A redraft of 2019 would be interesting. At this stage I'd Serong and Young comfortably ahead of Georgiades and Pickett, slightly ahead of Tom Greene, on the same level as Chad Warner, and potentially only behind De Koning, so reckon they would both go in the top 5.
Dont forget Anderson, it's a pretty good draft.
Fair enough, but 200cm key backs are a little different. They were ruckmen only 5 years ago.
Agree re DK but not so much re Young.
Try it this way, in the history of the AFL, which HBF would you give a top 5 pick for at the start of their career. Tom Stewart maybe, anyone else?
Apart from Young? McLeod and Hodge went alright. Mundy started on a half back flank too. Pains me to say it but probably Shannon Hurn too.
Analysis: Alex Pearce is the perfect captaincy choice to lead Fremantle into a new era
Alex Pearce questioned whether his career was over after two serious leg injuries. ELIZA REILLY analyses why the wily defender is the ideal choice to succeed Nat Fyfe as Fremantle‘s captain.
Eliza Reilly
Follow
@ByElizaReilly
2 min read
February 23, 2023 - 3:30PM
Alex Pearce was the right choice to captain Fremantle this season. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images
Your first thought is always your best thought.
And leadership has become second nature to Alex Pearce.
A new era has begun at Fremantle with the wily defender appointed Nat Fyfe’s successor and the club’s 10th skipper.
Pearce is the eighth Indigenous star to lead an AFL club. He is also the third Tasmanian, following in the footsteps of Chris Bond and Adrian Fletcher, to captain the Dockers.
History is important in this instance.
Pearce stood in for Nat Fyfe on 16 occasions last season, including Fremantle’s two finals appearances as the club returned to September for the first time since 2015. Pearce captained like a captain, not a stopgap who’d sink back into the shadows when Fyfe was fit to continue.
As much as Fyfe wanted to take Fremantle to its first premiership, he was one of the first to recognise the breadth of leadership that had emerged in his absence. After six seasons at the helm, including a 2022 ravaged by injury, Fyfe went to the club at the end of the season and declared he was done as skipper.
Sensing the year had taken its toll, Fremantle sent Fyfe away on the players’ end of season break with a view of revisiting the captaincy once he was refreshed. His view didn’t sway, even after several weeks off the grid in Nicaragua.
It was time for the Dockers to take a new direction, to ratify the shift that was already unfolding.
Pearce is the right captain for right now. The only reason you wouldn’t select him is the threat of injury.
Pearce led Fremantle with aplomb through last year’s finals series. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images
The 27-year-old has suffered two significant leg fractures across a decade-long career that forced him to miss the 2017 and 2020 seasons in their entirety. We thought we’d never see the best of him and Pearce too questioned whether his career was over.
That’s where the past is irrelevant.
Pearce has suffered injuries. That doesn’t guarantee he will again, especially after rediscovering faith in his body last season, playing all but one game.
Andrew Brayshaw has been incredibly durable, missing two games in the past three seasons. That doesn’t guarantee his stellar run will continue (touch every piece of wood in Cockburn).
Brayshaw will make an outstanding captain one day. But there was always going to be an element of doubt in how he would handle holding dual titles as Fremantle’s best player and skipper at the age of 23.
Instead, the Dockers have conjured the best of both worlds. Captaincy won’t affect Pearce’s on-field performance. We know that because he finished equal third in the Doig medal.
But if Pearce is ruled out for a game here or there, Brayshaw and Caleb Serong are elevated from vice-captains to joint skippers. It’s the perfect scenario. The pair’s teammates and the wider club will get more time to assess who will make the better leader in a few years.
Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw are both ready to step up if needed. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images
Fittingly all three featured on the voting ballots of every single Dockers player and coach.
For now, the baton is Pearce’s to carry, if all goes to plan, to Fremantle’s first flag.
Make no mistake, the long-locked, laid-back, brick wall is no bridge to the future. Pearce is the present.
Big call mate.... But I am gonna bump this if you are wrong
Have to agree with all of that. Not a massive fan of Moose as captain. I think Andy should have got it, if he was a year older, he would have. Has all the feeling of a transition captaincy, like Mundy.
I don’t think Young ever moves out of the backline so I think Hodge and definitely Mundy doesn’t count. McLeod is a good example. I don’t think I’d pay a top 5 pick for Hurn but another good example.
Oh yeah absolutely. There’s not many pick 5 or even pick 10 caliber half back flankers through course of history but I suppose that’s the point I’m making and others have made about Young. He’s a special talent. An anomaly amongst traditional half back flankers.
One reason I'm happy with the choice of captain is that I've just listened to a couple of interviews Alex Pearce has had today and he speaks really well. He's calm, considered and manages to handle all questions with aplomb, including dumb ones about a girlfriend!
ShutupshutupshutupLol just realised both Hodge and McLeod could and should have been Dockers. We could have had the best team of the century half back line ever
This is such a sook. Say your piece or don't.
This is super interesting - directly contradicts the messaging that Fyfe was pushed. Eliza seems to be making a pretty good fist of challenging Ryan Daniels for premier up and coming journo in the west so I'd be surprised if she ran with that line if she wasn't confident.
