Senior Coach Justin Longmuir spoke to media following Fremantle’s first pre-season training session of the year, touching on how Sean Darcy, Nat Fyfe and Matt Taberner are tracking with their rehab journeys.

Hoping to return to full training by early February, ruckman Darcy continues to take consistent steps forward after ankle surgery saw his 2023 season restricted to 15 games.

Pre-Christmas saw Darcy sign a six-year contract extension – making him a Fremantle Docker for life, signing until 2030.

Longmuir said Darcy is tracking well, confident the side will have him at full fitness for round 1.

“(Darcy’s) going well. He’s taking steps forward,” Longmuir said.

“It’s probably been marginally slower than we would have liked, but he’s definitely going forward with his rehab.

“We’re fully confident he’s on the right path and I think early Feb he’ll join main training so we will build towards that.

“He’s going through his rehab program and that encompasses a lot of things. Running is a big part of that and building a fitness base.
 
“Once he hits training, he’ll take a bit of time to get his match fitness up, but we expect him to be really fit by then.
 
“We’re confident he’ll be there round 1. I haven’t got the magnets out yet, but the plan is for Sean to be there (as) number one ruck.”
 
Looking to get him into the upcoming match simulations, Longmuir said Fyfe will be taking one step at a time towards full fitness.
 
“(Fyfe’s) tracking really well. Whether he’s doing (match sim) on Saturday or Monday, we’ll wait and see. He hasn’t lost anything over Christmas and he’s raring to go,” Longmuir said.
 
“We’ve just got to get his body right at the moment to build for match sim and get the minutes into him.
 
“If he can hit round 1 really fit, we will work out a plan from there, but (it’s currently) one step at a time.”

Position-wise, Longmuir said Fyfe is working on upskilling in the midfield and will potentially look at a secondary role in the forward line.
 
“We really want to publicly let him go about his business, not put too much expectation on him and not say he’s locked down (anywhere) to play,” Longmuir said.

“If he does that, we’ll be able to use him wherever we need to use him.
 
“He’s upskilling himself, mainly in the midfield at the moment, but we’d like to build in a bit of a secondary role for that, which is clearly down in forward.”
 
Taberner’s 2023 season was cut short after having to undergo back surgery following the round 4 clash with the Crows.
 
Longmuir said the side has missed the forward and spoke on the amount of work he has done already to get back to fitness.
 
“We really missed (Taberner) last year,” Longmuir said.
 
“It will be nice to have him fit, available and in good form.
 
“He’s done a power of work prior to Christmas, and he very rarely missed a training drill.
 
“Now he’s got to take a bit of time to get his form, running and leading patterns up to the standard they’ve been at previously because he’s missed a lot of footy.”

The competition amongst the tall forwards is heating up, as Longmuir said there is plenty of talent in the group.
 
“Tabs is a proven reliable tall forward. He’s been able to hit the scoreboard for us and play some really good footy for us,” Longmuir said.
 
“He’s going to push really hard for a spot in the team and he’s done a mountain of work to get to where he is at the moment so it’s all positive for Tabs.
 
“Adding him to Luke Jackson, Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss and a few others, we’re starting to have some competition for spots with our tall forwards as well.”