The modern trailblazer for mobile ruckmen admits Walyalup’s* (Fremantle’s) red-hot combination of Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson present a stern test for the understaffed reigning premiers.
Without injured premiership ruckman Rhys Stanley, athletic tall Mark Blicavs and ruck deputy Jon Ceglar are left to shoulder the load against the Dockers pair who steered a midfield dominance in their road win over Sydney last week.
Doing the bulk of the tap work, Darcy combined with Jackson for 55 hit-outs and the Dockers blitzed the clearance battle — particularly from the centre.
Speaking to The West Australian as the majority of Geelong’s touring party touched down in Perth exactly 24 hours before Saturday’s Optus Stadium clash, Blicavs said the emerging duo commanded respect.
“They’ve been really good. They’re always good,” Blicavs said.
“Darcy is a Geelong boy, so (he’s got) a few mates here or there. We’ve played against them both in previous years but we’ll prepare like we normally do, give them the respect they deserve and try and see where our strengths lie.”
In the league’s most famous hybrid role, Blicavs has been named on-ball, with Ceglar the starting ruck.
Without Stanley Blicavs has attended at least 80 per cent of centre bounces in the past three games as a dual-use on-baller.
It’s a model similar to the one Fremantle want Luke Jackson to develop into, with the 21-year-old dubbed a ‘unicorn’ used through the midfield and up forward — where he kicked three goals last week.
But Blicavs wouldn’t be drawn into comparing himself with the 2m Dockers beanpole, despite their remarkably similar attributes.
He was, however, effusive in his praise of former Walyalup captain Nat Fyfe, who he described as a “legend of the game”.
For the first time in a full game since round one, Darcy and Jackson will have Fyfe as a midfield option as the dual Brownlow medallist makes his biggest step back into the game amid an ongoing plantar fasciitis injury.
“He’s a legend of the game, we always love playing when he’s playing,” Blicavs said.
The Cats landed in Perth a week after their first loss in six games and with a mounting injury list that has claimed seven of its likely starters, including superstar captain Patrick Dangerfield, important defender Sam de Koning and veteran West Australian Mitch Duncan.
While they regain All-Australian small forward Tyson Stengle from a broken arm, his small forward running mate Brad Close from suspension and Jack Henry for his first game of the year, the Cats have lost Duncan, last week’s debutant Jhye Clark and Ollie Henry through injury.
An unflappable Blicavs wasn’t worried by the loss to Richmond, adamant the Cats still haven’t hit their ceiling.
“We’ve had another great week on the track and we sort of look at it like we’re trying to improve each week,” he said
“We had a couple of young boys play some really important roles for us which was great, so again we’ll do the same.
“We’ll have some good young players go through and it will be a good game to be a part of.”