DES HEADLAND has thrown his support behind Fremantle keeping Robert Warnock and Jeff Farmer at the club as the list of departures continues to grow.

Headland would like to see Farmer play on in 2009 and not join Peter Bell, Heath Black, Matthew Carr, Mark Johnson, Shaun McManus and Luke Webster as players already departing the scene at Fremantle.

"Personally I hope Jeff stays on. I'm good mates with him and he's been really good to me especially when I first came back," Headland said.

"He's a role model for all the boys not just the Aboriginal ones and hopefully things work out for him and he can play on next year."

While Warnock is at the other end of his career, Headland said he hoped the ruckman could resist the lure of home and stick it out with Fremantle.

"It's definitely a hard decision for Robbie at the moment with what he's going through. I went through the same thing when I was in Brisbane. If anything does happen I will understand it but hopefully he does stay," he said.

"It is a hard choice and when you do come home it's probably the toughest time because it takes awhile to settle back in. I found it tough coming back as I had to catch up with every single person and it took me a couple of years to find my feet."

Rather than being worried about the list of experienced departures, Headland is confident the young players can help take the club forward before too long.

"It might be a good thing. A lot of senior players have retired so that means that a lot of the younger boys have to step up into different roles," he said.

"We've had the likes of Rhys Palmer, Chris Mayne and Garrick Ibbotson step up and we need a couple more to do that next year and we will be a lot stronger for it."