Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says he discovered it tough treading a “tricky” commerce line final 12 months, conceding he may’ve carried out a greater job promoting the plans and roles to the gamers that finally left the membership.
The Dockers had been some of the lively groups throughout final 12 months’s AFL alternate interval, buying premiership Demon Luke Jackson and Hawthorn star Jaeger O‘Meara, as well as Suns forward Josh Corbett. Consequently, Blake Acres (Carlton), Griffin Logue (North Melbourne), Darcy Tucker (North Melbourne), Rory Lobb (Western Bulldogs) and Lloyd Meek (Hawthorn) all found new homes.
Speaking to AFL Media, Longmuir said he could’ve bought the larger image higher to some gamers that ended up leaving. But on the similar time, Longmuir mentioned he didn’t need to over-promise and supply false hope.
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“Part of my role and maybe a part I didn‘t do as well as I could have last year, is to sell opportunity to some of those guys and give them a clear explanation of where they fit in our organisation and my vision for them going forward,” Longmuir informed AFL Media.
“That‘s sometimes tricky to do as a senior coach, because … you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep.
“I‘m always trying to tread that line, but maybe I could have trod that line a little bit better.
“There‘s always reflections, and we’d be negligent as a football club if we didn’t reflect on all the different things that happened to us throughout the year.”
Longmuir mentioned the uncontracted Logue and the contracted Meek had been gamers he may’ve had extra productive conversations with.
“Griff last year probably wanted to be a backman, and we played him forward a lot and he missed out on the team early in the year,” he mentioned.
“Maybe he‘s one I could have sold a bit more of a bigger picture to, and Meeky was probably the other one.
“Meeky probably saw us getting Luke Jackson, saw he was behind Sean Darcy and probably didn‘t really see an opportunity for him at the footy club.
“Maybe I could have sold that to him a bit better and had those conversations a bit more regularly with him.”
Longmuir, however, said he never expected Lobb — the Dockers’ main goalkicker final 12 months — to stick with Fremantle past 2022, regardless of being contracted till the top of 2023 season.
“We held Rory to a contract last year and he never firmly committed to us as a club, so I don‘t think that (selling a bigger picture) really applies to him,” Longmuir mentioned.
Originally revealed as Fremantle coach’s massive commerce remorse after five-player exodus
Source: www.news.com.au
