Fremantle Football General Manager Peter Bell defends the Dockers’ list management in the wake of Lachie Schultz’s trade request.
Fremantle general manager of football Peter Bell has defended the club’s recent exodus of players, with three players demanding trades in 2023.
Lachie Schultz upset the Dockers on the first day of the transfer period by requesting a trade to reigning premiers Collingwood despite having a year left on his contract.
In a disturbing trend of talent departing Fremantle, he joins wantaway winger Liam Henry and outgoing veteran Joel Hamling in trying to leave the club.
Blake Acres, Griffin Logue, Darcy Tucker, Rory Lobb, and Lloyd Meek were the previous year’s winners, followed by Adam Cerra in 2021, Jesse Hogan in 2020, Brad Hill and Ed Langdon in 2019, Lachie Neale in 2018, and Lachie Weller, Hay Crozier, and Harley Balic in 2017.
While they did not always want to lose players, Bell believes their departures have created opportunities to bring in excellent players through the draft or other means.
“I’ll use Cerra as an example, who we loved during his time here at Fremantle,” Bell told AFL Trade Radio.
“At the time, we thought we didn’t want to lose him because he’s a great player and a great player, but we were able to turn the pick we got for him into Jye Amiss.”
“So change in that of itself can sometimes offer you great opportunities as well.”
Amiss has been a fantastic addition to the Dockers, scoring 45 goals in his first 25 games. Amiss was the club’s leading goalkicker in only his second season.
Crozier was traded for picks, which, when coupled with Weller, resulted in choice No. 2 off the Gold Coast, securing All-Australian and Doig Medal winner Andrew Brayshaw.
They also received selections 22 and 79 in exchange for Langdon, which they utilized to move up to pick No. 8 and secure current Doig Medalist Caleb Serong.
Hill was used to obtain Blake Acres, while Meek and Lobb’s departure aided the recruitment of 2022 draftee Hugh Davies and then-Hawthorn star Jaeger O’Meara.
However, there have been some blunders, such as Balic picking up Tom North, who never played an AFL game, and Hogan becoming Joel Western, who was delisted in 2022 after only four games.
Lachie Neale was acquired in exchange for Lobb and Sam Sturt.
Acres was also basically given away for what is currently the 59th overall pick in this year’s draft.
“You look at them case by case and I think every club would say this, there are one or two that you would love to keep and that’s certainly the case for us as well,” Bell went on to remark.
“There’s also a large contingent that goes as well with our support to seek greater opportunities.”
