IT'S June, 2022, and the success of a blockbuster trade between Melbourne and Fremantle rests on a mid-season meeting between Luke Jackson and Justin Longmuir, two similarly humble and introverted personalities who are equal parts driven and competitive.

Jackson has flown home to Perth during Melbourne's bye period to meet with Fremantle, with Longmuir and the club's leaders given a few weeks to prepare their pitch to the young premiership star.

There are eight people in the room when they meet at Crown Hotel, overlooking Optus Stadium and the Matagarup Bridge – which happens to be lit purple for the evening – but it might as well just be Longmuir and Jackson once the pair start talking football.

Fremantle chief executive Simon Garlick, general manager of football Peter Bell and list manager David Walls watch on, alongside Jackson's parents Mel and Steve and manager Jason Dover, as Longmuir jumps out of his chair and starts explaining his belief that Jackson could be a rare 199cm midfielder, a weapon like few others in the game today.

It's a discussion that excites Jackson, who is not unhappy at Melbourne but has a growing desire to challenge himself and take his game in a direction few players are physically able to.

As a ruck/forward himself in 139 games for Fremantle, Longmuir has Jackson's full attention as the pair talk through vision on a big-screen television and lay the foundation for a coach-player relationship that will flourish in 2023.  

Walls identified it as the clear moment when the trade became a possibility, while Jackson's parents would later remark about the pair's similar personalities and how the young footballer had warmed quickly to the coach then and there.

"I think he gets me, and I think I get him," Jackson said to Dover after the meeting, while Longmuir walked away impressed with the young star's character and family, and excited by his untapped potential.

"You could see that they identified with each other," Dover told AFL.com.au.

"The whole presentation was built around not pigeonholing him and explaining that they didn't think he was just a ruckman or just a forward. They didn't think he was only a midfielder or a wingman. They thought he could be all of it.

"They are both humble guys but guys who want to be successful, and when Justin had the floor in that presentation, he didn't miss his opportunity."

At the end of the meeting, Jackson was asked if he had any questions. "I reckon I could play key back," he replied, addressing the only role Fremantle hadn't mentioned. 

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It has been almost 11 months now since Jackson secured a move to Fremantle on a lucrative, long-term deal until the end of 2027 in a trade that has the potential to be among the most significant in Club history.

Having returned home to both further his career in new roles and be around a tight-knit family, the 21-year-old's first year at the club ended amid great excitement following a purple patch of form in the ruck and selection in the 44-man All-Australian squad.

After four years in the League, his story so far is well-known: a prodigious junior basketballer who represented Australia in tournaments including the FIBA Under-17 World Cup, he chose Australian football after showing rare potential through the development pathway, landing at Melbourne with pick No.3 in the 2019 AFL Draft.

As champion ruckman Max Gawn's understudy, he won the AFL Rising Star Award in 2021, turned that year's Grand Final against the Western Bulldogs in front of friends and family at Optus Stadium, and cemented himself as one of the game's most exciting young prospects.    

The curly-haired Docker remains one of the AFL's more misunderstood characters, however, with his laidback and uncomplicated persona hiding a driven, competitive streak and football smarts that are initially underrated by teammates and coaches.

Dressed in a black hoodie and shorts on a Friday afternoon in Perth, he is relaxed after an early finish late in the season when we meet for coffee (an almond milk cappuccino is his order) at his favourite spot near the Club's Cockburn training base.

Quietly spoken, he has a positive outlook on most things and is enthusiastic when the conversation turns to family and growing up alongside three brothers – Zach, Joel and Caleb – in Perth's southern suburbs.

"All of us loved basketball to start with and then branched off to footy, so it was always king of the pack and stuff like that. I was the bigger kid, so I'd throw them around a little bit," Jackson said.

"I was running around in a Dwight Howard jersey for basketball and a 'Nic Nat' jumper for footy and switching it up between them.

"I've always been close with Mum and Dad and my brothers, so being home and having them around, it feels like you can't beat it."

Of all the things Jackson has enjoyed about being home in 2023, finishing games at Optus Stadium and having his family in the rooms afterwards was the highlight after starting his career during the pandemic seasons of 2020 and 2021.

It's an atmosphere the big man revels in, often among the last of the players to leave on game day, side by side with his family and with a pizza in hand. 

Now settled off the field, he described his season as the most consistent of his four years in the AFL, having averaged career-high disposals (15.0), goals (1.0), hitouts (17.7), marks (3.4), clearances (2.6) and contested possessions (8.4).

"It's been a good year to settle in and build relationships with everyone. The ladder is not where we thought we would be, but we've built chemistry," Jackson said. 

"The first few rounds were a bit rusty for me, but ever since then I think it's been a good year personally and I've built on a lot of my strengths through the year.

"I've still got to improve heaps, but I feel like it's been my most consistent year."

Settling into a new group has appeared effortless to teammates, with Jackson crediting some early road trips to Eagle Bay and Margaret River in WA's south-west for helping him bond with the Club's young players.

Like most things with the East Fremantle product, his approach early was uncomplicated.

"I just wanted to come in and treat it almost like I wasn't moving clubs. Just fit in and get started," he said.

"It was the same feeling as getting drafted and you've just got to build the relationships again, but I think I've done that at Freo."

Building a rapport with his new coach also came naturally after their mid-season meeting the year prior, with the introverted pair connecting this year and Longmuir finding a way to help Jackson come out of his shell at Fremantle.

"He'll look at me in meetings and when I smirk or something he knows to pick me for the question. I reckon I've got it wrong about four times probably. But JL's been really good. He's on the quieter side too," Jackson said.

"At the start of the year I wasn’t really speaking up. In meetings I would never put my hand up or speak up, but now I'm really confident around the group and will always talk up when I can. I never really did that at Melbourne.

"It's been good knowing that we're kind of similar in that way and I think we've connected well this year."

A common observation from those who know Jackson well is that he can "play along and be the stereotypical, clumsy ruckman", hiding the football smarts and driven side of his personality.

Corey Wagner and Jayden Hunt were both at Melbourne in Jackson's first season in 2020 and remember seeing his resilience and drive early when he played through a pre-game hamstring injury against North Melbourne.

Wagner, who joined Jackson at Fremantle this year, describes his teammate as a "cover up genius". Hunt, who has stayed in touch with the ruckman since joining West Coast this year, said he was a "different thinker" with "a wise head and some good views on the world".

Teammate Jordan Clark captures all sides of Jackson when he says: "If he was a puppy you'd just adore him and he's one of those blokes you can't get angry with, no matter what he does. He's pretty quiet in general, but he does have a presence among the group, and he's got a very smart football brain."

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Nicknamed 'Dogga' by former teammates and housemates Nathan Jones and Jake Melksham because of his curly mullet hairstyle during his first season, Jackson announced himself at the Demons in a pre-season intraclub that saw him dominate the ruck against Gawn and then at ground level against the midfielders.

"After that session, everyone was like 'Wow, you can be anything'," Hunt recalled.

There was a similar moment during a Fremantle match simulation session early this year when he matched up on a curious Darcy.

Freo's No.1 ruckman was "pantsed" early as Jackson used his agility around the ground to rack up marks and disposals on the wing, pushed forward to kick a goal, and showed the midfield traits that Longmuir and Fremantle's recruiters had seen.

New teammates who had thought the club was getting a good player saw quickly that he was "built different" and wondered whether Jackson could already be the club's most talented footballer.

"I was like, 'Wow, I'm in trouble here'," Darcy told AFL.com.au in July. "But that's why it's exciting training against him, because his strengths are different to my strengths and my strengths are different to his strengths.

"I remember during another intraclub and he came into the middle for the last quarter as a midfielder. I said to Jaeger (O'Meara) and Andy (Brayshaw), let's look after Luke, he might not know the structures.

"Then five minutes later he'd had three or four clearances and a few marks as well. I knew from then that he was going to be all right and knew what he was doing."

Partnering with Darcy was central to Jackson's decision to join Fremantle to the point where the star recruit was adamant he didn't want to take over the No.1 ruck mantle. Darcy had also reached out during the recruiting process to share that he was comfortable with Jackson joining the club, knowing it could improve his own game.

The pair had been drawn together as opponents after matches in the past to chat and it didn't take Jackson long to ask his new teammate to start training with him once he arrived in Perth.

As ruckmen, they can be as different as their dogs – Jackson owns a Cavoodle named Bear, while Darcy recently took in a Great Dane called Duke – but as teammates they clicked immediately.

"I was in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains and we'd exchanged a few texts here and there, like welcome to the club and stuff like that. I told him I was getting back Friday and he was like 'Let's do a session Saturday morning'," Darcy said.

"I thought OK let's get into it, and we trained together for the next month flat out three or four times a week. It was good fun and there was no waiting around. It was a good message to get when I was in Colorado."

Darcy describes Jackson as a "no fuss guy" in the gym. He doesn't complain, he just shows up and does the work. One of his coaches summed him up by saying: "He is a special talent but with a workmanlike attitude."

"You'll see him on off days and he'll be in the gym, but no one will know," Darcy said. "He doesn't tell you, 'This is how hard I'm working', he just goes about doing it, which is something I really like about him. It's really impressive."

The personal trainer who Darcy and Jackson worked with during the pre-season is 27-year-old Gerard Majda, who has trained dozens of AFL players over their off-seasons through his business Body Majic. 

Majda has a better insight than almost anyone into Jackson's physical transformation since joining the AFL and the rare attributes that make him a potential 199cm midfielder.

The pair started training together at the end of the 2020 season, with Majda sharing results from the young Demon's first session that included squatting with 30kg of weight and not being able to lift the shoulder press bar. Ahead of the 2023 season, he was squatting with 120kg and shoulder pressing 55kg. 

"Out of all the guys I've worked with, his body is the one that has responded the quickest and best to the training that we've done in terms of adding muscle mass and strength," Majda told AFL.com.au.

"He's an amazing endurance athlete as well as being strong and powerful. When you see him do any body-weight work like box jumps or explosive stuff like hill sprints, he keeps up with the guys that have got those midfield attributes and are better suited to that stuff. That speaks volumes to how much of a freak of nature he is. He's something special."

Majda and Jackson spent the most recent off-season doing a different type of program that focused on increasing Jackson's strength and power output while helping him stay lean with a view to playing all over the ground.

They were in the gym two days after Jackson's exit meeting with Melbourne as hype about the youngster's trade to Fremantle ramped up, with the former Demon also spending time fishing in WA's south-west during trade negotiations as a distraction.

Having left the Demons on good terms, it was otherwise a period that he worked through well, with Walls summing up his approach to leaving when he said: "It was, 'They're my mates, I love them and I've had a bloody good time here, so no hard feelings'. He wasn't out the door and hiding and shying away from it."

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Watching Jackson closely in 2023 has been an interesting exercise. Even when he hasn't been in strong form, there have been enough moments to suggest he has the ability to become a genuine star of the competition.

His early form drew criticism as he settled into a new team, but the 'All Action Jackson' Fremantle anticipated emerged in the round three Western Derby when he started the first centre bounce as a ground-level midfielder, the second as a forward, and the third as a ruckman.

The Gather Round performance against Gold Coast was significant to Walls, who sat in the stands and watched as Jackson kicked two clutch goals and had eight score involvements from his 13 disposals.

His season gathered momentum from there and he went on to tally 58 coaches' votes between rounds eight and 22, including best-on-ground performances against Hawthorn and Brisbane, with his move into the No.1 ruck role after round 18 taking him to another level.  

The performance that stands out most for Jackson himself is the round 11 clash against former team Melbourne, which saw him finish with a game-high eight clearances, including three out of the centre, giving him a shot of confidence as a ground-level midfielder.

"I remember training a bit of midfield at Melbourne, but playing against them in that game was massive for me, knowing that I could match it with guys like Christian Petracca," he said.

"I still want to keep learning that role, because it's a fun role to play in. Hopefully next season that ramps up a bit more and I can get in there."

The Melbourne match also stood out for Darcy, who suffered a hamstring injury late in the second quarter but connected with Jackson at stoppages several times up to that point after recognising a grin on his teammate's face and knowing he was in for a big day.

"He doesn't really say he wants to be hit to very much because he is so quiet and relaxed, but he came to me a couple of times in that Melbourne game and said, 'Hit it to me, hit it to me'," Darcy said.

"I thought, 'I like this, he's going to have a good day, the big fella'. It's exciting to see him when he's in there and you know what's going to happen."

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Two months on from that MCG clash and Fremantle were at home against Brisbane with former Fremantle, Sydney and West Coast assistant Mark Stone in the opposition coaches' box for the Lions.

Stone has a unique perspective on Jackson's potential as a midfielder, having both coached and coached against big-bodied onballer Adam Goodes, who may be the best comparison available when forecasting Jackson's potential in that role.

"There are some similarities. He's bigger and his ability at his feet is incredible for a big man, so his ground-level stuff is unique," Stone said of Jackson over the phone. 

"He became like another midfielder against us, and he was bobbing up in handball chains and with groundball wins and exits like midfielders do.

"So he was causing some headaches because of that, and just his ability to be clean at ground-level. He's a hard man to tackle, like 'Goodesy' was, so you've almost got to get two guys to tackle him."

Having fretted from the West Coast coaches' box over how to stop Goodes in back-to-back Grand Finals in 2005-06, Stone later reaped the benefits of working with the unique footballer as stoppages coach at Sydney.

"He was as good a stoppage weapon as you could get," the coach said, crediting John Longmire for transforming the Brownlow Medal-winning ruckman and centre half-forward into a big-bodied midfielder in his previous role as midfield coach.

Former Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson, who is now a respected media analyst and director of sport at Melbourne's Mentone Grammar School, believes the game will evolve to include more hybrid players like Jackson, who is "a generation ahead".

The coaching challenge for Fremantle right now is to give him the creative licence to influence games outside the parameters of traditional ruck, midfield and forward roles.

"A lot of people would observe him and ask, 'Is he a ruck or is he a forward?' But I would say, 'Just let him play' … let him take the centre bounce if he wants and then just roam," Sanderson said. 

"He might not even end up as a ruckman, he might be a centre half-forward, or he might be another midfielder who can have influence all over the ground.

"I think he's ahead of the game and in 20 years' time there will be 10-12 Luke Jacksons running around in one team."

When talking about Jackson's potential as a big-bodied midfielder, the trait Fremantle staff highlight is his ability to turn a first-possession win into a clearance at stoppages, which ranked No.1 at the Club in 2023 and No.12 in the AFL.

Of the 63 times he got his hands to the ball first at a stoppage, he turned that possession into a clearance 52 times, highlighting his ability to either burst into space, shrug a tackle, or get his hands free to share the ball with a teammate. 

While Goodes' career came too early to shape a young Jackson, who was 13 when the Sydney champion retired in 2015, Carlton clearance specialist Patrick Cripps is a modern influence. 

"He's so good at standing up and getting his handballs out and he's a player I like to watch and could learn off going forward," Jackson said of the Brownlow medallist, who has averaged 7.1 clearances across his 180-game career.

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If Longmuir, and the immediate connection he had with Jackson, was crucial in getting the young star to choose Fremantle, the above-and-beyond leg work that made it possible was done by list manager Walls.

After first watching him as a junior with East Fremantle, Walls assisted the AFL's efforts to have Jackson join the AFL Academy, which then saw him spend time with Fremantle as a 16 and 17-year-old as part of that elite junior program.

The teenager had access to all areas of the Club's Cockburn base and was assisted with rehab and coaching, making a big impression ahead of his draft year.  

"We got to know his family as well and we loved him. He was the Matt Rowell/Noah Anderson draft and we would have picked him at No.1," Walls said.

"We threw the kitchen sink at Melbourne in that Trade Period to get up for him, but they loved him as much as we did and didn't budge. They knew who we were trying to get up for, but we had a massive crack at it."

Walls didn't give up on Jackson and was soon travelling to Casey Fields, an hour south-east of Freo's Melbourne office, to watch him play in intraclub, pre-season and VFL matches.

There can be 100 grounds around Australia you'd like to be at as a recruiter on a Saturday during the season, Walls said, but he regularly chose to be where Jackson was.

"He was put as a priority that let's sit on him and watch him … he was at the top of the tree from day one," Walls said.

"It gets to a point where you're that convinced and have seen him that many times that there's no doubt, but you are planning to make such an investment from a trade and contract point of view that you've got to be there and watch."

When it came time for Jackson to make his decision after three years with the Demons, Walls was called to a family dinner where his heart was set racing when he was told Jackson would not be requesting a trade. Shattered by the apparent decision, he was soon relieved when Jackson and brother Zach couldn't hide their smiles and gave Walls the news he had hoped for.

The long-time recruiter-turned-list manager went on to orchestrate Jackson's blockbuster trade, which saw the Demons gain Fremantle's pick No.13 and future first and second-round picks, with the first of those 2023 selections landing at No.5 this year before bids and compensation are applied.

Fremantle received Jackson and picks No.44 and No.67 in return, using those selections to add Wagner and young ruckman Max Knobel. With the benefit of hindsight, it's a deal Walls said he would do 10 times over, given Jackson's cultural fit and the great potential still to be realised in his game.

"You can see there is just a love for him from his teammates, and whenever he does something good on the field everyone gets a lift and a buzz. He just plays on pure enjoyment," Walls said.

"He had some games this season where he was dominant, so it's a big tick and it should set him up for the next two or three years to be really big for him.

"I think he's as interested as we are in how far he can push his own game and evolve it, and exactly what he can become. I see possibility everywhere."

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