Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy has received high praise for transforming his body since the end of last season with his teammates admitting they couldn’t believe they were looking at the same person after seeing photos.

Darcy had knee surgery at the end of last season as the club searched for a way to keep him on the field for longer. The Doig medallist managed only 12 games in 2024 after playing 15 matches the previous season.

Often criticised for carrying excess weight, Darcy shed several kilos last season in an attempt to stay healthy but has taken his commitment to another level during the summer.

Teammate Nathan O’Driscoll said everyone had noticed the difference.

“It’s been unreal. We were talking about it the other day. In a couple of photos, you couldn’t even notice it was him because he’s slimmed down so much,” O’Driscoll said.

“It’s a credit to him. He’s putting in the hard yakkas. He’s coming in every day and putting in the work. It’s tough in rehab and losing weight is actually harder than what people think. He’s been putting in the work. Hopefully he can build on that and be right for round one.”

Darcy took a significant step in his recovery when he joined teammates for ball work early in Monday’s training session. They were low intensity drills which didn’t put any stress on his body, but O’Driscoll said the ruckman would have relished any chance to do something football related.

“It’s been frustrating for him. You can tell,” O’Driscoll said.

“Sometimes you are going to be down and have slumps but when he’s out and around the boys, he’s got his head held high. You could see out there today how happy he was.”

The Dockers have invested a lot of money in their ruck department with Darcy contracted until the end of 2030 and Luke Jackson signed up until the end of 2029.

O’Driscoll and Darcy spent a lot of time together in rehab last season, given the midfielder also had a serious knee injury. He said Darcy’s workrate was inspiring.

“It is. He was a big driver for me when I was in there as well because we had similar injuries - we’d both hurt our knees,” O’Driscoll said.

“He was always pushing me to get in there and do extra crossies (cross training). It’s pretty good to see a leader like that doing what he’s doing.”