Fremantle set for rebuild, does Richmond need to go down same path?JON RALPH
Herald Sun
30 April 2016“THE trend’s your friend. Don’t catch falling knives.”
Ross Lyon’s obscure but pointed sound bite after another horrible loss last week was a remarkable window into Fremantle’s fall from grace.
That stockmarket term effectively means don’t get sucked into tumbling shares you believe might bounce back, but instead plummet into oblivion.
Right now 2015 minor premier Fremantle is a falling knife stock, having pushed close to the ultimate yet now being dropped as a going concern by all and sundry.
The No. 1 priority of list management is to know where you are: if you don’t know what the problem is, you can’t fix it.
This weekend in separate states two sides with a single win between them — Richmond and Fremantle — hit the field in contrasting but serious states of flux.
Fremantle has in the space of five weeks had to concede it is in for a serious rebuild and is seems totally committed to that task.
Richmond’s issues are more complicated.
Does it have a premiership list as Brett Deledio and Damien Hardwick stated this week, or is it a million miles off?
If it is, how doe the Tigers use the rest of the season to become the kind of team that will finally attract a star recruit after missing out so often in recent years?
The winless Dockers took another series of body blows this week, losing Nathan Fyfe and Michael Johnson with long-term injuries then missing out on Essendon free agent Cale Hooker.
If anything, Hooker’s decision makes Fremantle’s list management decisions easier.
It has had its shot at the title and, like all the current contenders, will need to restock through the draft rather than search for quick fixes.
If you believe the jungle drums they will use their first pick on GWS tall Cam McCarthy and likely lose star midfielder Lachie Neale to a rival like Adelaide.
As usual the jungle drums are wrong.
Fremantle will exercise extreme caution with McCarthy, given his mental issues, totally unwilling to hand over its first pick.
And the Herald Sun can reveal Neale, just 22 and a star of the future, will soon start contract talks despite multiple and consistent reports he wants out to Adelaide or North Melbourne.
“We have been laughing at a lot of the reports,’’ his Adelaide-based manager Tim Lawrence yesterday said in his first public comments.
“We decided (last November) we would hold off to let the start of the season roll out.
“He is a lad who makes informed decisions and he doesn’t rush. So talk about us speaking to other clubs is wrong. There have been clubs who have made inquiries but we are not interested in talking.
“We will sit down with Fremantle very shortly and have a chat to them and ask the questions all managers do.”
The Dockers offered two first-round picks for McCarthy last year but his anxiety disorder and depression has shaken potential suitors.
Fremantle cannot afford to hand over a significant investment given its misstep with Colin Sylvia and Harley Bennell’s current injury issues.
Free agent Chris Mayne, 27, is holding off on contract talks and it would not shock to see the Dockers accept a compensation pick for him to head elsewhere.
This weekend’s team full of kids is instructive of the new direction, featuring Lachie Weller, Connor Blakely, Alex Pearce, Matt Taberner, Neale, Darcy Tucker and with Ed Langdon an emergency.
Richmond should be in the sweet spot with its oldest players Ivan Maric and Troy Chaplin only just turning 30, Brett Deledio 29 and two 28-year-olds in Shaun Hampson and Shaun Grigg.
Jack Riewoldt is 27 and five months, Trent Cotchin 26, Alex Rance 26 and six months, Dustin Martin 24 — the Tigers’ best five players are in their prime.
Yet since recruiting Martin it is arguable they have not added another elite A-grade player to push closer to actually winning finals.
Barring the most extraordinary of comebacks it will be stuck in that middle ground again — good enough to play a final, not good enough to win one.
Does it go all out for Jaeger O’Meara or Dion Prestia or another star, sacrificing countless millions and potentially multiple picks?
This Richmond side with one of its recruiting near-misses — Adam Treloar or Dan Hannebery or David Armitage or Hamish Hartlett — would be instantly and greatly improved.
Or does it realise the only path to greatness is to use this year’s likely top-10 pick to jag the next Clayton Oliver or Darcy Parish?
Lose the next handful of games and that decision is a no-brainer.
Come home like a freight train for the third consecutive year, get pick 15 like this year and the decision is as hard as ever.
Lyon knows where his side is and the Tigers say they do, too.
Come October it will be intriguing to follow their respective journeys as two middle-of-the-road sides search for that elusive premiership.
RICHMOND LIST PROFILE30-plus: 2 players — Ivan Maric, Troy Chaplin.
25 to 29: 14 players
21-25: 17 players
Under 21: 12 players
FREMANTLE LIST PROFILE30-plus: 8 players — Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands, Michael Johnson, David Mundy, Jonathan Griffin, Zac Dawson, Tendai Mzungu, Daniel Pearce.
25 to 29: 13 players
21-25: 15 players
Under 21: 9 players
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