Justin Longmuir is confident ruckman Sean Darcy will play in the RAC Derby at Optus Stadium on Sunday and continue the 22-year-old’s impressive growth so far in 2020.
Darcy remains symptom free from the concussion he sustained last week against St Kilda and Longmuir confirmed Darcy would play if that remained the case.
Longmuir said Darcy had played some of his best football before sustaining the concussion.
“I thought he was clearly our best player on the ground before he got injured,” Longmuir said.
“I really love the way he’s competing, the way he’s applying himself to the next contest and we’re really starting to see some of that physicality that he possesses come to the fore. He was rewarded with three shots on goal in the first 40 minutes of the game last week.
“I’m just hoping that he can get some continuity with his footy so that he can start building his consistency and start finding his feet into the season. He’s just been interrupted at every post so far, fingers are crossed that he can get some continuity with his footy.”
Longmuir said he was looking forward to seeing Darcy take on West Coast ruck Nic Naitanui in Sunday’s RAC Derby.
“I think he’s ready and I think he can do the job,” Longmuir said.
“I’ve been really impressed with his competitiveness both in the ruck and also at ground level over the past couple of games he’s played.
“Clearly, we need to stop Nic’s ruck dominance at the centre bounce. It’s something that leads to a lot of their field position. (Sean) needs to give our mids an opportunity at ground level, which I’m confident he can.
“He just needs to play his game around the ground, which is his strong follow up, strong spread, support us down the lines and execute his role, which I’m really confident he can do.
“He’ll have the support of Rory Lobb, who’s been a good ruckman for us this year also. I’m confident Sean can do the job.”
Longmuir said Fremantle had another quality ruck waiting in the wings in Lloyd Meek, who has impressed in recent weeks in Freo’s scratch matches for non-selected players.
“Clearly Lloyd Meek’s a backup this week for Sean and we expect Sean to play, so it’s unlikely (Lloyd will be selected) at this stage,” Longmuir said.
“We’ve been really impressed with the way he’s been training and also the way he’s been rucking in our reserves games against some really good opponents in the Gold Coast and Brisbane reserves.
“He will get his chance at some stage but we expect Darcy to play.”
