The Gaelic footballer from Johnstownbridge, a small commuter town in the northeast of Ireland, has been training with the Dockers for the past fortnight.
Unlike his Johnstownbridge teammate Daniel Flynn (Port Adelaide), Hurley was not selected in Wednesday's rookie draft.
Since his arrival in Perth the Dockers have been impressed with the 21-year-old, who shapes as a key position prospect at 196cm and 92kg, but they have until December 16 to decide whether or not they will offer him a contract.
"He's been here for a week and a half and he's developing really well at this stage," Fremantle list manager Brad Lloyd said.
"He's trained strongly. He's a good size. He runs well. He's been very receptive to learning. He's been really positive.
"We don't need to make a decision until the middle of December so we'll keep working with Sean and let him take his time and grasp the new ball and we'll make a decision over the coming weeks, but he's travelling really well."
Hurley was man of the match in the Kildare Intermediate Football Championship final in October and Fremantle senior development coach Simon Lloyd says he's been brilliant to work with from a coaching standpoint.
"Aerobically he's very good," Lloyd said.
"The feedback from our conditioning staff is that they're very, very happy with him. It's great to have an international player come in.
"To actually teach the basics of the game and to go back to square one it's quite exciting, and it's quite a bit easier actually because he's come in with no bad habits."
Aside from Hurley the Dockers' development team will get the chance to use their coaching skills on the new draftees Michael Apeness, Alex Pearce and Brady Grey, who have all come to AFL football from other sports.
Apeness was a contracted development player with the Melbourne Rebels rugby union squad, playing as a second-row lock, before returning to football as a key forward for Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup and Vic Metro.
Grey and Pearce both come from soccer backgrounds in Tasmania and have only been playing football for 12 months.
"The three of these boys have to come to AFL football quite late," Lloyd said.
"We actually see a great amount of development for each of these players because of the fact that they've been out of the game for a period of time."
The Dockers added three more players in the rookie draft on Wednesday to compliment the squad.
"We're pleased to add a couple of mid-range talls, a third tall forward in Michael Wood and then a third tall defender in Tom Vandeleur; they really filled a couple of spots we’ve been looking for," Brad Lloyd said.
"We see Jacob Ballard as having a really good running capacity and a real competitiveness about him, so we feel like we can develop him through the midfield and across half-back."
