POSITION: MID
Starting Price: $123 900
SC Scoring History – Yet to play
I can’t think of a more controversial trade that has involved an untried player. Collingwood picked up Freeman in the 2013 Draft at Pick 10. Of the Top 30 draftees that year, Freeman is the only one NOT to make his senior debut. He was taken before such names as Cripps, Sheed, Dunstan, Merrett & Taylor (Rising Star Winner). After literally shredding his hammies in his two years at Collingwood, he forced a move to StKilda during trade week. Rumor has it that his agent upped the asking price to $350-$400k per season (the balls on that dude!). As I was reading the story last year, I had the voice of Darryl Kerrigan (The Castle) in my head: $400k for a kid who’s played five VFL games??……..Tell ‘em he’s dreamin’! 😉 After securing the services of Treloar, Aish & Howe, Collingwood fulfilled his trade request.
Freeman was right up there with the elite juniors of his year. He stood out at the Sandringham Dragons with his turn of foot and ability to win his own ball. Freeman was chosen to play for Vic Metro at the 2013 U18 Championships where he averaged 20 disposals per game.
With that good junior form aside, Freeman’s body just hasn’t adapted to the rigors of AFL football. According to the Saints, their medical staff spent plenty of time assessing Freeman prior to the trade. Despite their ‘green light’ and a modified program during pre-season, another hamstring strain occurred before Christmas. While there’s still plenty of time to recover, it remains to be seen whether Freeman’s body will ever be fully fit.
In his departure from the Magpies, Freeman also cited an apparent lack of future opportunities in his decision. That itself raises some considerable queries. For mine there’s a large query over belief/confidence in his footballing ability & a complete lack of perseverance (or is that just my take on things?). Huge question marks either way with the youngster. Either he’ll tear it up in the NAB games, making him a feature in our SC sides during the year. Or another hamstring tear will have us searching for other viable rookies………….
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Took him out of my team the other day when I saw he was hurt again and going to miss the NAB. Hopefully he’ll show up when I need to trade down mid season
Not even if you paid me.
Any time I read something about him, red flags pop up in my head. I agree there’s something fishy about his reasons for moving clubs. I’d rather pick a rookie who’s bashing the door down to play.
He was an absolute jet at school footy, shame he hasn’t had a good run at it
Too much risk
Not worth it. Maybe if he was on the bubble so i only needed him to play for one week..
may end up being a blessing SC wise, as he’ll now possibly become a downgrade target later in the year, giving us the luxury of 2 weeks performance on which one can then make a slightly more calculated decision.
One things for sure Richo has shown himself to be prepared to give the kids a decent run.