Fremantle are on track to make an impact in the AFL in the near future with a very bullish assessment of the club’s list from Matt Rendell on AFL Trade Radio.
Rendell, a former Adelaide list manager who also worked in Collingwood’s recruiting department, said Fremantle were on the cusp of returning to finals with a young and talented list.
“I’ve given a title or name for each club’s list and for Fremantle, I’ve put ‘sneaky good’ or ‘pay attention’ because they’re climbing up the ladder. They’ve done some really good things,” Rendell told AFL Trade Radio.
“They’ve got a heap of good young players I rate at 22 and under. I’ve got about 13 of their young players who are regulars in their team.
“Griffin Logue didn’t play much this year. Michael Frederick, Taylin Duman, Bailey Banfield. Brennan Cox was fantastic in defence.
“Liam Henry came in at the end of the year, Lachie Schultz played as a forward for most of the year.
“Hayden Young is an absolute star but he missed with injury for most of the year. Caleb Serong won the rising star, Mitch Crowden played as a defensive forward. Andrew Brayshaw, Adam Cerra are fantastic in the midfiled and Sean Darcy rucked.
“They’re all 22 and under, which is a majority of their best team, really.
“Their age profile is last, the 18th in the AFL. Their games (experience) is 17th. For them to do what they did this year, I can only count one bad game.”
Rendell said there was more to like about Fremantle than just their playing list, saying the club had the right people in place to extract the most out of the team.
“I think they’re extremely well positioned. They’ve got some gun kids, their coach is a star, Justin Longmuir. He was fantastic at Collingwood with their defence and (Fremantle’s) defence was fantastic this year,” Rendell said.
“David Walls is excellent as list manager and recruiting manager, and Peter Bell has done a really good job of getting the right people in the right places and building this young team up.
“Longmuir has taken over this role and he’s all about culture, culture and culture. They are going to have a sustained period of excellence because they’ve got all the right people in all the right places.
“He’s got (new assistant coach) Matthew Boyd over from Collingwood who the players rate really highly.
“They are very well positioned to climb the ladder. Will they make the eight next year? It’s borderline.”
