The Fremantle Dockers struck a landmark trade that instantly became one of the most important off-season moves in the club’s history, when they shook hands with the Tigers to secure Shai Bolton on Wednesday.
Some say they overpaid, some say they struck the right price, and while none are saying they came away clean, it was a deal that simply had to be done.
In the end, Fremantle sent three first round picks to Punt Road to ensure the All-Australian, two-time premiership-winning, electrifying forward threat would end up on their roster.
They also received a nice little return in pick 14 coming their way, so basically they paid two firsts to acquire Bolton.
Now, as mentioned before, plenty of punters (including a large chunk of Dockers fans) rushed to their keyboards in the wake of the trade, giving their all-important take on how Fremantle paid overs for the 25-year-old.
Trade worth is debated more than pineapple on pizza at this time of year, and since it’s been done to death, the purpose of this column is not to persuade your thinking one way or another on what Bolton’s “worth” is.
Instead, I’m writing this column to tell you why Fremantle was the only club this trade makes sense for.
Let’s not beat around the bush, the price feels high for a bloke who all but checked out on Richmond’s 2024 campaign. But if any club was in a position to pay, it’s the Fremantle Dockers.
Freo spent the 2023 off-season compiling first round picks, adding Collingwood’s in exchange for Lachie Schultz (which ironically, is a great example of why discussions around trade worth are pointless) and plucking Port Adelaide’s for a second rounder at the time.
This gave the Dockers the ammunition to chase a big-name recruit in the 2024 trade period, but more important than ammo, they had more incentive and motivation than any other club in the game to reel in a big fish – particularly one like Bolton.
The boys in purple wrapped up what was, for the large part, a very encouraging 2024 campaign with a disastrous final month that saw them cough up four straight losses and tumble out of the top eight in the final game of the season.
Now, plenty of pundits will remember only those final four weeks, and in doing so will point out the Dockers’ deficiencies during the stretch. And honestly, I get it.
It’s easy to point and laugh at the club that has an empty trophy cabinet, that continuously falls short of its high expectations.
But anyone who cares to dig further than skin deep, any footy follower with more than half a brain essentially, will know the Dockers are banging down the door to being big time finals players in the coming 12 months.
The emergence of Josh Treacy this year is perhaps the biggest catalyst for belief, but throw in the likes of his forward line partner Jye Amiss, freak man Luke Jackson, and a midfield comprised of Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw, and Hayden Young, and there’s a serious recipe simmering away here. That’s without mentioning other promising young names like Heath Chapman, Michael Frederick, Matthew Johnson and Jordan Clark.
Fremantle were among the five youngest teams in the competition this year, with a list age comparable to the Hawks, Crows, Kangaroos and Suns. For the large part of the season, they were the best performing of those five teams by a long way (until the Hawks decided to become footy gods, that is).
Their youth, extremely high-end talent, and some nifty contract negotiating has given them a basis for future success.
But enough of the fan-piece that is my last few paragraphs. Because you know what? They still missed the finals!
That’s right, for all the gushing admiration I’ve just spewed onto a Google Doc, the Dockers still weren’t good enough to play finals for a second consecutive season.
Now, their youth and some key injuries to extremely important players had something to do with that, but people are over the excuses. The reality was that something was missing from this team. Something exciting, something that threatens the opposition.
The Dockers’ forward mix this year was a bit of a revolving door that they could never really get right. The three big men in Treacy, Amiss and Jackson were mainstays, but the fellas at their feet left a bit to be desired.
Bailey Banfield played all but one game in 2024, with his lone absence coming in that final clash with Port Adelaide after he was dropped from the side following five goalless weeks.
He did manage 20 goals on the year after a hot start, but only two of those goals came in the final seven games he played, and six of those games were without a major.
Tom Emmett was another they tried. The heir apparent to Lachie Schultz, the nuggety small forward was supposed to seamlessly slide into the team and contribute immediately. That didn’t happen. Instead, Emmett kicked only four goals in the team’s first 11 games, eventually being dropped and was only later recalled as injury hit the side.
Sam Sturt replaced Emmett in the team, and was actually rather impressive, tallying 21 goals from 13 appearances on the year. Still, while he hit the scoreboard often enough, Sturt isn’t the kind of guy that keeps his direct opponent up at night.
You know who is?
Shai Bolton.
Which is exactly why he’s worth more to Fremantle than he is to any other club.
There are obvious risks in paying up for a small forward who will largely rely on the output of his inside midfielders and more hardened bodies to get the most out of himself, but look at the names I’ve just laid out before you.
Banfield, Emmett, Sturt… these are the players that Bolton will replace at Fremantle.
He will take their biggest weakness and turn it into a genuine strength. I can just imagine it now: Caleb Serong wins the ball at half-back, progressing it further up the wing to Hayden Young who looks inboard immediately. He sees Bolton, he pulls the trigger, and now they’re off to the races.
That exact play ended in failure more than a few times for Fremantle this year, because the reality was they were kicking to those lesser talented names in the front half.
Shai Bolton raises, and almost entirely removes, the ceiling on this team.
I’m not saying a deep finals run WILL absolutely happen just because Shai Bolton is wearing purple, but it’s so much more possible now.
