Player Watch #27: Jack Darling

[Black Diamond]

Remember 2018
View attachment 2112379

I am not expecting him to be what he was. Just saying he has useful experience to bring.

 

[Ruckle]

Wayyyyyy too tall

Yep and slow, rebounders dream.

 

[Krakouer Bonar]

Because Sellars and Weirdo Maley are soooooo much better. Our forward line functioned so well this year.

Settle down.

 

[Psi-Roos]

I can’t wait to check in at the end of 2025 and laugh at all of you that are doubting how impactful this fella will be to our team

Same back at "the believers"

 

[spurs]

FF: Curtis Larkey Darling
HF: Teakle Comben Zurhaar

Looks good. Dynamic.

Mosquito fleet

 

[Better Loosen Up]

its low risk, there won't be much to regret
he won't be clogging the list for more than 2 years, really just need him to be a foil for 12 months

gives us the experience, strong body, training standards, can play his second year in the vfl

When you're knowingly taken someone who is going to clog your list for any amount of time, it doesn't get much worse than that from a list management perspective in my mind.

 

[Twangler]

FF: Curtis Larkey Darling
HF: Teakle Comben Zurhaar

Looks good. Dynamic.

If we don’t mark it we are in serious trouble at ground level.

FF Curtis Larkey Duursma
HF Zurhaar Darling/Comben RHJ/traded in small fwd

Sheezel, Simpkin and Parker to rest/rotate through as well.

 

[random260]

Good deal for North. 2x better then Drew Petrie

Drew Petrie

Age

43

Ht

197cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.3

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

3.7

3star

M

5.4

5star

T

2.7

4star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

5.2

2star

K

4.0

2star

HB

1.2

2star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.0

1star

when he came to WCE

 

[HBFlanker]

HF: Simpkin Darling Duursma
F: Zurhaar Larkey Curtis

Teakle (Ruck/FWD) and Parker(FWD/Mid) on the Bench rotating through

 

[kool kangas]

 

[kool kangas]

Nescafe? Caterers Blend or Pablo more likely.

 

[perplexed]

Biggie, Teakle, CCJ, Pink, and now Darling. That will make five list places used on VFL quality talls who aren't in our long-term plans.

Surely we are going to payout a couple of these spuds.

 

[FootySmartSimpson]

FF: Curtis Larkey Darling
HF: Teakle Comben Zurhaar

Looks good. Dynamic.

Don’t mind Larkey at CHF. Unless we are winning the midfield battle convincingly and he has a favourable matchup, this year proved that in about half of our matches he was wasted at FF.

For Comben to be effective at FF, we need 1-2 crumbers at his feet.

CHF: Duursma Larkey Curtis
FF: Darling Comben (small forward)

M/F rotation: Sheezel, Parker, Simpkin.

I:Teakle/Zurhaar

 

[big_e]

Good deal for North. 2x better then Drew Petrie when he came to WCE

Haha, no.

 

[amaz199]

The fact is, we wouldn't consider him if our current options were good enough.

So I wouldn't be mad at our list managers or Clarko, I'd be pissed at our current players not stepping up to the plate.

 

[trooroo4life]

Biggie, Teakle, CCJ, Pink, and now Darling. That will make five list places used on VFL quality talls who aren't in our long-term plans.

Surely we are going to payout a couple of these spuds.

It’s absolutely horrific list management.

 

[perplexed]

The fact is, we wouldn't consider him if our current options were good enough.

So I wouldn't be mad at our list managers or Clarko, I'd be pissed at our current players not stepping up to the plate.

We haven't actually drafted any tall forwards to step up.

 

[bennymate]

Quinten Lynch

Quinten Lynch

Age

43

Ht

192cm

Wt

103kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.4

4star

K

9.9

4star

HB

4.5

3star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.4

3star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

9.2

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

2.4

3star

M

2.8

3star

T

1.0

3star

G

1.6

5star

2.0

 

[The Nostradamus]

We haven't actually drafted any tall forwards to step up.

we should have played finnbar towards the end of the year instead of wasting game time on pink

 

[amaz199]

We haven't actually drafted any tall forwards to step up.

Other than Cadman, who were our options? We can't say we had a chance with the trade period. We did our best with that.

I still feel our forwards simply do not work hard enough to spread and create space. Which is Darling's bread and butter. It's not the contested marks, it's the clogged nature of our forward line that is due to lack of creativity.

We've had to reset our rebuild plans everytime a coach is fired and the next regime comes in. That instability and mismanagement falls ultimately on the club.

Have you noticed that we've been trading for needs recently and drafting for long term? We'll probably take a tall forward in this draft period.

 

[travelli]

Agree.

Dont love it but definitely has a better ring to it than Pink.

I’m sure oppo coaches would prefer a match up against Pink vs Darling.

 

[RossHenshaw]

Other than Cadman, who were our options? We can't say we had a chance with the trade period. We did our best with that.

I still feel our forwards simply do not work hard enough to spread and create space. Which is Darling's bread and butter. It's not the contested marks, it's the clogged nature of our forward line that is due to lack of creativity.

We've had to reset our rebuild plans everytime a coach is fired and the next regime comes in. That instability and mismanagement falls ultimately on the club.

Have you noticed that we've been trading for needs recently and drafting for long term? We'll probably take a tall forward in this draft period.

Amiss

 

[WesternRoo]

I recall a lot of the same negative comments when we picked up Jarrad Waite

Jarrad Waite

Age

42

Ht

194cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.3

4star

K

9.8

4star

HB

4.5

3star

M

5.8

5star

T

2.7

4star

G

1.5

5star

No current season stats available

D

9.4

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.2

4star

G

0.6

3star

.

Both will be 32 when they play their first game.

I really get supporters frustration at this overall. We have watched the worst team of all time for years under the constant rhetoric that we are rebuilding.

We have botched this so bad we are going after blokes 30 plus an obviously past their best, to fill numerous gaps we should have well filled by now.

In no way can this be sold any other way than a total failure of the whole list management team and this rebuild overall.

But, we need to do it. There is no other choice. We had Pink and Teakle as our second and third forwards last year.

Our only other option is Chom , who is better down back and CCJ who is ordinary and coming off a serious injury.

Darling is a better option than any of the above by a distance (except Chom).

I’m assuming the plan is to draft a young key forward and have Darling up there to help out him and let Larkey do his thing.

 

[RossHenshaw]

Don’t mind Larkey at CHF. Unless we are winning the midfield battle convincingly and he has a favourable matchup, this year proved that in about half of our matches he was wasted at FF.

For Comben to be effective at FF, we need 1-2 crumbers at his feet.

CHF: Duursma Larkey Curtis
FF: Darling Comben (small forward)

M/F rotation: Sheezel, Parker, Simpkin.

I:Teakle/Zurhaar

Small forward = Jy Simpkin

 

[Reagan Smash]

The fact is, we wouldn't consider him if our current options were good enough.

So I wouldn't be mad at our list managers or Clarko, I'd be pissed at our current players not stepping up to the plate.

The list managers are the ones ignoring drafting KPF’s and that’s why we go shopping in the bargain bin for the likes of Darling, Pink and co