Dockers Swing The Axe Quick Smart, And Fair Enough Too

Barely had the confetti settled on the MCG before Fremantle were down the list management corridor with the scissors out. Four blokes gone, including a bloke who was once a first-round pick and a genuine veteran of the club, and if that doesn’t tell you how ruthless this caper is, over here in the west we’ve seen it plenty of times before with our own boys.

It’s a funny old sport, footy. One week you’re a Grand Finalist, chasing the ultimate prize, the next you’re cleaning out your locker and wondering where it all went. Fremantle’s decision to move so fast after Saturday’s loss isn’t cruel, it’s just business, and any Eagles fan who’s watched our list management over the years knows exactly how this works.

The Speed Of It All Says Plenty

Most clubs wait a week or two after the big dance to let the dust settle before they start cutting bodies. Not Fremantle. They’ve gone bang, straight into it, four fellas informed their servies are no longer required while the rest of the competition is still recovering from Grand Final week pies and a few too many coldies.

You’ve got to admire the efficiency, even if you’re not a Dockers supporter. There’s something almost brutal about turning around that quickly, like ripping off a bandaid rather than picking at it for a fortnight. The football departments over east always seem to get more coverage for this stuff than we do over here in the west, funnily enough, but credit where it’s due, Freo didn’t muck around.

The Veteran Cop It Just Like Anyone Else

This is the bit that always gets me. Blokes who’ve given a decade or more to a footy club, done everything asked of them, mentored the young fellas, fronted up to training in the middle of a Perth summer or a freezing Melbourne morning depending on where they’re based, and in the end the club still says thanks very much, see ya.

It’s not personal, or so they always say, but you’d reckon it feels pretty bloody personal when you’re the one packing the boxes. The veteran among Freo’s cuts has apparently given plenty to that jumper, and it’s a timely reminder that loyalty in this game only stretches so far before the list managers start looking at output vs age vs what’s coming through the system.

Footy doesn’t do sentiment for long. One finals series and a few too many quiet games and even the most loved clubmen find themselves searching for a new address.

A First-Round Pick Cut Loose Hurts A Bit Different

Now this one’s interesting, and it happens more than people think. A bloke gets taken early, the club’s rubbing their hands together thinking they’ve landed a gun, and for whatever reason – injuries, form, opportunity, just not quite translating to AFL level – it doesn’t pan out the way anyone hoped.

We’ve had a few of them over here in the west ourselves, picks that looked like gold on draft night and ended up being cut loose a few years later. It’s not a slight on the recruiting necessarily, sometimes it’s just how the game goes. Kids get picked on potential, on what the scouts reckon they’ll become, and footy being footy, plenty of that potential just doesn’t show up when the bright lights come on. Doesn’t mean the bloke’s a bad player or a bad person, just means it didn’t click at that particular club.

Is This Freo Being Smart Or Freo Panicking?

Here’s where I reckon there’s a genuine debate to be had, and I’ll be straight up that I’m an Eagles man having a squiz from the outside, so take it with a grain of salt. You could argue moving this fast after a Grand Final loss shows a club with real clarity, knowing exactly what they need heading into the trade period and not wasting a single day getting there.

Or, and this is the other side of it, you could argue it’s a touch reactive. Grand Final losses do funny things to a footy club’s psyche. Emotions are raw, the pain is fresh, and sometimes decisions made in that fog aren’t the ones you’d make with a clear head three weeks later. I’m not saying that’s what’s happened here, just that it’s worth asking the question.

What It Means For The Rest Of The Comp

For us over here at the Eagles, and I reckon for every other list manager in the country, this is just another reminder that the trade and draft period waits for no one. Four spots open up on Fremantle’s list, which means four more roster spots floating around for other clubs to have a think about, whether that’s picking up a delisted free agent or just factoring it into how the draft order shakes out.

West Coast could do with a look at some experienced bodies if the price is right, we all know we’ve had our struggles the last few seasons and a bit of readymade depth never goes astray. Whether any of Freo’s outgoing four fit that description remains to be seen, but you can bet every list manager in Perth and beyond will have made a phone call or two by now.

The Human Side Doesn’t Get A Guernsey

What gets lost in all the trade period chatter and list management talk is that these are real blokes with real lives getting the news that their AFL dream, at that club anyway, is over. Doesn’t matter if you’re a first-rounder or a battler who fought for every game, getting cut hurts the same. Families uproot, mortgages get reconsidered, and fellas who’ve built their whole identity around being a footballer have to figure out what comes next.

It’s easy for us in the stands, or writing columns like this one, to talk about it in terms of list strategy and draft points, but spare a thought for the actual humans in the middle of it. Footy can be a beautiful game and a brutal industry all in the same week, and Fremantle’s cuts are proof of exactly that.

Fair Play To Freo For Fronting Up Quick

Look, nobody enjoys watching a club they don’t follow go through this, but I’ll give credit where it’s due — Fremantle haven’t dragged it out, and that’s more respectful to the players involved than stringing them along for weeks not knowing where they stand. Over here in the west we know a thing or two about tough list calls, and sometimes ripping the bandaid off quick is the kindest thing you can do, even if it doesn’t feel that way to the bloke on the recieving end.

Whatever happens next for these four fellas, here’s hoping they land somewhere and keep chasing the dream. That’s the beauty and the brutality of this game we all love, footy giveth and footy taketh away, and sometimes it does both in the same week.