First-year player Nathan O’Driscoll is still ‘a couple good games’ away from earning his Fremantle debut, according to senior coach Justin Longmuir.
Despite being named in Fremantle’s extended squad for Sunday’s clash against Sydney at Metricon Stadium, Longmuir said the midfielder/half back would be named as an emergency and instead run out for Peel against West Perth on Saturday at Joondalup Arena.
O’Driscoll played five games at WAFL level for Perth in 2020 before being drafted to Fremantle with pick no.27 at the 2020 NAB AFL National Draft.
The 19-year-old had a career-best game in round 12 for Peel against East Perth, where he had 26 disposals and 10 marks while playing on the ball.
He returned from a minor calf injury at the weekend and had some impressive moments with 16 disposals and five marks against Claremont.
In an interview on SEN, Longmuir said O'Driscoll was showing promising signs.
“(Being named in the squad) is more of a reward for his form over the last two to four weeks,” Longmuir told SEN.
“I feel like he's really improved on parts of his game.
“He's probably another couple of good games away from pressing for a debut but he's earned the right to be named in the squad and be given that recognition (but) he'll play for Peel this week.”
Fremantle have a tricky run home facing Sydney (sixth), Richmond (ninth), Brisbane (fifth), West Coast (seventh) and St Kilda (11th) as they push for a return to finals.
Longmuir said the team would need to improve significantly from their efforts against Geelong in round 18 to be a chance of making the top eight.
“We'd love to be in the finals and of course every club is looking to do that,” Longmuir said.
“We need to look a bit deeper at our game, our list and at all areas of our footy club rather than just judging (our season) on whether we win or lose finals, or play finals for that matter.
“Our goal all along has been to improve as the season goes on. We've got a lot of ground to make up in the last five games. There's a big game this week against Sydney and all our efforts will go into that.”
Longmuir also said Fremantle were ‘confident’ ruckman Sean Darcy would face the Swans, with Saturday’s captain’s run at Metricon Stadium being the final hurdle.
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