Danielle Laidley: Use of Sean Darcy, Luke Jackson and Patrick Voss integral part of Fremantle's success

West Australian

a day ago

This Fremantle side has evolved at a rate of knots in 2025. The most interesting aspect I have found is the use of Sean Darcy, Luke Jackson and the development of Patrick Voss — and it's an integral part of their success.
Darcy was the number one ruck for his 13 games in 2024, with Luke Jackson the second ruck/key forward. The other two regular key forwards were Josh Treacy and Jye Amiss.
Matt Taberner played six games and Patrick Voss seven, only when one of main cast were injured. There were varied machinations of the ruck/forward set up when this occurred.
Fast forward to 2025 and has the dynamic changed massively. Darcy and Jackson share the ruck duties, then the latter moves to a genuine onballer.
It's a different look for the midfield group — Jackson at 199cm is a ground ball hunter, his clearances, contested ball, score involvements and inside 50's have increased in 2025.
His contested marks around the ground have increased, yet he is just marginally below his marks inside 50 averages from 2024 and is spending significantly less time stationed inside 50.
Jackson has found himself in the Champion Data top-five rated players for a significant part of the season.
The other significant flow on effect has been the makeup of the three tall forwards, which coach Justin Longmuir likes to play — Treacy (20 games, 35 goals), Amiss (20 games, 28 goals) and Voss (16 games, 28 goals), who has developed his game and maturity with the speed of a bullet in 2025.
None of these three key forwards are playing as a back-up ruckman, which is usually the case in most teams. This has allowed more time to synchronise them all playing together continuously and it is showing.
It's just not the goals from Voss, it's his ferocious attack on the contest, it's his chase down tackles. For me, it seems Treacy has his fingerprints all over Voss and what a great mentor that would be.
There is more to Voss than his physical presence. What he did against Collingwood's captain Darcy Moore in round 19 is difficult to do. His football smarts, positioning and know how scored him a bag of goals and the team were able to execute the plan on Moore.
On the weekend there was a different plan for Voss' role, going to Carlton defender Jacob Weitering. He wanted to play on Treacy, so there was a merry-go-round, which causes confusion and helps quell Weitering's intercept game.
There was an example of the ball coming inside forward 50, where Voss stayed with Weitering, laying a smart partial block causing confusion, allowing Treacy to take the mark and goal.
The excitement from Voss and his celebration for Treacy was something to behold, its what coaches, love when players live, breathe and value their role.
As the game progressed Treacy did the same for Voss, and yes we saw the same excitement from Josh Treacy. It's gold.
From very much a bit part player in 2024, it's been quite the sliding door moment for Voss, as he has become an integral part of this team and the word is he has worked extremely hard on his game.
Just Imagine if Jackson doesn't become the ruck/midfielder and stays as the ruck/forward, would we get the pleasure to see this young man strut his stuff every weekend?
And on a separate note — Treacy is 23, Amiss and Voss are 22, so there's plenty more to be seen. Stay the course Fremantle fans.