Fremantle is a favourite of mine. I've been bagging them for years. Dud club, run by duds and represented on the park by fat, useless lepers.
The crazy thing is that I don't hate all their players individually. They have some reasonable talent. But they are way too similar across the ground.
They have problems everywhere. In balance. It's a very odd situation. Most of their players would get games at other clubs but as a unit they look like *smile* warmed up.
Let's look at the list-
FREMANTLE
Peter Bell
Heath Black
Andrew Browne
Adam Campbell
Josh Carr
Matthew Carr
Troy Cook
Benet Copping
Ryan Crowley
Steven Dodd
Marcus Drum
Ryley Dunn
Jeff Farmer
Daniel Gilmore
Antoni Grover
Robert Haddrill
Daniel Haines
Paul Hasleby
Roger Hayden
Des Headland
Garrick Ibbotson
Michael Johnson
Justin Longmuir
Shaun McManus (vet)
Luke McPharlin
Paul Medhurst
David Mundy
Ryan Murphy
Shane Parker (vet)
Matthew Pavlich
Brett Peake
Graham Polak
Aaron Sandilands
Byron Schammer
Jarrad Schofield
Scott Thornton
James Walker
Robert Warnock
Michael Warren
Luke Webster
Rookies
Paul Duffield
Jack Juniper
Joe Krieger
Toby Stribling
Most, if not all of the list, comprises pansies. Contact avoiders.
Let's start with the spine.
Shane Parker, as I've said before, can play. He plays tight and can give you some run. But he struggels against genuine key forwards. He's their #1 defender. If they had their list right he is a very fine #3 back. But then they'd need to find two better and that ain't happening.
Robert Haddrill can play. He's short and he missed 2005 through injury but he's their modern day Anthony Jones. He can play hard and tight. That's one to play inside Parker.
So who plays CHB? Polak? Archie Bunker could not have made the answer sound funnier- Polak? A skinny defensive type with a nasty habit of panicking under pressure and a worse one of getting flogged by big guys.
Heres' the problem. Tha back three is the least of their problems. The front three comprises ad-hoc's and ersatz's- at best. Freo has no key forwards. You can quote all the numbers you want to prove that Pavlich (the Pav or "Big Meringue") is a key forward. Spent more time scratching his arse on a wing than Tarrant or kicked more goals in dead rubbers than [insert name of despised forward]. I don't care. He's a flanker in good company. Probably best suited to a slow inside midfield role. But hey, we've got plenty of them at Freo! And the Big Meringue is needed elsewhere. He kicked 26 goals in the first 13 rounds. And 40 in the next nine. Went nuts. Matchup issues IMO.
Pavlich can't jump (but he's improving). He's like Ben Holland, only shorter. In the midfield he's a better player than he's shown. But he has two gears. Mild endeavour and full on. Have you watched him closely?
He's their best player but he ain't a KPP IMO. I think he's eminently talented but he does not fit with the rest of the team. So where should he play?
Let's look at the Premiership lock-ins for Freo.
FB- Vacancy, R.Haddrill, S.Parker
HB- D.Headland, Vacancy, Vacancy
C- M.Carr, J.Carr, B.Schammer
HF- M.Pavlich, Vacancy, Vacancy
FF- P.Medhurst, Vacancy, J.Farmer
R- Vacancy, Vacancy, P.Bell
Int: J. Longmuir, H.Black, J.Schofield, Vacancy
This team lacks glamour and speed.
I don't usually cover the omissions from my Premiership sides but Freo is so full of Premiership players who don't fit, I have to make an exception. Paul Hasleby is just terribly average. And slow/fat. He lacks Ball Winning Ability when it really matters. He can't do it when pitted aginst a calss mid and there is nowhere to hide him. A dream matchup for Paul Broderick... or Wayne Campbell.
Graeme Polak is a leper. Mc Pharlin is a 24yo dud. We dn't have to guess what he might be when he matures. He matured some time ago and doesn't do enough. A timid leper.
Medhurst is a bludger. But he can play. He's got away with years of bludging because of the fat pay packets of his compadres. Can he fire if the rubbish gets cleaned out? Dunno.
Farmer has never worked so hard. He pelted through 2005 and was one of the few Freo players who seemed to want to win.
This is a potential Premiership side but you gottsta trade. I have three players that have to go- P.Haselby, J.Longmuir, L.McPharlin.
This should yield enough currency over the next three years to buy some choices. Of course it's a lot les than we should have got two to thre years ago.
Who is to blame? Cameron Schwab and... Connolly. Worse than Neesham. An imbecile and a leper. What a combo. Better than their footy team. :hihi
BTW, Luke Perry is gainfully employed in a role on the TV show OZ. He's 40 something yo. By comparison, James Walker is 27yo, wasting everyone's time. Would not be on any other list. A quick dud. One of them is a has-been, the other a never-was.
The crazy thing is that I don't hate all their players individually. They have some reasonable talent. But they are way too similar across the ground.
They have problems everywhere. In balance. It's a very odd situation. Most of their players would get games at other clubs but as a unit they look like *smile* warmed up.
Let's look at the list-
FREMANTLE
Peter Bell
Heath Black
Andrew Browne
Adam Campbell
Josh Carr
Matthew Carr
Troy Cook
Benet Copping
Ryan Crowley
Steven Dodd
Marcus Drum
Ryley Dunn
Jeff Farmer
Daniel Gilmore
Antoni Grover
Robert Haddrill
Daniel Haines
Paul Hasleby
Roger Hayden
Des Headland
Garrick Ibbotson
Michael Johnson
Justin Longmuir
Shaun McManus (vet)
Luke McPharlin
Paul Medhurst
David Mundy
Ryan Murphy
Shane Parker (vet)
Matthew Pavlich
Brett Peake
Graham Polak
Aaron Sandilands
Byron Schammer
Jarrad Schofield
Scott Thornton
James Walker
Robert Warnock
Michael Warren
Luke Webster
Rookies
Paul Duffield
Jack Juniper
Joe Krieger
Toby Stribling
Most, if not all of the list, comprises pansies. Contact avoiders.
Let's start with the spine.
Shane Parker, as I've said before, can play. He plays tight and can give you some run. But he struggels against genuine key forwards. He's their #1 defender. If they had their list right he is a very fine #3 back. But then they'd need to find two better and that ain't happening.
Robert Haddrill can play. He's short and he missed 2005 through injury but he's their modern day Anthony Jones. He can play hard and tight. That's one to play inside Parker.
So who plays CHB? Polak? Archie Bunker could not have made the answer sound funnier- Polak? A skinny defensive type with a nasty habit of panicking under pressure and a worse one of getting flogged by big guys.
Heres' the problem. Tha back three is the least of their problems. The front three comprises ad-hoc's and ersatz's- at best. Freo has no key forwards. You can quote all the numbers you want to prove that Pavlich (the Pav or "Big Meringue") is a key forward. Spent more time scratching his arse on a wing than Tarrant or kicked more goals in dead rubbers than [insert name of despised forward]. I don't care. He's a flanker in good company. Probably best suited to a slow inside midfield role. But hey, we've got plenty of them at Freo! And the Big Meringue is needed elsewhere. He kicked 26 goals in the first 13 rounds. And 40 in the next nine. Went nuts. Matchup issues IMO.
Pavlich can't jump (but he's improving). He's like Ben Holland, only shorter. In the midfield he's a better player than he's shown. But he has two gears. Mild endeavour and full on. Have you watched him closely?
He's their best player but he ain't a KPP IMO. I think he's eminently talented but he does not fit with the rest of the team. So where should he play?
Let's look at the Premiership lock-ins for Freo.
FB- Vacancy, R.Haddrill, S.Parker
HB- D.Headland, Vacancy, Vacancy
C- M.Carr, J.Carr, B.Schammer
HF- M.Pavlich, Vacancy, Vacancy
FF- P.Medhurst, Vacancy, J.Farmer
R- Vacancy, Vacancy, P.Bell
Int: J. Longmuir, H.Black, J.Schofield, Vacancy
This team lacks glamour and speed.
I don't usually cover the omissions from my Premiership sides but Freo is so full of Premiership players who don't fit, I have to make an exception. Paul Hasleby is just terribly average. And slow/fat. He lacks Ball Winning Ability when it really matters. He can't do it when pitted aginst a calss mid and there is nowhere to hide him. A dream matchup for Paul Broderick... or Wayne Campbell.
Graeme Polak is a leper. Mc Pharlin is a 24yo dud. We dn't have to guess what he might be when he matures. He matured some time ago and doesn't do enough. A timid leper.
Medhurst is a bludger. But he can play. He's got away with years of bludging because of the fat pay packets of his compadres. Can he fire if the rubbish gets cleaned out? Dunno.
Farmer has never worked so hard. He pelted through 2005 and was one of the few Freo players who seemed to want to win.
This is a potential Premiership side but you gottsta trade. I have three players that have to go- P.Haselby, J.Longmuir, L.McPharlin.
This should yield enough currency over the next three years to buy some choices. Of course it's a lot les than we should have got two to thre years ago.
Who is to blame? Cameron Schwab and... Connolly. Worse than Neesham. An imbecile and a leper. What a combo. Better than their footy team. :hihi
BTW, Luke Perry is gainfully employed in a role on the TV show OZ. He's 40 something yo. By comparison, James Walker is 27yo, wasting everyone's time. Would not be on any other list. A quick dud. One of them is a has-been, the other a never-was.