Josh Treacy was pleased with how Fremantle’s tall forwards handled the absence of Sean Darcy in a testing evening at Optus Stadium against Richmond.
The Tigers prevailed by 15 points in wet conditions, however it wasn’t due to a lack of effort from the likes of Treacy and Jye Amiss up front, and Luke Jackson – who stepped up as the primary ruckman.
Jackson was outstanding in the ruck with 23 disposals, 12 contested possessions and 33 hitouts, while Treacy was strong in support with seven hitouts, six marks and a goal.
Amiss kicked a career-high four goals in conditions that should normally challenge the 196cm key forward.
Treacy was pleased with how the young trio were accountable all evening.
“(Missing Darcy) means a bit more of a responsibility,” Treacy told the Final Siren podcast with Duck and Oz.
“We went a bit smaller forward obviously with losing Sean, and then I had to go into the ruck so we get even smaller again.
“We still found the ability to compete, I was on (Noah) Balta, which is no easy task and they have some big boys down there.
“We soldiered away. Jye got four away which is...I don't know what else we can say about him!
“It's obviously another stepping stone for us as well, a big learning curve especially for myself and Jye to play on the likes of those blokes, and when I went into the ruck I just had to compete like I could.”
Treacy said the trio are learning more about each other’s styles the more they play.
“A big part is understanding each other,” Treacy said.
“We’re three completely different players. It's understanding what each other's strengths are, the matchups as well.
“Personally, to string some games back to back and for the coaches to show some faith in me and back me in for a few weeks has been massive.
“I'm going out there playing with a lot of confidence at the moment and being me.”
Post-game, Senior Coach Justin Longmuir said the trio may need more support next week against GWS.
“We had to play Luke in the ruck. I thought he played a decent game, I thought Josh Treacy gave us a really strong contest and fought his backside off all over the ground,” Longmuir said.
“We’ll watch the tape and review it and see whether we need another tall down there.
“We were probably inexperienced down there at times, do we have another experienced forward we could’ve brought in? I don’t know, we’ll cover all of those bases in the review.”
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