Fremantle have signed exciting midfield talent Darcy Tucker for a further two seasons, with the 22-year-old agreeing to terms on a new deal that will see him at the club until at least the end of the 2021 season.
Tucker arrived at Fremantle at pick no.27 in the 2015 NAB AFL National Draft and the big-bodied on-baller has played 70 games for Freo in his four seasons at the club.
This includes a full 22 games in the 2019 season, where he saw a significant uptick in most of his numbers.
Tucker improved his disposal average from 14.3 in 2018 to 19.1, as he made the most of more time in the midfield.
The country Victorian said he was thrilled to continue to be able to live and play in WA.
“I’m really enjoying it, it’s my fourth year here and Perth is like a big country town for me,” Tucker said.
“It’s nice weather and nice and chilled. My girlfriend is over here and I’ve just built a house, so we can’t wait to get in there and get really settled.
“We’ve seen that we can play some really good footy.
“We have an exciting young group coming up and I think we can play finals footy in the very near future, so I’m looking forward to it.”
One of Tucker’s best performances in 2019 came in Freo’s 24-point victory against GWS in round five, where Tucker had 25 disposals and five marks.
Tucker said that win illustrated Fremantle’s potential for the 2020 season.
“We’ve beaten some really good teams this year so we know we’re capable of playing really good footy,” Tucker said.
“Against GWS, we went over to Canberra against all odds and really played our brand of footy and ran over the top of them. We played to the end.
“It was the same thing when we played Collingwood at the MCG. It shows what we’re capable of when we have a full team on the park.
“We can take a lot of confidence going into next year and, hopefully, we can put that together more consistently next season and play some finals footy.”
Tucker said he hopes to continue playing in a midfield role next season.
“Individually, I’m happy with how I’m going,” Tucker said.
“I think I’ve improved from last year, so that’s my aim as well, to keep improving every single year and get better in as many ways as possible.
“The midfield is where I want to be. It’s where all the action is, so I just have to keep working on different areas of my game and, hopefully, get in there full time in the future. I love it in there.”
Fremantle list manager Mark Micallef expects to see Tucker develop into that role.
“Darcy’s been an outstanding contributor for us this season and we’re very excited to have him on board for a further two years,” Micallef said.
"He has shown great durability, playing 22 games this year and we see further development in his game in the future."
