Fremantle’s Sean Darcy will not be making a rapid AFL return with the Dockers revealing another frustrating injury setback for the star ruckman.

Darcy missed the weekend’s western derby after suffering a concussion in their win over Collingwood, but is now set for an extended period on the sidelines after suffering a calf injury.

Fremantle director of performance, Adam Beard, said they hope to have a timeline on his return soon.

“Sean’s progressing through the concussion protocol,” he said.

“Unfortunately, he’s had a relapse of the calf that he had in January, so we’re just collecting information and should have a timeline for him soon.”

The 27-year-old missed a big block of the pre-season with the calf injury that had seen Justin Longmuir nurse him back into AFL playing little more than 50 per cent game time across the first four rounds.

Darcy has dealt with a number of injuries in recent years and has not played more than 20 games in a season since 2022.

He suffered a hamstring injury in 2023 before an ankle injury ruled him out for the rest of the season, before ankle and knee issues interrupted his 2024 and 2025 seasons.

The Dockers sent Darcy to the world-renowned Aspetar facility in Qatar ahead of the 2025 season to try to get on top of his injury recovery.

His concussion saw Mason Cox make his Fremantle debut, which Longmuir described as “servicable” in their 56-point thrashing of West Coast, with 13 hit-outs and three clearances, though he also dropped several marks.

“I thought he competed well,” Longmuir said.

“I think he’d be the first to admit that he probably left four to six or eight marks out there.

“He got his hands to a lot, but just didn’t quite clunk them. But yeah, I thought it was a serviceable performance.”

It comes as midfielder Jeager O’Meara is at least a month away after undergoing surgery to repair multiple facial fractures suffered in an unfortunate training collision.

“We had to wait for the swelling to come down and he’s due for surgery tomorrow,” Beard said

“We are looking at around about a four-week timeline for Jaeger’s return.”

Bailey Banfield his a test to return after picking up a concussion for Peel in their round two defeat, while young forward Sam Sturt finally has a timeline for his return following a knee reconstruction last year.

“Sam’s progressing really well, so it will be around about eight weeks. We’ll just keep integrating him into football training, and we’ll go from there,” Beard said.

FREMANTLE INJURY LIST

Bailey Banfield (concussion) test

Jaeger O’Meara (face) 4 weeks

Sam Sturt (knee) 8 weeks

Sean Darcy (calf) TBA