When was the last time Fremantle uncovered a gem outside the draft top 30? Luke Ryan? Nat Fyfe? Alex Pearce?
In the last couple of years alone west coast has uncovered Ryan, Petruccelle, Rioli, Allen and Cameron. Our recent mature age picks have been Schulz, Bewley, Switkowski, Jones, and Banfield. None of these look like establishing themselves in the team and are not dominating at wafl level except for Banfield. Schulz and Switkowski have been recruited as forwards yet kick very few goals, even at Peel. Traded into the team have been Conca, Matera, Hogan, Wilson,Lobb, Kersten, Bennell, and Maccarthy. Lobb has been the best of these so far. Wilson gets a pass, Matera has been sort of okay and the rest have struggled. Of the recent recruits, Brayshaw has probably been the best, Cerra is getting there, Tucker is coming along nicely, Logue is an unknown quantity still, Sturt who knows, Valente who knows, Crowden and Giro at least dominate wafl but can't make the transition to afl. Nyhuis and Duman who knows could go either way.
I find it impossible to judge our coach without analysing our recruiting and list management. It has been exceptionally poor for a long time. I feel sorry for the next coach because how much can be achieved with 10-15 good players but almost zero depth? In our prime 6 years ago, guys like DeBoer, Muzungu and Clancee were fringe players. They would be first picked at the moment. Add to this the imminent retirements of Mundy, Ballantyne and Sandilands. There is a perception that the rebuild is going to plan but I disagree. The amount of genuinely young players that are good enough is actually very small. The decent early season form has papered over the cracks in the list and 2 or 3 injuries has almost totally wiped out the teams form. From what I can gather the recruiting is still Victorian based which would be okay if they were any good at it. They aren't. Move it back here and increase the focus on the local players as west coast do.
Ross Lyon is finished. It is just a matter of time. He may get to coach next season but I don't think he will. There will certainly be no 2020 flag. I am hoping that the board does the right thing by the next coach, removes the ceo, replaces recruiting staff while it has the opportunity, and starts afresh. Otherwise the incoming coach will be another lame duck that loses the goodwill of the fans in record time.
