel Thunder, WAFL)
20:Tom North (redrafted)
30:Hugh Dixon (redrafted)
Category B rookie nomination:
Delisted:
Retired:
Traded away:

2020/21 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
  • None
2020 National draft:
Rookie elevation:
  • None
Moved to rookie list
Rookie draft:
Category B rookie nomination:
  • None
Delisted:
Retired:
  • None
Traded away:

2021/22 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
2021 National draft:
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
Mid-season rookie draft:
Category B rookie nomination:
Delisted:
Retired:
Traded away:

2022/23 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
2022 National draft:
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
Category B rookie nomination:
Mid-season rookie draft:
Delisted:
Retired:
Traded away:

2023/24 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
  • None
Free agent recruits
2023 National draft:
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
Pre-season supplemental selection period:
Mid-season rookie draft
  • None
Delisted:
Retired:
  • None
Traded away:
Free agent departures

2024/25 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
2024 National draft:
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
Pre-season supplemental selection period:
Mid-season rookie draft
  • None
Delisted:
Retired:

2025/26 off season

Traded to Fremantle:
Free agent recruits
  • None
2025 National draft:
Rookie elevation:
Rookie draft:
Category B rookie nomination:
Pre-season supplemental selection period:
Delisted:
Retired:
Traded away:
Free agent departures
  • None

See also

Notes

References