Fremantle coach Mark Harvey is confident Victorian draftee Zachary Clarke can become a long-term ruckman for the Dockers.
Harvey said he was confident Clarke, who was drafted with Pick 37 by the Dockers last Saturday, could develop into an outstanding big man in the mould of current Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands.
And Harvey is not concerned Victorian clubs will try tempting him to come back home in a few years time, despite the club losing the homesick Robbie Warnock earlier this year to Carlton.
"Every club deals with getting players from interstate," Harvey said on Tuesday.
"It's how good your retention scheme is (that's important) and naturally how we nurture Zach and his family along the next couple of years."
"So we're more than confident we can handle that," he said.
Harvey also denied it was something of a gamble drafting Clarke after just one season playing AFL for the Oakleigh Chargers as Clarke had previously played basketball most of his life and was even eyeing off a college career in the United States.
"The main thing you look for is that he's only played for 12 months and that's the intriguing part about what he can do in the next couple of years to develop," Harvey said.
"That's where we saw it and naturally on the back of us needing some sort of back up for Aaron, hence he was a guy that we targeted as early as we did."
"So we're really happy to get Zach. Now how long he takes, he's under no pressure, but all we'll do is try and do the best we can over a short period of time, and he's closer (to playing) than further away," he said.
Clarke said he was 100 per cent committed to Fremantle despite being forced to make a difficult decision between playing basketball and AFL during the year.
"I was invited down to Oakleigh and I was umming and ahhing and my aim was to be playing a few games and to be here now is pretty amazing," Clarke said.
"Midway through the year I had to really make a choice. And then I got into the Vic Metro squad and that kind of pushed me in the direction of football."
"(So) I'm 100 per cent committed. I dropped basketball. I will give it my all to see how far I can get."