One Pick From A Premiership: Fremantle Dockers
When starting a new team it is hard to be patient, as teams need wins to please their fans and sponsors and they won't get those with a youthful squad. The Dockers did a lot of trading in 1997. They acquired Adrian Fletcher and Chris Bond who helped them for several years but it also cost them picks 5 and 2, pick 2 had previously been acquired in the Jeff White trade with Melbourne.
Pick 2 was Ottens and pick 5 was Luke Power. They are still in the league while Bond and Fletcher retired long ago. While Ottens has had a very up and down career, Power has been a contributor to the Lions' success all through his career.
The Dockers traded their future in 1997 so they could help the team they had then. Not the best idea but understandable at the time. It also shows how the draft and the value of picks has changed since then, as Fremantle traded two top 5 picks for veteran onballers Fletcher and Bond in 1997 and in the 2006 trading period they got a better, and bigger, player in Chris Tarrant for a lower pick than those. Fletcher at the time was a journeyman midfielder who had already played for Geelong, St Kilda and Brisbane and Bond also had played for a couple of teams. So Tarrant, who was All-Australian not too long ago, is a much better player at a slightly cheaper trade cost.
Fremantle could have used a player like Power in 2006 who can kick goals and accumulate plenty of disposals in the midfield. As he has shown with Brisbane, Power is a performer in September and that is something the Dockers needed against Sydney.
If the Dockers did keep pick 5, and draft Luke Power, then they might have that extra veteran midfielder that they need now. Ten years ago the Dockers were not one game away from the Grand Final like they are now, and if they could change things they would now prefer to have the benefits of keeping pick 5 than the short-term gains from the trade.
Tomorrow: Geelong Cats
Pick 2 was Ottens and pick 5 was Luke Power. They are still in the league while Bond and Fletcher retired long ago. While Ottens has had a very up and down career, Power has been a contributor to the Lions' success all through his career.
The Dockers traded their future in 1997 so they could help the team they had then. Not the best idea but understandable at the time. It also shows how the draft and the value of picks has changed since then, as Fremantle traded two top 5 picks for veteran onballers Fletcher and Bond in 1997 and in the 2006 trading period they got a better, and bigger, player in Chris Tarrant for a lower pick than those. Fletcher at the time was a journeyman midfielder who had already played for Geelong, St Kilda and Brisbane and Bond also had played for a couple of teams. So Tarrant, who was All-Australian not too long ago, is a much better player at a slightly cheaper trade cost.
Fremantle could have used a player like Power in 2006 who can kick goals and accumulate plenty of disposals in the midfield. As he has shown with Brisbane, Power is a performer in September and that is something the Dockers needed against Sydney.
If the Dockers did keep pick 5, and draft Luke Power, then they might have that extra veteran midfielder that they need now. Ten years ago the Dockers were not one game away from the Grand Final like they are now, and if they could change things they would now prefer to have the benefits of keeping pick 5 than the short-term gains from the trade.
Tomorrow: Geelong Cats
