Braden Quartermaine: Recruiters had to save the club from itself to set up The Fremantle Redemption

In one of the world’s most beloved movies, Andy Dufresne crawled through a river of s..t and came out clean on the other side. Some at Fremantle might know the feeling of that Shawshank Redemption scene. The Dockers are riding high at 10-3, preparing for their first finals series in seven years and right in the mix for a top-four or even top-two finish that would lay a platform for a genuine premiership assault. Even better, they are young and sexy. The revival is being fuelled by arguably the most prized batch of young players in the competition. But the fact Fremantle have somehow emerged as a poster club for rebuilds this season is hugely ironic. Because the truth is their rebuild was half-hearted and botched from the beginning. If you think that sounds harsh, coach Justin Longmuir and chief executive Simon Garlick have publicly admitted just about as much. It’s pretty obvious not all of the Fremantle hierarchy at the time believed in their own rebuild. Former coach Ross Lyon, a man responsible for one-liners such as “Some clubs have been rebuilding for 50 years” and “I like to win”, was suddenly asked to change the very DNA that had underpinned his success. And he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Having pronounced the start of a four-year rebuild, the Dockers took the nonsensical position of selecting a side containing more players in their 30s than any club to start the 2017 season. When that resulted in an 89-point loss to Port Adelaide in round two which left them on the bottom of the ladder, the outcry was huge and six players were axed amid intervention at board and executive level. Having fielded the third-oldest team in the competition in round two, they were suddenly 12th for age in round three. And won. While Lyon needed to be repeatedly dragged towards something aligning with rebuild mode, he never quite got there. Even in 2019, which proved to be his final season at the helm, Andrew Brayshaw and Adam Cerra were struggling for centre-bounce opportunities behind a cast of older players that included Reece Conca playing as an inside midfielder. Here were two genuine midfielders taken in the top five, the very symbols of the rebuild the Dockers were meant to be conducting, and a brake was put on their development. It changed with the arrival of Justin Longmuir in 2020, and Conca and Michael Walters were relieved of on-ball duties to allow the youth to come through. Though Cerra has been lost to Carlton, Brayshaw has gone from strength to strength and should feature high on the Brownlow Medal leader board this September. The Dockers were impatient and seduced by short cuts, including players with off-field issues, that were on offer at a time they should have been investing. In the critical first three off-seasons of their rebuild from 2016-2018, when you would presume maximising their draft hands would be key, Fremantle put the cart before the horse and traded in nine players. Only Gold Coast and Carlton traded in more players over the same period with 10. Just four of the nine players the Dockers brought in over that period are still on the list and only two, Rory Lobb and Travis Colyer, are regulars. In 2016, after crashing to 16th and signalling a four-year rebuild was required, Fremantle gave up their prized pick 3 (Hugh McCluggage) to Greater Western Sydney as part of the deal for Cam McCarthy. Two years later when Lachie Neale’s decision to get out presented them with an unexpected draft bonanza, they gave up pick 6 (Ben King) to Melbourne for Jesse Hogan. So how did the Dockers eventually escape their Shawshank cell and make their way to a glorious Zihuatanejo beach? They got saved from themselves by their recruiters, who got their little rock hammer and chiselled their way out to one sensational selection at a time as part of a stupendous run of draft nights. Whether it’s nailing top-10 picks, zeroing in on mid-draft bargains or finding mature-age VFL gems near the end of the draft, Fremantle have done the lot. Imagine the type of super-list the Dockers would have if they had just let their recruiters get to work and not been so focussed on trading in the early years of their rebuild. As West Coast embark on their own rebuild, there’s much to learn from the experience of their bitter rivals. But unlike the Dockers, they don’t have the luxury of a patient supporter base. If the Eagles were to miss the finals for six straight years, they would need to rebuild their Lathlain headquarters along with their list. Because their own fans would have burned it down.