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“We probably ended up with three serious offers from different clubs, essentially offering a future second and a slide from our second round pick for 21,” Walls said. Take Johnson, or accept an offer of a future second round pick while sliding down the order slightly from 21. Night two of the draft started how day one ended, with Walls and the recruiting team at Marvel Stadium linked to Peter Bell, Simon Garlick, Justin Longmuir and Bob Murphy at RAC Arena in WA. It was a huge week for our draftees as they officially settled into the Freo family. “But if we could get an unbelievable future first, we would entertain that.” He's also capable of going forward and taking a mark, so he’s got more than one dimension. “Like Neil Erasmus, Johnson is an inside mid, but we also think he's a versatile mid that could play anywhere around square. “If we held 21, we would take Matty Johnson,” Walls said. Who would Fremantle take if they held on to 21 (previously 19 before the bids), and what would it take to make a trade? “We then went back to the office and we looked at our order with what's left, how many names left that we're really keen on.”
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“After the draft was over (at 9.30pm AEDT), we met with a fair few clubs at Marvel Stadium, we had some early discussions about their thoughts and where they were at. “We were up late just thinking through all the different scenarios. “I didn’t really get much sleep…sorry my phone’s ringing again,” was how the conversation started with Walls on Thursday morning. While the Purple Army should have slept soundly on Wednesday night, Head of Player Personnel David Walls didn’t. These concerns are understandable, as we haven’t always got it right through our 27 years, but the talent on the Club's list shows the recruiting team has runs on the board. The best example was from friends of the Freo media team Duck and Oz, who in their draft podcast were (tongue in cheek) threatening to microwave their memberships if Freo didn’t get Johnson. So when top-10 fancy Matthew Johnson was still on the board at the end of proceedings on Wednesday night, it was understandable that Freo fans once again made their voices heard. Or to negotiate with another club looking to move up the order. It's because, paradoxically, many in the industry would agree that pick 19 holds more value than 18.Īs the first pick on the second day of the draft, it allows its holder almost 24 hours to make a decision on who the best possible player is to select. When Fremantle landed pick 19 in the Will Brodie trade with Gold Coast, there was a brief moment of excitement before Freo's social media accounts started receiving a stream of messages imploring the Club not to mess it all up and send the pick to Geelong in the Jordan Clark trade. Gallery: Pre-season training & new draftees