Longmuir confident Freo’s two-ruck set-up can work, backs ‘mobile’ tall forwards
WALYALUP coach Justin Longmuir says he has not lost any confidence in the ability for Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson to form a strong ruck partnership as Darcy pushes to overcome a jarred knee and face Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.
The Dockers ruck duo has been a hot topic all season as Darcy returned from ankle and knee surgeries and Jackson produced excellent performances early in the season in the No.1 role.
The two-ruck structure has since been scrutinised after a poor stoppage performance against St Kilda in round eight and Darcy’s setback against Collingwood last Thursday night, but Longmuir said he had not wavered in his belief of the pairing.
The coach was also emphatic on Tuesday that nothing had changed since Jackson spoke publicly in March and committed to remaining with the club next season amid speculation he could explore a return to Melbourne.
No, I haven’t. I’d just love a little bit more evidence (and) a little bit more time for them to be able to work together,” he said on Tuesday.
The most unfortunate thing if he (Darcy) does miss this week is that it’s just another hiccup in their partnership and their ability to work together.
I haven’t lost any confidence in how that can work in the future.
Darcy did not train on Tuesday as he pushes to recover from a jarred knee, with the big man escaping more serious damage after ending last Thursday night’s clash against Collingwood with ice on his left knee.
Longmuir said the 26-year-old had handled the setback well and was expected to be available against Port Adelaide in round 11 if he was unable to prove his fitness this week.
I probably expected him to be a little bit more frustrated than he was, but he’s been really mature about it,” Longmuir said.
Clearly he’d love to be a definite to be out there on the weekend, but he’s doing everything he can to be there.
[His conditioning] is getting better and better. Clearly having ‘Jacko’ back the last couple of weeks to help has taken a bit of the load off him.
When he first came into the game on the weekend, he was really strong and helped us build on our good start and he’s starting to get some of his ruck craft back to a high level, so it’s disappointing he’s got this little setback.
Longmuir also backed in a tall forward set-up that included Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss and Pat Voss against Collingwood, indicating the structure would remain in place if Darcy is available this week.
Maximising their impact against GWS and gun defender Sam Taylor, however, would be a team responsibility after the Dockers took just six marks inside 50 from 62 entries against Collingwood.
We feel like our talls are pretty mobile, Longmuir said.
Jye (Amiss) spent some time on the wing last week and played a little bit higher at times which got him into the game a little bit more and in different ways.
We feel like Vossy is a very good ground-level player and good pressure player, and JT’s follow-up is really strong as well.
We’ve got to maximise it with some of the things I’ve spoken about before in terms of how we work for each other, how we kick the ball to our teammates, plays a big part in giving them best opportunity to score.
So I think that profile can work.
The Dockers won’t be able to call on Nathan O’Driscoll in the midfield this week after the wingman’s ankle injury flared following his return with Peel Thunder.
Defender Corey Wagner has moved into the midfield and played a run-with role on Nick Daicos last Thursday night, with the Dockers weighing up how they can use him best against the Giants.
I’m not sure we’ll send him to Tom Green this weekend, he’s probably a bit small for Tom and more suited to maybe the running, post-clearance types, Longmuir said.
But having said that, he’s been doing it for a total of one week, so we’d like to evolve it and see what he can do.
