Are Fremantle Dockers managing Sean Darcy to test out ‘horses for courses’ ruck set-up against Essendon?

Are the Dockers playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers? Fremantle will host an undermanned Essendon at Optus Stadium on Thursday night, with a fifth consecutive win in their sights. They will do so without big man Sean Darcy, with Luke Jackson acting as sole ruck against teenage debutant Vigo Visentini. Darcy has been managed. Not “omitted”, not “injured”. Managed. That is despite Fremantle playing one game in the past 19 days, against North Melbourne after the bye. The Dockers ruck duo helped contain in-form star Roos ruckman Tristan Xerri, while Jackson kicked the match-winner among his 15 disposals and two goals. The game prior, the pair nullified the impact of Gold Coast big man Jarrod Witts, while Jackson notched up a career-high 27 disposals. Essendon losing both first-choice ruckmen in Nick Bryan (ACL) and Sam Draper (Achilles) to long-term injuries meant they had relied heavily on veteran Todd Goldstein. Despite blooding East Fremantle product Lachie Blakiston last week, the tall did not attend a single ruck contest in his debut. Goldstein has also been managed this week for the trip to Perth, with the 36-year-old having played the past eight games with no bye in-between. Darcy’s management appears different to Goldstein’s, despite an injury-interrupted season on the back of knee surgery. Dockers coach Justin Longmuir’s favourite phrase of late, when he’s quizzed about the heavily scrutinised ruck combination, is that the club will take a “horses for courses” approach. The dictionary definition is that “different people or things are suited to different tasks or situations”. Visentini is a different task to a Witts or a Xerri. Essendon, given their injury woes this season, are a different situation to Hawthorn, Collingwood, Brisbane and Western Bulldogs, all of whom Fremantle will face in their run home. Horses for courses says that Jackson, will the likely assistance of Patrick Voss or Josh Treacy, will be suited to this task. Sometimes you just don’t need to use every chess piece to get to ‘check mate’. Will there be a game where Darcy is more suited to a task and plays without a fit Jackson? Probably not. But at least they’re not playing checkers.