Paul Hasleby: The Victorian draft prospect who is the missing piece of Fremantle’s premiership puzzle

As the dust settles on Fremantle’s devastating loss to Gold Coast, the attention now turns to what or who do the Dockers need to take further steps in 2026. Fremantle’s list is in pretty good shape, and they don’t want for too much. In a perfect world the Dockers need a player like Lachie Ash, Bailey Dale, a young Dayne Zorko or a Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. All are aggressive half-backs who do maximum damage through their kicking and decision-making skills. The reality is that these players are not available, but it doesn’t mean the Dockers can’t still find a player ready to elevate this part of their game in the short term. Fremantle football boss Joe Brierty said their first-round draft pick is on the table if the right player was available. Well, the right player could be available, but it would require Fremantle to keep their first-round draft pick and use other picks to move higher up the draft order. The player I am talking about is Geelong Falcons talent Josh Lindsay. The lethal left-footer fits the bill perfectly for the Dockers as a smooth moving half-back who is a good decision maker with the ball in hand and can make an instant impact. Murphy Reid has just proven that first-year players can have an instant impact if they are made of the right stuff and Fremantle need a partner in crime for Jordan Clark across half-back. And in Lindsay they could have one for the next decade or more. I also love the fact that he is a left-footer which would complement Clark and make the Dockers more unpredictable coming out of the defensive zone. Unfortunately, for Fremantle Lindsay is going to be gone if their first draft pick lands where it stands. The only silver lining for the Dockers after being bundled out of the premiership race by Gold Coast last week is that their first-round pick now sits at No.11. This is undoubtedly going to be dragged back after free agency compensation is handed out and the bids on father-son and academy prospects are matched early in the first round. Fremantle will be lucky if this pick is still inside the top 18. And by then Lindsay is going to be long gone. The Vic Country star is a top-10 certainty and depending on a club’s needs could be among the first half a dozen players taken in the draft. So, for Fremantle to get their hands on the teenager they’re going to need to do some savvy work at the trade table. As of before this weekend the Dockers’ draft hand is picks 11, 29, 38, 47 and 65. To get their hands on an early selection they’re going to need to look beyond this year. Fremantle should look to trade out their first-round pick and another future pick to someone like Gold Coast, who are going to be matching a likely early bid on speedster Dylan Patterson. The Suns have pick 6 which is tied to Port Adelaide, but they do not want it because it is going to be absorbed if West Coast, Richmond or Essendon decide to bid on Patterson before they get their chance to draft him. What the Suns want is draft points to match bids on their academy players throughout the two nights of the draft, which they can get by offloading pick 6 to Fremantle. This would put the Dockers right in the hunt to land Lindsay if he falls outside the first six or eight players that are read out first. Lindsay models his game on Sydney superstar Errol Gulden and ironically his potential teammate Hayden Young. Geelong are right now showing the league that flexibility of players to move to different zones can be a weapon. Like Young, Lindsay can also play midfield and having the ability to swap both players throughout games would be an added feature Justin Longmuir would have at his disposal. Worst case scenario is if the Dockers miss out on Lindsay they could turn to West Perth dynamo Jacob Farrow. A similar player to the Victorian who has also drawn comparisons to Young, Farrow is set to be the first West Australian called out at this year’s draft after a breakout 2025. The teenage Falcon has senior football experience up in Joondalup where he has shown he’s right at home with 22 disposals in only his second game. Farrow then returned to the colts for finals where he dominated, having done so at under-18 level for WA which resulted in All-Australian selection. Either way the Dockers need to add a good ball user who can create scoring opportunities off half-back and in the absence of a perfect trade candidate, it’s time for list boss David Walls to get creative. The art of list management is to find the next superstar - not pay a high price for existing ones.