Versatile forward/ruck Rory Lobb is excited about what Sean Darcy can produce at Fremantle as a ruckman.

Darcy is expected to shoulder the ruck load in 2020 with Lobb set to play primarily as a forward.

At 206cm, Lobb is now the tallest player on Fremantle’s list following the retirement of Aaron Sandilands, but he feels the 202cm Darcy has him covered in the ruck.

“Sean’s building his game, he’s only 21, but he’s definitely developing,” Lobb said. 

“He’s a lot better at 21 than I was. He’s really good.

“I’m looking to play forward with Hoges (Jesse Hogan) and Tabs (Matt Taberner). I’ve been training as a forward and that’s the plan.” 

Heading into his seventh AFL season, Lobb is ready to take on a guiding role of the Fremantle playing group. 

On a list with an average age of 23.6, the 26-year-old is now one of Fremantle’s senior players.

“Last year I took a back seat coming in. I didn’t want to come in and tell the boys what to do,” Lobb said.

“I wanted to build relationships. This year (Justin Longmuir) is telling me to step up as a leader and lead this young group and really direct on the field so that’s been really good.”

Lobb said he’s recovered well from the shoulder injury that ended his debut season at Fremantle after 15 games.

“Last year, I didn’t miss a pre-season training and it’s going the same way now,” Lobb said. 

“It’s been good to build my body back up after a couple of injures in the past couple of years. It’s been good and I haven’t missed a session yet.

“Going down at that time of year, I was able to have surgery and by the time we started pre-season I was pretty much ready to go.”