Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir heaps reward on Josh Treacy after his contested marking exhibition | USAEMALL.com

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has heaped praise on key forward Josh Treacy, declaring his work ethic is the reason why he’s able to mark wet balls like it is a dry day.

Treacy was brilliant during Fremantle’s 60-point win over Richmond at Optus Stadium. His four contested marks was the same number that the Tigers took for the entire day.

While Cyclone Narelle didn’t produce as much rain as expected, the ball was still slippery for most of the day, and Treacy made a mockery of those difficult conditions as he dragged in an equal career-high 12 marks and kicked 4.3.

Longmuir said Treacy is a shining example of what it takes to be successful.

“He’s a competitor. There’s not many players at our club that work harder on their game than JT,” Longmuir said.

“He’s evolved in all areas. He looks for improvement in all areas of his game hence he is fitter, stronger and his craft is better than last year and his last two years have been really strong as well.

“He gets a lot of balls kicked into his hands and then when everyone is finding it slippery, he is marking like it’s a dry weather day. If you put the hard work in, you get those results.

“He does the reps. That’s what we talk to our players about. You’ve just got to do the reps with those sorts of things.

“Whether it’s ball handling, ground ball or your marking, there is no quick fix with those sorts of things. JT just takes rep after rep.

“He comes in, in the morning, and gets the ball kicked into his hands – with a lot of other players. After training he always does some reps. He does the work. It’s just consistent application to a process and you become better at your craft.”

Fremantle overcame horrible inaccuracy in front of goal to dominate the second half and turn a six-point lead into a 13.25 (103) to 6.7 (43) victory. It was the equal-most behinds they have ever kicked in a game.

Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson gave the midfield first use of the footy as they seized upon Richmond’s lack of a recognised ruckman. Longmuir was pleased for Darcy after a quiet start to the season.

He finished with 29 hitouts, one goal and five tackles despite having only 54 per cent game time. Longmuir said Darcy’s efforts stood out.

“I thought some of his pressure efforts on smalls at centre bounce when he was able to follow up and get after the opposition, before he had his calf, that’s what we were seeing with him across the pre-season,” Longmuir said.

“He didn’t look as fleet footed across his first two games. I thought we saw some of that as the game went on. He took a nice strong mark and had a good finish on goal. His ruckwork was clearly stronger, but we were playing against depleted ruck stocks. It was more his second efforts and follow ups that impressed me.”