Tarrant, who is entering his 13th AFL season and his fourth at Fremantle, switched into defence last year and was a revelation for coach Mark Harvey, stopping many of the game’s best forwards and finishing third in the club’s best and fairest award.
Tarrant said he was ideally poised to improve on his first season at full-back, but would not be taking anything for granted in the last year of his four-year contract with Fremantle.
“When you’re coming towards the end of your career, you just try to play every season as though it’s your last,” he said from Fremantle Oval on Monday.
“As most players do at my age, you weigh it up as the season goes along and see how you’re feeling.
“One serious injury for guys my age and it’s over, so I’m preparing and taking every game like it could be my last.”
Tarrant resurrected his career last season, playing all 22 games and negating elite forwards Brendan Fevola, Mark LeCras, Brad Johnson, Lance Franklin and Cameron Mooney.
He said the experience of standing those players and the benefits of an uninterrupted pre-season had him positioned to improve in 2010.
“Last year was very much a learning year for me, but now people expect me to play well, play on the better players and beat the better players,” he said.
“I know where I sit now. Playing on players two or three times, you probably get to know how these guys play.
“The first couple of games in the NAB Cup have been pretty good for myself in terms of just feeling good about how I’m going, so hopefully I can take that into the season. I’m going into games where I’m pretty confident.”
Tarrant is expected to feature when Fremantle fields a full-strength side for its final pre-season match against Geelong at Subiaco Oval on Saturday.
He said playing last year’s grand finalists in consecutive weeks was a good way to finish the pre-season, with Fremantle meeting both opponents in the first month of the season proper.
“We have a tough start, we realise that,” he said. “[It’s good] to play those sides now and to really get to know their players.
“A lot of our players haven’t played too much against these tough sides.”
Fremantle launches its season against Adelaide at Subiaco Oval on March 28, and at this stage should only be missing Rhys Palmer (knee) and Antoni Grover (knee) from its best 22.
Hayden Ballantyne (knee) and Des Headland (hamstring) are expected to recover in time to be available for the season opener.
Tarrant said a full-strength Fremantle would be competitive against the Crows, who fell five points short of a preliminary final berth last season.
“I think here at Subiaco, first game, with a full list ... hopefully we can give it a good shake.”
