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Peter Sumich has defended his assertion that Victorian teams are making enquiries into the future of Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy.
In his newspaper column on Thursday, Sumich wrote that Darcy’s hometown team Geelong had been in discussions about luring him home, but the claim was denied by Darcy’s manager Scott Lucas and Dockers coach Justin Longmuir.
Sumich told Sports Breakfast he never said the 24-year-old was certain to leave.
“At the end of the day, I can only write what I hear,” Sumich said.
“There are talks … he’s still contracted until 2024, these things might not happen until then. It might not happen at all, they could come out next week and sign him on. That’s good for Darcy, isn’t it, because he’d get paid well.
“There’s clubs out there that are enquiring, and why wouldn’t you? Restricted free agent that comes out at the end of next year, you’d be starting to do your work now.
“I know what goes on in the AFL circles. I was in it for a good 25 years, I understand it pretty well.”
On-field, Sumich was full of praise for Fremantle, who toppled Sydney by 17 points on Saturday to secure their first win at the SCG since 2011.
“They were terrific,” he said.
“There was a sneaking suspicion they would go well against Sydney with their three main backmen down in the two McCartin boys and Rampe, and if they got enough quality football in there they were always going to kick a winnings score, which they did.
“Sydney were a little bit more off than I thought, I thought they were very ordinary, but they fought the game out to the end. At the end of the day, it’s a really, really good win by Fremantle.”
Across town, West Coast’s horror season continued on Friday night with a 70 point loss to Gold Coast, with out-of-form key forward Jack Darling adding to the club’s injury crisis with a fractured arm.
Sumich, who called for Darling to be dropped despite the availability issues last week, said some time out of the game would not be the worst thing for the club’s all-time third-leading goal-kicker.
“It might be a relief for him,” he said. “As I’ve always said, I’ve been in that position. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing.
“We never have a go at the person. He’s a great person, great character, I know him, when he first came to the club I was there. The character and the person, you never doubt that, but he’s just not in great form, so you’ve got to make sure you’re looking after that person and doing the right thing.”