Cobden export Sean Darcy on his journey to 50 AFL games for Fremantle

Many hone their craft in the state leagues before getting a chance at AFL level.

Sean Darcy was thrown in the deep end as a teenager, playing eight matches in his first season at Fremantle in 2017.

Now the Cobden export, a month shy of his 23^rd birthday, is tallying career-best numbers on the eve of his 50^th game for the Dockers.

"I am really enjoying this year. I feel like I am finally fit enough to play AFL whereas in previous years I probably wasn't up to that fitness standard," Sean told The Standard.

"Each week I am really excited to play footy which is always good. I am not as nervous as I was at the start of my career."

Sean has doubled his possession average in 2021, jumping from 8.9 per match last season to 16.

"I feel like I am playing my best footy when I am following up and being a presence on the ground as well as in the air," he said ahead of the Dockers' round 10 match against Sydney at Optus Stadium.

"As ruckmen these days we have to be that fourth extra mid, we have to follow up and get a bit of the ball around the ground.

"I feel that is a big thing to my advantage, that I am getting more of the ball these days whereas the last couple of years I wasn't getting that much of it."

Sean, who grew up on a farm at South Purrumbete in Victoria's south-west, is also providing an extra option in the Dockers' forward line.

He's kicked seven goals from eight matches, including three against Hawthorn.

"That is always something I have been working on since I've been drafted. You sort of get told you have to be a multiple-position player," he said.

"With Rory Lobb being there...he can have a run around in the ruck and I can go forward."

Sean, whose dad Greg will travel to Perth for the first milestone match of his career, said he had endured highs and lows since he was drafted.

"It (game 50 has) come up quickly but also slowly as I've had a couple of injuries here and there," he said.

"It's been a good journey so far and I am just excited to get stuck into it and play some consistent footy from now on and see how we go.

"It (injury) is just not in the back of my head anymore, touch wood. The first couple of years I felt every time I got up and moved I'd break down for a week of two and something would happen.

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"It was always in the back of my head 'am I going to get injured?'.

"Last year gave me a lot of confidence playing 15 games in a row."

Sean's output has come as no surprise to two of his junior mentors.

Cobden's Marty Darcy - no relation - coached Sean at under-12 and under-16 levels in the Hampden league while Michael Turners was Geelong Falcons' talent manager during the ruckman's TAC Cup days.

Marty, who is close family friends with the other Darcy clan, often settles in front of the TV to watch Dockers' games.

"The Sunday night fixture works well with us," he said.

"We've finished our milking and (local) footy duties for the day so when he's on that Sunday twilight game we tend to get a good look at him.

"He is like most big blokes, a bit of a slow burn. As his work rate has got to where it needs to be I think he's coming on really nicely."

Sean's ability to apply scoreboard pressure has impressed his childhood mentor.

"Going back to when we coached him he loved playing in the ruck which is a good thing when he's a big guy," Marty said.

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"He loves the physical contest. He was never going to shirk that issue but we always used to talk to him about going forward and kicking a goal and making that a part of his game.

"If he can get to that almost goal a game level I think his game will reach that elite level.

"His goal-kicking has improved a lot (and his marking too). He is physically getting mature enough now that when he stands up and puts his hands up guys can't bring him to ground as easily as they could in the past."

Sean, who played one Hampden league senior game before he was drafted, rates Marty as one of his earliest football influences.

But the dairy farmer, who is close friends with Sean's parents Greg Darcy and Ann-Marie Sullivan, plays down his role.

"Whether it's what I taught him or what he learned naturally along the way..." he said.

Michael could see Sean's potential as a junior - even if some AFL clubs could not.

"He was in our program and for various reasons he went to Xavier College (in Melbourne) and that limited him to exposure in our (now-NAB League) program," he said.

"We'd see him once a week and he was very dedicated. He used to come down on the train to training once a week and when he was at home with the parents (at South Purrumbete) he'd increase his training and be there two nights a week.

"His weight was a very hard thing to manage during those years, not his ability. His weight impacted his mobility a bit.

"In his case the AFL recruiters questioned 'why was he overweight? Is he dedicated enough and should we draft him?'

"I used to say to the AFL recruiters 'look it's nothing to do with dedication. He's doing this, this and this but you have to understand he's at boarding school.

"In the end there were some clubs that were hot on him and there were other clubs that didn't like him."

Fremantle was one club which identified Sean's long-term potential. He even went on to play AFL in his first season - a feat not many ruckmen achieve.

"He was the best tap ruckman in the TAC Cup, there's no doubt about that," Michael said.

"He lacked a bit of mobility because he had a bit of weight on him but I said 'you've got to trust your own club. If you like what you see now, when you get him really fit he's going to improve'.

"And over the past three, four and five years that's what happened. He's become a pretty elite ruckman."

So much so that the 201-centimetre, 113-kilogram footballer is attracting interest from Victorian rivals.

Sean is contracted until the end of next season but Michael believes he will be "a hot target during trade time".

"He's at the perfect age now because a lot of AFL clubs don't want to draft a big ruckman because they know it's going to take five years to develop him," he said.

"In his case he was playing good footy in his second year with Aaron Sandilands heading out the back door and he's taken that opportunity."

Sean said he was enjoying his time in the west and was focused on lifting the Dockers, who sit 10^th, up the ladder.

"I think our best is good enough and we've shown that," he said.

"When we're up and going we can compete with everyone. It's probably just that four-quarter performance that we're striving for and are yet to play this year.

"That is really frustrating for us as football players and I am sure for Freo fans as well."

As for where he wants to take his own game, Sean is setting the bar high. "I am just getting started," he said.

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