Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has hosed down the prospect of Luke Jackson being given a rest at the back-end of the season, despite Sean Darcy’s successful return to their senior side.

After playing his first three games on return from a calf injury in the WAFL, Darcy was handed a recall to the AFL team for their 51-point thumping of Gold Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday.

In his first game in purple since Gather Round in April, he was solid if unspectacular, winning 20 hit-outs and managing what was just his second goal for the year in the third term.

Darcy finding form and fitness could give Fremantle the option of handing Jackson — who has emerged as one of the competition’s very best players — a week off at some point in the final two months of the home and away season in the hope of ensuring he is primed to perform in the finals.

But Longmuir said giving Jackson two lengthy spells on the bench and only one stint in the ruck in the final term against the Suns was more indicative of how they would aim to manage their superstar in the run-in to September.

“You don’t want to pay any team any disrespect,” he said.

“It’s about probably looking to do it in-game, more than anything, if we get the opportunity.

“That’s why we (made) sure Sean’s fitness got up to a level in the WAFL before we played him, so he’ll be able to handle a bit more of a workload as the season unfolds.

“We’ve just got to try and find the balance between allowing players to maintain their form, but also give them a bit of a workload reduction at the right time.”

When asked if he wanted to have another week off at some point before the finals, Jackson’s response was emphatic.

“Absolutely not, mate. No way,” Jackson said on Fox Footy.

“That’s the last thing I want.

“I just want to keep it going. We’re on a roll.”

While happy with Darcy’s return with the senior side, Longmuir said he had no doubt the 2021 Doig medallist had plenty of improvement still to come.

“I thought when he was able to get his feet set around his ruck contests, I thought his strength was good. He moved around the ground well,” Longmuir said.

“It was nice to see him finish his work in front of goals. It shows a real thrill that the team had having him back in the team, the way they celebrated that.

“He’s only going to build on what he did today . . . at the end of the match, Sean did say he was going to improve on it.”

For his part, Darcy — who went through some extra fitness work out on the field after the game — said he was full of “nerves and excitement” before his first AFL game for the better part of three months.

“When you sit there watching for a long time and the boys are playing well, you just want to be out there,” he told Channel Seven post-game.

“(Sunday morning) was definitely a bit different. You wake up and you know you’re playing AFL again, which is good fun.”