Unsuccessful Freo people in charge of Freo

[Kram]

No one cares! Peak Freo

Reckon I’ll just move to the status quo, accept the mediocrity, and realise Freo will never win a flag.

 

[ilikepotatoes]

Oppo supporters make more noise than Freo. We used to be very loud at Subi

Pies fans were pretty quiet at the G yesterday. It doesn't help that we give up the first 2-3 goals a game on average this year either.

 

[mightymouse75]

Oppo supporters make more noise than Freo. We used to be very loud at Subi

Freo supporters are ****ing mice since we played in a grand final.

 

[Purpletown]

Apparently… Sumich was considered.

Sumich was considered a sho in as Freo coach by an expert panel ...consisting of Peter Sumich.

 

[Bigger]

The new stadium coming off the back of some relative success, bringing in bandwagoneers, is part of the reason games are pretty mild. The other part is we haven’t been given much to get excited about.

It isnt just nostalgia. I see clips from Subi games in the noughts and the crowd are going right the **** off.

I had a mate who lived near Subi - he wasn’t a footy fan - who swore that Freo crowds were louder than Weavils.

We are now like Weavils fans were then. Placid, docile - waiting for the sanctioned moment to cheer.

As for the explanation for why so many dudes appear to have gone backwards this season. Look at our injury list. Until recently there was no one on it and I can guarantee there should have been.

Part of our injury management involves dudes playing through injury. Which may be great for resilience blah blah blah but the net effect has been we have been carrying too many subpar blokes.

Happy to be wrong but that’s my belief.

Brayshaw, Pearce and Frederick being the most egregious examples. One on every line.

 

[clivenator26]

Oppo supporters make more noise than Freo. We used to be very loud at Subi

This is because we are nearly always trailing by a few goals early and I reckon fans are fed up. Do you remember the 2nd derby in 2021 when we kicked 8 in the first qtr, that is the only time I reckon I have thought the crowd was up and about for game under JL. Yes the final was loud last year but there were plenty of groans and silence up until then. I think nearly every travelling VIC side has our crowd covered unless we're winning which is weak.

I'll go on a rant here but one of the worst things about this season where we expected to be in the finals, lets not kid ourselves with this young team stuff, the club has its eyes on a flag by 2025 so finals would've been a must and internally top 4 would've been the goal, but it is with WC embarrassingly bad it would've given us a chance at recruiting/swaying kids under 12 who are WC fans, they will likely be rubbish 2-3 more years and we should be competing. If we nail one flag I wonder what that would be worth, kids love a winner, we will never have more fans but I felt this was an opportunity to at least put a dent in their numbers.

There really is a dreariness about the club, we're a joyless team, I mean look at last year the whole Flagmantle thing, JL shot it down and said he hated it, why not embrace it and have a laugh about it. The club has set the expectation anyway of a flag by 2025, players talk about being the first premiership players - which just angers fans when we are a mile off, walk the walk if you talk the talk etc. It reminds me of the days of Rick Hart 2004-07 declaring we would win the flag every pre-season.

I see myself as a die hard and would only miss a game for a family wedding/emergency type but if it weren't for my son I would be happy sitting at home watching and giving up my membership and I know a dozen other long term, level headed Freo types that just about had enough.

 

[serial_thrilla]

Oppo supporters make more noise than Freo. We used to be very loud at Subi

The "Put your hands up in the air" song that they played after our goals vs. Carlton was pathetic. I don't blame our players for intentionally not kicking goals to avoid hearing it.

 

[BringBackTheAnchor]

The "Put your hands up in the air" song that they played after our goals vs. Carlton was pathetic. I don't blame our players for intentionally not kicking goals to avoid hearing it.

The idea was okay with the Purple Hands foundation. But let the crowd create the atmosphere. Thunderstruck gets annoying pretty quick at normal home games.

 

[ignoramus]

It isnt just nostalgia. I see clips from Subi games in the noughts and the crowd are going right the * off.

I had a mate who lived near Subi - he wasn’t a footy fan - who swore that Freo crowds were louder than Weavils.

We are now like Weavils fans were then. Placid, docile - waiting for the sanctioned moment to cheer.

I don't think it's nostalgia so much as maybe old age affecting your hearing...? Then again, I'm entering the wrong side of middle aged and the crowd still sounds as loud as ever to me.

Can only think that this whole topic stems from the fact that Carlton supporters were fairly vocal at the last home ground, and the home crowd was not. Well, yes: Carlton were flogging the crap out of Freo. What did Freo supporters have to cheer for? Why wouldn't Carlton supporters have been loud? Anyone paying attention to the attendance numbers each week would know that there was quite a lot of them, too. Easy 20% (possibly as much as 30%) of the 50K at the ground.

 

[Bigger]

Yes, all true. The Carlton game was more stark - they do have the largest WA supporter base of any Vic club and they were up and about early.

I agree, it may be my age. It may also be where I sit (in the gods) but I was in the gods at Subi as well. It's just a different vibe. And not one I am all that into.

Clivenator has hit upon something pretty crucial - we start like old people getting out of a chair. Difficult to get rowdy when you're spending the obligatory 20 minutes of copping it up the date.

 

[Cheesewheel]

The idea was okay with the Purple Hands foundation. But let the crowd create the atmosphere. Thunderstruck gets annoying pretty quick at normal home games.

imo after goal music does nothing to create atmosphere. In fact it feels like the music has the opposite effect since people can't hear the crowd around them getting into it with the shitty remixes being blasted at max volume.

 

[FreoRicci]

How do unsuccessful people become successful?

Look at Richmond. Absolute basket case before hiring Gale and Penny O Neal. Committed to the cause, and now they’re the heroes.

Let’s be honest, not many would want to take on the Fremantle CEO and President jobs.

 

[FreoRicci]

imo after goal music does nothing to create atmosphere. In fact it feels like the music has the opposite effect since people can't hear the crowd around them getting into it with the shitty remixes being blasted at max volume.

Personally feel the home cheer squad sucks and the Victorian Cheer Squad leaves it in the dust. Pre 2005, was loud and passionate. Now it’s just meh

 

[mattis117]

How do unsuccessful people become successful?

Look at Richmond. Absolute basket case before hiring Gale and Penny O Neal. Committed to the cause, and now they’re the heroes.

Let’s be honest, not many would want to take on the Fremantle CEO and President jobs.

Yes, it's actually hilarious that people suggest these things. Every single person that was successful was unsuccessful before they were successful. Such a pointless thread.

 

[Mogumber]

I reckon Freo are always going to be unsuccessful.
Therefore, you are right. Pointless thread, pointless club etc etc etc
Pretty woke though, so there's that

 

[PurpleReign]

Should we have won a premiership by now?

Obviously they’re not easy to win and we’re not all playing on an level playing field.

My heart tells me we should have had one by now but maybe the numbers say otherwise. Funding is an indicator of wealth/revenue and it is commonly accepted that the wealthier clubs are more likely to win a premiership. Wealth strongly correlates with membership.

Since we joined the competition, the expansion clubs haven’t won one despite being gifted money, picks, academy zones etc. etc. but they haven’t been around as long as us. Brisbane and the Roos had a period of success but that was quite a while ago now. Saints haven’t won one. The Pies, Blues, Bombers, Dees, Dogs and and Port only have one. The Hawks, Sydney, WC and Geelong are rich clubs and are notable for having multiple periods of success over the last 28 years. Richmond’s 3 came in a spurt but they endured a long unsuccessful period.

We’re a middle of the table club, maybe you have to be a rich club to create period of sustained success. No poor or middling club has managed to do it if you exclude the merged Lions/Bears.
Last year was a false dawn, this year we have a young squad and some of those youngins that looked promising early on are now looking considerably more dubious or at least don’t project as well as they did in their first year. I’m not sure if the coach is up to it, is there disharmony between the coach, footy manager and CEO? If so, that doesn’t bode well for us.
Should we have won one by now after 28 years? Probably yes. Do we look like winning one in the next year or 2 with our list, our current coach and the opportunities available to us via the coming drafts? I don’t think so. Will we have a period of sustained success in the near future? That looks highly unlikely to me.

I don’t know whether you have to have experienced success to create further success but whether that is a moot argument or not I don’t have confidence that the people currently in charge can deliver what they have promised in the timeframe they have promised it.

Club	AFL Funding	Members 2023 (000’s)	Premierships won since 1995
Gold Coast	$25m	20	0
GWS	$25m	30	0
Brisbane	$18-19m	43	3
North Melbourne	$18-19m	48	2
St Kilda	$18-19m	58	0
Melbourne	$16m	67	1
Western Bulldogs	$16m	51	1
Port Adelaide	$16m	58	1
Sydney	$16m	62	2
Fremantle	$11.5m-12.5m	61	0
Carlton	$11.5m-12.5m	91	1
Adelaide	$11.5m-12.5m	65	2
Geelong	$11.5m-12.5m	80	4
Essendon	$11m-11.5m	78	1
Richmond	$10.5-11m	99	3
Hawthorn	$10.5-11m	55	4
Collingwood	$10.5-11m	90	1
West Coast	$10.5-11	106	2

 

[anchor man]

Pretty decent side with lots of experience

And lots of AFL money poured in to the club. Lots of concessions. A lot of AFL people appointed there to make the club a success.
Still a lot of assistance from the AFL.

 

[anchor man]

If you want to look at responsibility for what many see as failures, then look no further than the WAFC, this is where it all begins. They run the club. They hold the purse strings.
Every appointment has to get the approval of the WAFC.
Even when we, the members were allowed to elect a board member, it had to be approved by the WAFC. We, the members, elected to do away with this concession that we had.
If you want to go back, just look at the non football people that were handed postitions at the club from the beginning.
Go back to our very beginning, the club the AFL only wanted for one reason, the club the WAFC did not want because it could kill the goose that laid the golden egg.The club that the WAFL didn't, and still didn/t don't want because it has ruined the WAFL.
One thing we can be proud of as a club, we have never been, ever been , the Oliver Twist of the AFL and said,"Please Sir, we want some more".

 

[anchor man]

Should we have won a premiership by now?

Obviously they’re not easy to win and we’re not all playing on an level playing field.

My heart tells me we should have had one by now but maybe the numbers say otherwise. Funding is an indicator of wealth/revenue and it is commonly accepted that the wealthier clubs are more likely to win a premiership. Wealth strongly correlates with membership.

Since we joined the competition, the expansion clubs haven’t won one despite being gifted money, picks, academy zones etc. etc. but they haven’t been around as long as us. Brisbane and the Roos had a period of success but that was quite a while ago now. Saints haven’t won one. The Pies, Blues, Bombers, Dees, Dogs and and Port only have one. The Hawks, Sydney, WC and Geelong are rich clubs and are notable for having multiple periods of success over the last 28 years. Richmond’s 3 came in a spurt but they endured a long unsuccessful period.

We’re a middle of the table club, maybe you have to be a rich club to create period of sustained success. No poor or middling club has managed to do it if you exclude the merged Lions/Bears.
Last year was a false dawn, this year we have a young squad and some of those youngins that looked promising early on are now looking considerably more dubious or at least don’t project as well as they did in their first year. I’m not sure if the coach is up to it, is there disharmony between the coach, footy manager and CEO? If so, that doesn’t bode well for us.
Should we have won one by now after 28 years? Probably yes. Do we look like winning one in the next year or 2 with our list, our current coach and the opportunities available to us via the coming drafts? I don’t think so. Will we have a period of sustained success in the near future? That looks highly unlikely to me.

I don’t know whether you have to have experienced success to create further success but whether that is a moot argument or not I don’t have confidence that the people currently in charge can deliver what they have promised in the timeframe they have promised it.

Club	AFL Funding	Members 2023 (000’s)	Premierships won since 1995
Gold Coast	$25m	20	0
GWS	$25m	30	0
Brisbane	$18-19m	43	3
North Melbourne	$18-19m	48	2
St Kilda	$18-19m	58	0
Melbourne	$16m	67	1
Western Bulldogs	$16m	51	1
Port Adelaide	$16m	58	1
Sydney	$16m	62	2
Fremantle	$11.5m-12.5m	61	0
Carlton	$11.5m-12.5m	91	1
Adelaide	$11.5m-12.5m	65	2
Geelong	$11.5m-12.5m	80	4
Essendon	$11m-11.5m	78	1
Richmond	$10.5-11m	99	3
Hawthorn	$10.5-11m	55	4
Collingwood	$10.5-11m	90	1
West Coast	$10.5-11	106	2

Well thought out post.
I am a believer that the club did the right thing in setting out a plan. Will it work, maybe not. But I would rather the cl;ub have a vision than none at all. For the first time as a club and administrators we have a vision for the future.Every business have a vision for their employees.We are no different.
Should have won a premiership by now.... I amnot sure, but yet again, we go back to experience. Experience that we had very little of back then.
Clubs from Melbourne with money and connections are able to lure players from the franchise clubs, to their clubs. They have, as they did prior to the Eagles and Bears, r*ped and pillaged the franchise clubs.They say cheque book recruiting is dead... shullbit. It is alive and well.

 

[greatgatsby]

And lots of AFL money poured in to the club. Lots of concessions. A lot of AFL people appointed there to make the club a success.
Still a lot of assistance from the AFL.

All poor organisations blame lack of (outside) funding for their failures.

 

[MadMundy]

The worst part of our crowds is outside of guys like Brayshaw, Fyfe and Walters, none of our players get loud cheers when we announce the 22 before the game.

To be fair I haven't been to a game in a couple of years, I imagine it's the same though.

 

[Kram]

Announcing the team like that I find a bit cringey tbh.

 

[Madas]

You know there are 15 other teams in the competition all equally or better resourced all employing the best people they can get all trying to achieve the same thing as us?

Some of them have access to priority concessions of various types, some have a seemingly endless line of elite father/son talent they get for free, some are located in desirable locations & have long established systems of paying players outside the cap. Most of them are in the capital of AFL heartland & can raid with impunity the products of the elite development systems that go to feeder clubs for a few years first.

And yes, some of them are better run than us but even some of those teams with all their advantages haven’t won a flag in the time we’ve existed.

I reckon we have some internal problems & possibly Peter Bell’s ambitions are at the heart of some of them but overall I think we’ve made some progress in the post Pav, post Ross era.

We’ve made some howlers too & as we’ve seen we mismanaged the list quite badly at the end of last year. Losing the players we did and most especially the retiring of Mundy & the brokenness of Fyfe has left us without sufficient experience & leadership onfield.

Most questionable in my book is the lack of investment in the forward half & very little capital to improve that.

I think the club is generally well run these days & we have a really solid group of young players devoted to success developing together.

This is a team capable of playing good football & subject to the failings of inexperience.

Is it the right football department & coach to realize this potential. Jury is out.

But it’s an awful year. A lot of people are unhappy. And we desperately desperately need some elite players in the forwards.

If Fyfe was even 80% of what he was, Chapman had played all year, so many players hadn’t gone backwards (what has happened to Pearce, Cox, Walker, Shultz, Switta,Freddy etc?) and we hadn’t lost Logue & Acres for peanuts this year would look a lot different.

Something ain’t right but who’s fault is it? I don’t know.

This

 

[Madas]

Freo supporters are ******* mice since we played in a grand final.

World has become too PC which doesn’t help but I agree
No where near enough passion at the ground these days
It’s more like a day/ night out
Entertainment really

Years of poor to average performance doesn’t help either

 

[StingBitten]

Man 5 years ago this board was bemoaning the manufactured leadership structure that had no connection or love of Fremantle - think Ross Lyon, Anthony Rock, David Hale

David Hale

Age

40

Ht

201cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.6

3star

K

5.7

2star

HB

4.9

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

0.9

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.6

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

2.0

2star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.8

3star

G

0.4

3star

, the list goes on.

Everyone said Bell coming on board in 2018 was a step in the right direction and in 2019 JL was seen as the best candidate that applied for the role.

I'm disappointed with this season but the hysterics on this board have been absolute comedy gold lately, and BF Freo fans must surely love the pale ale's by the wharf because there's a truckload of perpetual memory loss.

In relation, to the crowds - yes we are a tad more timid than yesteryear but after attending many neutral Melbourne games this is something gripping the world in the modern era - people are more introverted, quieter and docile than ever before and there's a multitude of generational reasons I won't bother getting into. The early noughties? Man Perth was a small town but people partied hard enough to be heard across the Nullarbor - times have changed.

With that said, the acoustics in a massive stadium is less intense than a boutique stadium like Subiaco, hell I've even heard deafening crowds at Test matches at the WACA throughout my life!

People here are clutching at straws. Our list under the age of 25 has so many genuine A-graders and many potential A and B-graders. Take a look at our +25 list.. it's utterly average.

We'll be fine.