Sean Darcy has looked at Friday’s Gather Round clash with Gold Coast as another important step forward in his partnership with fellow ruck Luke Jackson.

The 24-year-old enjoyed a near-complete performance to contribute to Fremantle’s second-half fightback to chase down a gutsy victory over the Suns by 10 points.

Darcy dominated his young ruck opponent in Suns second-gamer Ned Moyle on his way to 48 hitouts, a game-high nine clearances, seven score involvements, four marks and four tackles.

Meanwhile, Jackson made an impact on the scoreboard with two setshot goals while also collecting 13 possessions (at 88 percent kicking efficiency), eight score involvements and 10 hitouts.

“We are going to grow throughout this year, looking at us now and it’s not a finished product,” Darcy told 6PR.

“Give us 10 or 15 games together to learn each other’s strengths – to learn where he wants the ball and learn where I want the ball.

“Today was a little bit better and we were working a little better together.

“It’s going to continue to grow and grow, we are both pretty young so it’s pretty exciting.”

Darcy’s four marks on Friday night added to his total of 18 marks across the first five rounds of the season.

Disappointed with his marking in season 2022, Darcy identified his aerial abilities as a focus area over the summer and went to work to rectify his overhead concerns.

“I worked pretty hard in the pre-season with that because I was pretty disappointed last year with my marking,” Darcy said.

“I just tried to get to as many spots and compete and then hopefully take a few.”

Fremantle put the foot down after half-time, kicking nine second-half goals to Gold Coast’s four.

Darcy puts the second half fightback down to Freo’s ability to move the ball with ‘greater dare’, leading to better opportunities in attack.

The ruck said it was a result of some ‘honest’ reviews earlier in the week that identified Freo’s vulnerabilities over the first month of the season.

“We weren’t playing our best footy in the first half and then we got going in that second half,” Darcy said.

“We moved the ball a bit better and moved with more dare which helps our forwards get open.

“We were pretty disappointed with our start to the year, and it’s frustrating when you aren’t playing the kind of footy you know that you are capable of.

“There have been some pretty honest conversations from everyone at the start of the week…some of the vision we were watching was pretty honest and confronting.”

While the experienced Michael Walters (four goals, 10 score involvements) led the charge from the opening bounce, it was young forward Jye Amiss that turned heads in a three-goal performance.

Amiss was strong aerially with eight marks, including five marks inside 50, as he continued to grow in confidence as part of Freo’s forwardline set-up.

Alongside young midfielder Matthew Johnson (15 disposals and a goal), Darcy said he has loved watching the pair’s rapid development on-field.

Johnson ran out his first full-length AFL game on Friday after starting as Fremantle’s tactical sub in recent weeks.

“They are quite young but so eager to learn, they are both sponges and really competitive,” Darcy said.

“It’s really good to see them out here performing. You saw in the last quarter what they are both capable of. It’s really exciting.”