INSIDE STORY: How Fremantle Dockers rebuilt there list during the mayhem of COVID

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INSIDE STORY: How Fremantle Dockers rebuilt there list during the mayhem of COVID

Time flies when you’re having fun, but it is now five years since COVID sent the footy world ducking for cover.

Teenagers who had spent years dreaming of playing AFL were wondering if they’d even get to play one game of footy for the year.

It’s amazing to think that it was this week in 2020 Fremantle and West Coast players, coaches and staff were packing their lives up and moving to Queensland for the start of an AFL hub.

It was a world filled with unknowns. Footy re-started at the MCG on June 11 behind locked gates. Borders were closed in WA. Player wages were slashed. Game times were reduced. It was still footy, but it wasn’t what fans knew and loved.

Worse was to come as just one month later, the entire competition had fled Victoria. Anxiety was at an all-time high as players adjusted to living in Queensland.

While AFL players had doubts about what their season would become, draft hopefuls were even more nervous because they were yet to play a game. Talented youngsters who had spent their teenage years building up to their all-important season where they could experience the hype and excitement of being eligible for the draft were suddenly hit by the reality that they may not play at all.

Recruiting staff had even ******* headaches. How were they supposed to decide who to draft? The recruiting model they’d followed for their entire careers was suddenly irrelevant.

Camera IconCOVID presented huge challenges for AFL clubs. Credit: Ian Munro/The West ***********

It was even harder for recruiters who were at clubs in rebuilding mode. The only way to rise up the ladder is to find new talent and if you pick the wrong players when you’re in the bottom half of the ladder, you will experience more pain and stay in football’s wasteland for a hell of a long time.

The SANFL resumed in late June with 14 rounds locked in. Then the WAFL kicked off an eight-game season in July. Victorian teenagers didn’t get to play at all.

Everyone hoped 2021 would be better. It was — slightly. The WAFL and SANFL operated normally. But Victoria was in and out of lockdown.

And through all of that, Fremantle made 17 changes to the list as they attempted to end a finals drought that stretched back to 2015.

Recruiters always say it takes five years to truly know if you’ve drafted well. No club has produced more games from their COVID draftees than Fremantle this season.

The Dockers recruited Heath Chapman, Nathan O’Driscoll, Brandon Walker at the 2020 national draft and then called out Josh Treacy’s name as a rookie. That was a great result. Their only miss was with Joel Western as an Academy player at pick 54.

The following season they recruited Jye Amiss, Neil Erasmus, Matt Johnson at the national draft and snared Karl Worner as a rookie. They only missed with one pick – another Academy player selected at pick 54, Eric Benning.

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But to recruit 10 players across two COVID drafts and have them all playing in 2025 is significant. Fremantle couldn’t have risen up the ladder if they got those picks horribly wrong.

It was telling that the club recruited players from the WAFL at the national draft after seeing them playing and punted on the less exposed Victorians as rookie.

Chapman said while he didn’t get to play as many matches as draftees from previous seasons, just getting the chance to play any footy in 2020 was crucial.

“I played a season of under age colts and even got a senior debut so I think I was prepared sufficiently for AFL footy. Melbourne guys didn’t get to play, They were doing sessions on their own or with two people. A whole season of footy can definitely stack up and be an advantage,” he told The West ***********.

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But while the West Aussies got to play, it left them with a different type of stress. A shorter season meant every game mattered even more. A minor injury could wipe a player out for huge chunks. And not playing at the under 18 national championships robbed draft hopefuls of the chance to compare themselves to other elite players around the country.

O’Driscoll said it was a weird experience.

“I remember it being a frustrating year,” he said.

“We played two practice games with the WA teams going at it. The intensity was there but it was like any intraclub and you can’t really go too hard at each other because you don’t want anyone to get injured.

“That made it hard and it made recruiters think ‘do we have to draft locally?’ How do we look at these players?’ Then I got drafted and put into an AFL environment so it was definitely a challenge at the start.

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O’Driscoll at training. Credit: Kelsey Reid/The West ***********

“I was a little immature when I got drafted. I came from Northam where it was pretty loose. With the professional side of things, I wasn’t up to it. But you soon learn. You get thrown into the deep end pretty quick. It’s either swim out of it or you drown.”

But being stressed and still playing was a luxury compared to what was happening in Victoria.

Treacy was a highly touted forward in 2019 and was named as the co-captain at Victoria’s Bendigo Pioneers in the weeks before lockdown, but fell so far down the pecking order while not playing that he was totally overlooked on draft night.

The Dockers got a bargain when they called out his name at the rookie draft.

Worner missed out totally in 2020. Unlike Treacy, he wasn’t considered to be a draft prospect during 2019. But being cut from the Oakleigh Chargers’ squad as a bottom-age player lit a fire in him, so Worner treated COVID as an opportunity to train every day instead of considering it to be a disaster.

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Worner sensed that a lot of his rivals wouldn’t have the same motivation and that commitment changed his life. Victorian under 18 clubs were allowed to select over-age players during the limited games that were fixtured in 2021 so they could still showcase their talents to recruiters. The Dockers liked what they saw and signed Worner as a rookie.

“It’s nice to reflect and realise how far I’ve come,” he said.

“I was a late developer. I knew growing up I had the potential to make the AFL but I also knew the more work I put in, the opportunity might come on the horizon.

“I had a real emphasis on trying to keep myself fit because I only played between six to eight games in two years. I knew that when there was an opportunity to play, I was in my best form or best shape. I knew it was tough in those lockdowns but I’d go down to the park with dad and get the work done. It was daily. We were allowed one hour at the park.

“You never know what’s around the corner but I had to control what I could control and that’s held me in good stead for the AFL environment.

“I was lucky that Freo saw that potential in me. It still took a bit of catch up time when I got here. I didn’t realise the effect of not playing consistent footy for two years. That first year was difficult because I felt a step behind. But people took me under their wing and got me up to the standard as quickly as I could.”

Dockers Footy Boss Joe Brierty said while no club could be certain about many players at the time, Fremantle felt their best chance of recruiting well was to add a wealth of research to the small amount of exposed form.

Brierty said it was a coincidence that they drafted West Australians and rookied Victorians, but believes finding players during COVID who are now an integral part of the team came down to hard work.

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“The work that David Walls and his team do – during that COVID ******* it was online meetings. Getting to know the families and getting to know the athlete at a really deep level is important,” he explained.

“How are they going to fit into our environment and how much work are they going to do? In that first to four year *******, ultimately it is up to the player. We set up the environment for them to be their best but it’s up to the player to buy into that and do the work. That comes down to personality, character traits and family environments.”

“There’s an eye for talent. If Josh Treacy had played a full year of footy, I don’t think he would have slipped through to the pick that he was. So you need an element of luck.

“Karl Worner was a later pick up but had done the work and was driven to be successful. Chapman was a more mature body at colts level. Drissie was highly touted. We had an element of confidence in those West Australians because they were playing consistent footy. That helped.

“But we still had a strong eye for talent and there was a lot in Victoria which we managed to find.”

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#STORY #Fremantle #Dockers #rebuilt #list #mayhem #COVID

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