Ruck quandary: Longmuir preaches patience after injury

Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy will spend more time rucking together in the AFL before Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir makes a call on whether it can work.

Longmuir's desire to persist with the tactic has been frustrated by a knee injury to Darcy, who is in doubt for their away match on Saturday against GWS.

There has been plenty of commentary around the Darcy-Jackson combination and Longmuir was asked on Tuesday whether he is wavering.

"No, I haven't," he replied.

"I'd just like a little more evidence and I'd love a little bit more time for them to work together.

"Probably the most unfortunate thing, if he does miss this week, is that it's just another hiccup in their partnership.

"I haven't lost any confidence in how that can work."

The good news for Fremantle is if Darcy is ruled out, it should only be for this weekend. He only managed 12 games in 2024 because of injury.

"We know it's not too serious, which is a good sign. We don't 100 per cent know whether he's going to get up this week," Longmuir said.

"It looks like we've dodged a bullet in the short-term.

"He's handled it really well - I probably expected him to be a little bit more frustrated than (what) he was, but he's been really mature about it."

Longmuir added they would be conservative about whether Darcy plays against the Giants.

"He probably doesn't have to be 100 per cent, but we won't play him if there's any risk," he said.

"He's starting to get some of his ruck craft back to a high level - it's disappointing he has this little setback."

Longmuir also replied emphatically to renewed speculation that Jackson might seek a trade back to Melbourne.

Asked if anything had changed in his mind about Jackson's future beyond this season, Longmuir simply replied "nothing".

Last week's loss to Collingwood left the Dockers in 11th, a game and percentage behind the eighth-placed Giants.