Head of Player Personnel David Walls has given his insight into why both Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson are crucial for Fremantle’s future in the ruck and forward line respectively.
The pair have wrapped up their first season together at Fremantle, with Darcy playing 15 games in an injury-limited season and Jackson up forward and playing ruck in Darcy’s absence.
Jackson impressed both as a forward and ruck, polling 58 coaches votes – the most of any ruck and the second most of any key forward behind Charlie Curnow.
With Darcy coming out of contract in 2024, it’s led to external discussions about the best options of playing both Darcy and Jackson in the same team.
However Walls is adamant Darcy, the 2021 Doig Medallist, is crucial to Fremantle’s long-term plans.
He guaranteed Darcy would see out his contract at Fremantle, with high confidence that an extension would be signed beyond 2024.
“(Darcy’s) definitely going to be at Fremantle next year, no question at all about that,” Walls told SEN WA.
“We're working through an extension for him. He's going to be a free agent at the end of next year.
“We've started discussions and every conversation we've had, every indication and behaviour from Sean, his manager, his family - all indicates he's in for the long haul.
“I'm confident we'll be able to get it done, but we're still early stages of the extension. He'll be with us next year, for sure.”
Walls spoke highly of Jackson’s ability to play a number of roles and explained why he was so crucial to Fremantle’s forward line.
He said the 200cm Jackson provided something different to Freo’s promising young tall forwards in Jye Amiss (196cm) and Josh Treacy (193cm).
They formed the youngest tall forward trio in the AFL in recent memory in 2023, with Amiss playing most of the season as a 19-year-old, Treacy as a 20-year-old and Jackson as a 21-year-old.
They showed their potential in round nine against Sydney combining for seven goals, with Jackson kicking three and Amiss and Treacy kicking two each.
“I saw growth in Luke with his forward craft and I think he's going to take that to another level,” Walls said.
“You need those 200cm, 100kg key forwards that can take on the likes of Sam Taylor (GWS key defender) and Jacob Weitering (Carlton key defender), these monsters down back.
“We're really excited and confident in what Jye Amiss and Josh Treacy are doing as young 194-195cm key forwards (but) having Luke down there for that long entry, bailout kick - he'll give a real contest and then he goes to ground level and puts pressure on. That's just invaluable.
“We saw it in the Sydney win and throughout the year, when the three of them were in the same forward line and it clicked.
“With another summer working together, we'll see further improvements from that forward line.”
Walls said Darcy was even more important to Fremantle as a ruck in 2023, despite having a talented backup in Jackson.
“Looking at Champion Data, Sean had more time in the ruck in the games he played this year than any other season he's had previously,” Walls said.
“(Jackson’s arrival) didn't impact Sean's ruck time.
"We want to keep them on the ground a little bit longer with shorter rotations and less interchange time so their game time (goes) up."
Walls was asked why speculation continued around Darcy's future despite the 25-year-old’s commitment to Fremantle.
“Maybe it’s Luke Jackson coming in and (people) seeing him as a ruck,” Walls said.
“Also Darcy’s from the western districts of Victoria and played for the Geelong Falcons, and it’s been perceived that they (Geelong) need a ruckman.
“It’s people just linking the two. Even his family - they live in Barwon Heads and they say they get stopped every day on the street asking about Sean and if he really moving back to Victoria.
“It's hard to put a finger on, but I'd put it down to those two things.”
