# 18 - Darren Jolly

[mattys123]

Name: Darren Jolly
Date of Birth: November 6th, 1981
Guernsey Number: 18
Height: 200 cm
Weight: 106 kg
Games: 176
Goals: 70

Darren Jolly was drafted onto the Melbourne Rookie List in 2000. He went on to play 48 games for the Demons. At the end of the 2004 season, Darren was traded to Sydney for pick number 15. While at Sydney, Darren played in 2 Grand Finals, including one premiership win with the swans.

After 5 years with the Swans, Darren and his wife decided they wanted to move back to Melbourne so their 2 young girls would be closer to and be able to spend more time with their family network.

Sydney validated a trade with Collingwood for the pies 1st (pick 14) and 3rd (46) round draft picks, and Jolly joined his 3rd club, at the age of 28.

Jolly is highly regarded as one of the games dominant ruckman, and is welcome wholeheartedly by the Collingwood community.
​

 

[mattys123]

Darren Jolly, Luke Ball and Nathan Buckley in a casual handball drill at training, Thursday 18th February, 2010.

 

[mattys123]

In the 1 point NAB Cup opener loss to StKilda on Friday Night at the patchwork quilt of a ground they call Etihad, Darren had an impressive debut for Collingwood.

Darren's Stats vs the Saints;

4 kicks
5 handballs
1 mark
2 goals
20 hitouts
1 tackle
2 clearances
1 free kick for
3 free kicks against (surprise)

And a Dream Team rating of 53, with a Supercoach rating of 52.

For his first game with the pies, you really couldn't have expected much more, but it was the goal in the 3rd quarter on the run, from outside 50, that really set the magpie army alight.

Good 1st up show by the big fella.

 

[mattys123]

Video clip of Darren Jolly's first ever goal for the pies;

[youtube]I3aqJqQysaA[/youtube]

 

[mattys123]

Darren had his second "official" hitout with the pies today at Visy Park.

For the first time under real game conditions, he got to share in a ruck partnership with Josh Fraser, and while only up against young rucks from the Tigers, they dominated for most of the day.

Jolly had a few shots at goal too, but failed to convert, although it was a good sign of things to come.

The Jolly/Fraser era has begun, and it began nicely, with a good win, in a tricky game for big men.

Likely off to Perth next week to play Freo, and Darren would be almost certain to start.

Looking good for "JOLLYGOOD".

 

[mattys123]

Darren Jolly, after only being at the club for 3 months or so, has been promoted to the leadership group of the Collingwood team.

Nick Maxwell gave a glowing recommendation about Jolly, saying he had made a large impact in such a short time at the club.

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/90576/default.aspx

Maxwell said Jolly had won over his new teammates since joining from the Swans, especially with his immediate influence on the team’s pre-Christmas training camp in Arizona. He had brought a new approach and ideas, having already been at two clubs before joining the Pies.

http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/90576/default.aspx

Video here;

http://bigpondvideo.com/CollingwoodTV/249863

 

[mattys123]

Nice article in the AGE about Jolly and how he came to be at Collingwood, and how he has kept fit over the years.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jolly-the-right-fit-for-pies-20100321-qo5o.html

The ruckman and his new manager, Paul Connors, were sifting through the ruck set-ups at Melbourne clubs when the phone rang.
Collingwood was on the line.
''And it just happened to be that I was in my manager's office, when we were talking about it, and he had a call from Collingwood,'' Jolly recalled. ''And right then and there, we jumped in the car and went and had a meeting with them.
''I met with Mick [Malthouse], Geoff Walsh, Dekka [Derek Hine] the recruiting guy and that's it, and my manager, and we just sat down and had a good chat for an hour, 45 minutes. And that was about it.''

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jolly-the-right-fit-for-pies-20100321-qo5o.html


Can't wait to see him round 1.

 

[Zahki]

Wow sounds like it was just a matter of luck we snagged him. Sitting in his managers office discussing his future when the Club calls? Sounds almost too lucky to be true.

 

[mattys123]

In a 36 point win over the Western Bulldogs in round 1 of the 2010 AFL premiership season, Darren Jolly made his first "official" start for the Collingwood Football Club.

Even Darren would admit it wasn't one of his best days, but he definitely got better as the match wore on.

Darren's highlight came halfway through the crucial final term, when he 2 hand flipped a boundary throw in right into Swan's arms who duly goaled and sealed a great win for the Pies.

The negative for Darren tonight/today was the free kicks against, although clearly 2 of them were wrong decisions by the umpire, so I can't be too critical there.

Darren Jolly's stats, ROUND 1, 2010.

Kicks: 3
Handballs: 5
Tackles: 2
Free Kicks for: 3
Free Kicks against: 4
Hit Outs: 16
Marks: 0

Expect a more consistent showing from Darren next week, and then he will regain his confidence and really start to feel like part of the team.

 

[TheMagpie]

Hasn't really made an impact this year IM

 

[mattys123]

Oops, haven't been updating this too much, oh well, here we go.

Round 6 vs Carlton.

Darren started very well in the ruck, dominating the early stoppages and winning more hitouts then anyone else on the ground.

He is still struggling to get a lot of the ball around the ground, but he is improving his work rate, and in a similar vein to Luke Ball is having an impact each week, without starring.

Stats vs Carlton

Hitouts = 28
Goals = 1
Kicks = 4
Handballs = 3
Marks = 1

He would know himself his output has to be more around the ground, but he is still our leading ruckman by so far it's not funny.

Will get better as the season goes on, without a doubt, and those at the club would be satisfied with his contribution so far.

Desperately need Darren against North and Freo over the next 2 weeks, with the likes of McIntosh, Goldstein and Sandilands some of the biggest and most physical rucks going around, who have slaughtered Fraser our other rucks in the past.