Fremantle Head of Player Personnel David Walls provided an update to Cal Twomey on Continental Tyres AFL Trade Radio on the opening morning of the 2026 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period. 

Here’s what Walls had to say. 

Are you expecting a pretty quiet period? 
Yeah I think so, we won’t see a lot of change this year. We’ve got a lot of players contracted, and we’ve got 21 players contracted for 2028 and beyond. We’re really looking to embed down the list, we’ll have three or four list changes this year but pretty minimal. 

Nathan O’Driscoll has told the Club he is exploring his options, what does that look like? 
We had some chats with Nathan throughout the year that didn’t really eventuate or get too far. He’s going to have a look around to see what is out there. We are still a little bit unclear on where that will all sit and land, but he will have a look and we’ll know more this week. 

Is there an opening for Nathan to come back to the Club if a destination doesn’t arise? 
At this stage we will meet as a list management committee at the end of Trade Period, reconvene and see what happens if he doesn’t find a home. 

Sean Darcy’s name comes up every year in the ruck merry-go-round, what about Sean? 
The question is definitely asked about Sean when we catch up with opposition clubs. We really see him as a player who can come in. He didn’t play in the Grand Final, but we see him coming in (to the side). He is a Doig Medallist and we know his best makes us better. We look forward to getting Sean back to his best and him helping us out in 2027. 

Do you see any acquisitions coming in over the next 10 days? 
I don’t. We’re pretty keen to hit the draft, we quite like the draft and obviously it’s the last one before Tassie. We’ve got our full hand of picks so we’re pretty keen to hit the draft and see what our recruiting team can find. 

You’ve got the most long-term contracts in the competition past 2030, how big a part of the strategy has that been in terms of strategy? Especially given a lot of those guys are from outside of WA as well. 
We had a period there where we were losing players back east and we’ve been able to turn that around. Players are very happy at the Club, settled, and are playing as good a footy as they possibly can. It’s been a long build but every part of the build has been for sustained success. We’re hoping that forms part of that. 

Have you had any enquiries about Jeremy Sharp?  
I wouldn’t say we’ve had calls but I know there has been enquiries made to his manager. We’re pretty keen to keep Jeremy and see him playing a role for us next year, so it never went anywhere. 

Do you need to sure up your key defensive stocks given the injury to Alex Pearce? 
We’re really confident with the guys we have already got on our list. Hugh Davies is one of those guys that we have committed to for three years and we see him being able to step in and play straight away. Josh Draper is down there. Oscar McDonald has done a remarkable job when he has come in and played and obviously we’ll get Brennan Cox back from the Grand Final side that played. We think we have got enough on our list at this stage to cover 

Just on Alex Pearce and the lure of Tasmania next year, how keen are you to fast-track those talks over summer? 
It’s something we have got a timeline on and we’ll pick them up early in the new year but no one is more committed to Fremantle’s success than Alex and the whole Pearce family. We’re looking forward to having them around and continuing on. We’d love Alex to be part of the first and that’s what drives him.