FREMANTLE father-son draftee Jaren Carr has blitzed the Dockers' opening time trial on Monday as the club's star ruck pair Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson returned to training with the full squad on managed programs.
Mature-age midfielder Carr took out one of the three 1km time trials after joining the club via pick No.63 in last week's Telstra AFL Draft, with forward Michael Frederick and captain Alex Pearce winning the other two.
Hard-running wingman Jeremy Sharp, who dominated last year's time trials, was running separately as several players, including dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe and vice-captain Caleb Serong, sat out the running tests.
Ruckmen Jackson and Darcy both trained briefly at the Dockers' Cockburn base, with Jackson eased in after the club said he had strategically added weight and missed a period of his off-season due to tonsils being removed.
"He's put on some weight in the off-season and he had his tonsils out, which you can't run for a period of time with that, so he's had an interrupted off-season," general manager of football Joe Brierty said on Monday.
"A big priority for him was to put a few kilos on, so it doesn't surprise me that he might have been one to take off a bit slower today.
"He'll build into pre-season, but those interruptions would have played a part for sure."
On Darcy's managed start to pre-season after knee surgery, Brierty said: "He's on track with the program we've implemented."
"We've engaged a bio-mechanist who's been assisting us with that program for Sean and he's been really diligent with the way that he's applied himself."
Darcy completed some on-field running on Monday, with the club expecting him to join the football program after Christmas if all goes to plan through December with his transition to bigger running loads.
Vice-captain Andrew Brayshaw and midfielder Matthew Johnson were others to impress across the club's time trials on Monday, but it was Carr who made the biggest impact after arriving late last week ready to go.
The 20-year-old, who is the son of former Fremantle and St Kilda midfielder Matthew Carr, said an off-season running program with Dockers wingman Nathan O'Driscoll – which was set up by club great and ex-footy boss Peter Bell – had allowed him to have an early impact.
"Nathan reached out to me and we got stuck into an off-season program a week or two after my season finished," Carr said.
"It'd be excellent to crack in early, but I'm also patient and I know that I am a late developer and it's going to take a bit [of time]. I've got some weight to put on and it's a fresh start, so all the work starts now.
"Getting drafted is good and it's a start, but now is when I really need to start cracking in and putting in the work to become a better player and get to the standard of the guys training out there now."
Fremantle also added former Port Adelaide and Geelong forward/midfielder Quinton Narkle to its list as the Supplemental Selection Period opened, with the 26-year-old watching training on Monday and hitting the gym.
Star forward Shai Bolton is due to arrive in Perth on Wednesday night and will start training on Friday after being traded from Richmond and welcoming the birth of a new baby girl.
Interstate recruits Murphy Reid and Charlie Nicholls, who have been nicknamed by the squad 'Bruce' and 'Gray', have moved in with vice captains Brayshaw and Serong respectively as they settle into Perth.
Reid, who arrived via pick No.17 in the Draft, said he looked forward to learning from Brayshaw during his first few weeks at the club.
"I was probably a bit nervous coming over and he's been so welcoming and friendly … he's already a bit like an older brother the way he's treating me," Reid said.
"He's obviously such a good player and I've already learned about some of the habits with him.
"I've settled in really well and I'm really keen to get into it. The main goal I have right now is to do my best to play round one. I'll set some more long-term goals, but in my mind right now I want to do everything I can to play round one."
