Luke Jackson arrives at Fremantle with the ability to play across all three lines, but his primary roles will be left up to Senior Coach Justin Longmuir, according to Head of Player Personnel David Walls.

The 2021 NAB AFL Rising Star arrived at Fremantle on Monday in a blockbuster trade with Melbourne.

Walls believes the 21-year-old will have the most impact playing a mix of ruck and forward – similar to how he played at Melbourne - while his ability to contribute as a midfielder will also be explored.

“Luke’s shown that he can ruck. I think the better games he’s played with Melbourne are when he’s had more time in the ruck, but obviously with Max Gawn there, he’s not getting as much ruck time,” Walls said.

“He also showed as a junior at East Fremantle that he can go forward. He’s a really good contested mark and I think he can take that to another level and have a lot more of a defined role for him down forward.

“His strengths are his athleticism and his ground ball. He averaged nine and a half ground balls a game at under 18 level and there’s potential there for him to play as a big-bodied mid.

“He is a real hybrid type with his ground ball, his follow-up, his tackle and reading of the play.

“He’s also very good by foot and particularly by hand, he makes really good decisions.

“This allows JL to play him where he thinks is most advantageous to the team. I think ruck and forward is where he’s most proven be he even has ability as a centre half back. That’s the beauty of Luke, there is so much flexibility and scope and we’re just scratching the surface with him.”

Walls is excited about how ruckmen Sean Darcy, Lloyd Meek and Jackson could ‘work over’ the opposition rucks.

“How we use our rucks can be really horses for courses, depending on who the opposition is, the style of the opposition ruckman. Between Sean, Lloyd and Luke, they’ll be able to work them over and also spend a lot of time forward as well,” Walls said.