AFL Trades 2024: Fremantle draft picks drop down order as AFL clubs receive free agency compensation picks

Fremantle’s trio of first-round picks have dropped down the draft order as the AFL handed out free agency compensation picks. The Dockers held picks 9, 10, 16, 27, 63 as the free agency period opened on Friday but those selections have now slipped to 10, 11, 18, 30, 66 as six players moved clubs. Three of those players qualified for compensation, with St Kilda receiving a round one selection for Josh Battle (currently pick eight) who signed with Hawthorn. Greater Western Sydney also received a first-round pick as Harry Perryman signed with Collingwood (currently pick 16) and an end-of-first-round pick for Isaac Cumming, who signed with Adelaide (currently pick 21). The compensation picks are set to complicate matters for the Dockers, who are in talks with Richmond for contracted star Shai Bolton, who has requested a trade home to Western Australia. Fremantle list boss David Walls insisted the club won’t overpay for Bolton but conceded two first-round picks was a fair asking price for the dual premiership player. “We’ve caught up a few times and we’ve talked so it’s step-by-step… they’ve got a fair idea where we sit with it all. And Shai’s pretty keen to come, it’s just being able to work it out with Richmond,” Walls told The West Australian. “It’s expensive but he’s got four years to run on his contract and he’s a top-end player. He was leading their best and fairest at round 16 this year, he’s always finished in the top five. “When you look historically that lines up.” Walls also acknowledged the difference between a top 10 selection and those in the late teens. “There are first-rounders and then there’s first rounders,” he said. “If you’re talking the top 10 or around that mark or if you’re talking pick 16 through to 18 or 19, there’s a bit of a difference with that. But it wouldn’t be too far off the mark.” The draft is also set to be further convoluted by father-son and academy selections, with potential No.1 pick Levi Ashcroft set to land at premiers Brisbane among a host of top talent likely to go early in the draft.