Striking a balance between youth and experience is important for the club’s growth, says midfielder Connor Blakely.

Blakely spoke about the significance of playing alongside experienced players such as Lachie Neale, Michael Barlow and David Mundy.

“He’s [Mundy] a really good mentor of mine and he’s a really good captain,” Blakely told the media on Wednesday.

“It’s good to get a bit of advice from the older guys like Lachie Neale who play a single position, and Mick Barlow who are good ball winners.

“They’re the type of player that I want to be and getting advice from them is really important.”

Opportunity has been high for young players, with six from last week’s game against St Kilda having played less than 50 games each.

“Bringing a bit more youth in is what we’ve been doing with Sam Collins, Ethan Hughes, myself, Lachie [Weller] and Ed [Langdon] all playing,” Blakely said.

“It gives us so much experience.

“When you play WAFL, it’s just not the same as AFL.

“You’ve got to learn on the job like Ross [Lyon] always says.”

Senior coach Ross Lyon praised Blakely’s efforts on the weekend against St. Kilda, after the young midfielder finished with 25 disposals, 14 of which were contested.

“I think just finding the mix of youth and experience is really crucial for the Freo footy club to move forward,” Blakely said.

Fremantle take on Essendon at Domain Stadium on Saturday at 5:40pm AWST.