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Cummings fires on Fremantle's "startling" Round 12 selection
Jaiden Sciberras • May 30th, 2025 5:54 pm
Fremantle have made a number of bold selections ahead of their Round 12 clash with Gold Coast, with two returning first-team members raising eyebrows over their inclusion.
Travelling across the country for their clash with the Suns, Justin Longmuir has decided to bring ruckman Sean Darcy back into the side, despite Luke Jackson’s dominant performances as the solo ruck.
Darcy, who has not featured at any level since he was removed from the Dockers’ Round 9 loss to Collingwood, has battled with knee concerns throughout the season, playing just five games in 2025 so far.
Despite this, Darcy is set to play, ultimately meaning Luke Jackson will once again be shifted around the ground to compensate.
Beyond Sean Darcy’s return, the Dockers have also selected club legend Nat Fyfe to feature in his first game this season.
Despite Fyfe’s phenomenal career at AFL level, the 33-year-old has only managed to take the field once in 2025, starting in Peel Thunder’s Round 2 WAFL clash before being removed from the contest with a hamstring injury.
Since then, Fyfe is yet to compete in any form of football, however, will head to Gold Coast to feature for the Dockers this Saturday.
Coleman Medal winner Scott Cummings has “vehemently disagreed” with Fremantle’s selection committee, questioning the calls to select both Darcy and Fyfe in an important away clash.
“I almost fell over when I saw this,” Cummings told SEN WA Breakfast.
“Startling selection. We’ll start with Sean Darcy. Most of the talk was that he needs a bit of time in the WAFL. He needs to get moving, he needs to get his mobility back, he needs to get big match minutes and fitness back as the number one ruckman, and it has to be done at Peel (Thunder).
“We had Justin Longmuir who said he is not considered next week, and he sort of ducked around that question.
“Bringing him straight back in, when Luke Jackson is having a major influence on the game at the moment as the number one ruck.
“Sean Darcy can’t play anywhere else, so Jackson will get moved again.
“Nat Fyfe is just mind-boggling to me. The last time he played he did a hamstring at Peel. He didn’t play last week.”
Cummings believes that decisions such as these are a core reason as to why the Dockers are yet to find success within their 30-year tenure in the AFL.
“This is the thing with Fremantle,” he continued.
“Fremantle for 30 years have made 'nice' decisions. They’ve been a 'nice' football club, they want the romantic story. They haven’t been hard-nosed, and it’s cost them over the years.
“Nat Fyfe, I’m not taking away from what he has done. Extraordinary career, but the last time he did it was minimum three years ago, possibly four or five years ago.
“He is not the Nat Fyfe anymore; he’s a completely different player. To do a hammy with Peel and then come straight back into the side where you’re jumping on a plane, going to the other side of the country…
“I can only imagine he’ll be the sub, but this to me says you are going nowhere. You want to do the right thing by a champion, unfortunately the game is brutal.
“Unfortunately, the game goes past people. You can’t play forever, and you can’t maintain a level that Nat Fyfe has maintained for most of his career, forever.
“He is not in their best 23 players. Certainly, at the moment, he needs football under his belt. They’ll play him as the sub, what if someone gets injured in the first two minutes, and he’s got to play three and a half quarters, almost four quarters of footy. Struggle town!
“I’ll be blown away if he comes on and has a seriously good impact, or a long impact on this game, and that he’s in their best 23 if they are playing finals.”
The Dockers will look to prove Cummings wrong as they take on the Suns at People First Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
