Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir admits Sean Darcy is too good for the WAFL as the Dockers coach weighs up his ruck options ahead of finals.
The Dockers are coming off just their third loss of the season after going down to Melbourne in a thriller at the MCG, where Demons ruck Max Gawn played a starring role.
While Mason Cox was serviceable as the second ruck and took some key intercepts in defence, he failed to make a meaningful impact forward of the ball and had a horror moment gifting the Demons a goal after turning the ball over in defensive 50 from a missed kick.
Meanwhile, Darcy dominated in Peel’s win over Perth with 56 hit-outs in the 15-point win as he seeks to earn his place back in the senior side on the eve of their finals campaign.
“We’ll weigh that up later in the week,” Longmuir told 7News.
“Sean is obviously in good form in the WAFL, but I thought Mason rucked well and took some really strong contested marks behind the ball.
“We’ve been pretty happy with his role, but Sean is putting pressure on.
“His form over the last two weeks has been pretty good and well above the standard; he’s going to dominate hit-outs at that level, he’s too good not to, but it looks better than what it did three weeks ago.”
Darcy has not played since the round 17 loss to GWS and has managed just seven games this season due to form and fitness.
Longmuir also praised Murphy Reid for his performance agaisnt the Demons, working through a close tag from Koltyn Tholstrup which quelled his influence in the first half.
“It’s a good learning curve for Murph; he’s in his second year, and he’s obviously had a really good start to his career, and these things are going to pop up because of the impact he’s had throughout games,” Longmuir said.
“I thought he was able to work through it really well and his second half was better than his first, but that just shows that he’s adapted and learnt some lessons from that first half so he’ll grow from that experience
“I’m looking forward to seeing it happen next time”
The Dockers coach did not weigh in over a late call which awarded Bailey Fritsch a mark seemingly outside the field of play which cost Fremantle a chance to steal the win late, saying his side lacked composure in key moments.
“I didn’t really take much notice of it; we had plenty of opportunities in the last four or five minutes to win the game, and we didn’t take them, so that’s on us.”
