Recommitted Darcy Parish [re-signed until 2023]

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mm_jam

Draftee
Oct 28, 2020
8
6
AFL Club
Collingwood
What do things look like for Darcy Parish beyond 2021?

Shiel and McGrath have cemented their spots as two of the three mainstays in Essendon’s midfield, with the third spot to be ideally filled by a big bodied inside midfielder (Dunkley?) based on the clubs continued pursuit of a player of this type. This, as well as the acquisition of Jye Caldwell and the plan/vision that he is to play a decent/important role in their midfield in 2021 and beyond, indicates that Parish’s already somewhat limited role in their midfield core will significantly decrease.

Parish has proven that he has what it takes to be a genuine AFL midfielder, performing well when given licence to roll as an on-baller/pure mid. However, it seems he won’t be given this opportunity in 2021 and beyond if he remains at the club.

Parish turns 24 and his contract ends next year. Should he leave Essendon to fulfil his potential as a genuine mid elsewhere? Or should he stay at the club and try to become elite in a different position?

Would love to hear what people think, thanks!


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Yort15

Debutant
Oct 16, 2020
61
98
AFL Club
Geelong
I'd love to see him come home to geelong.

Feel like he will fill a gap in our mids at the 24-26yr old range in the future especially with Selwood bowing out and other youngsters such as narkle, constable and cockatoo looking like leaving this year.

In 2022 Duncan (31), guthrie (30) mennagola (30) and Danger (32) will be on the way out of the midfield if not already.

Could really fit well with Parfitt and cooper stephens as the core midfield group. I like that parish can go forward and kick a goal when needed. I rate him highly!
 
Jun 11, 2007
34,086
29,320
Victoria
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Bayern, Milan, Boston Celtics
Been a massive fan day 1, but we have really handled our list poorly when it comes to him

Merrett was his only similar team-mate when we drafted him
Since then we've added McGrath, Smith, Shiel & we're about to add Caldwell.

if we land both Dunkley & Caldwell, our midfield make up (for me) would be;

Draper Dunkley Shiel
Merrett McGrath Langford

Parish rotates through the Shiel/McGrath positions
Caldwell through the Dunkley/McGrath
Heppell with Dunkley/Shiel
Merrett can come inside for McGrath at times

He can play HFF as a starter too. So that's a plus for us. But he is far better on the ball.

Ideally we don't trade him as we're low on midfield talent. And he is a good pure midfielder.
But if he got jack of being played as a fwd/mid, could see a trade request come in.
 

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dumdum

Cancelled
Jul 14, 2019
484
195
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
problem IMO Essendon have to many smalls on there list, i would trade Parish next year
 

mm_jam

Draftee
Oct 28, 2020
8
6
AFL Club
Collingwood
I'd love to see him come home to geelong.

Feel like he will fill a gap in our mids at the 24-26yr old range in the future especially with Selwood bowing out and other youngsters such as narkle, constable and cockatoo looking like leaving this year.

In 2022 Duncan (31), guthrie (30) mennagola (30) and Danger (32) will be on the way out of the midfield if not already.

Could really fit well with Parfitt and cooper stephens as the core midfield group. I like that parish can go forward and kick a goal when needed. I rate him highly!

Completely agree, Geelong sticks out as the best potential suitor for all the reasons you’ve pointed out - gotta love that go home factor haha. And in typical geelong style, watch them snag him for chips, with a much smaller contract than the likes of a Brad Crouch who they were initially targeting. Not to mention I think he could have as big of an impact and at three years younger too!


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

mm_jam

Draftee
Oct 28, 2020
8
6
AFL Club
Collingwood
Been a massive fan day 1, but we have really handled our list poorly when it comes to him

Merrett was his only similar team-mate when we drafted him
Since then we've added McGrath, Smith, Shiel & we're about to add Caldwell.

if we land both Dunkley & Caldwell, our midfield make up (for me) would be;

Draper Dunkley Shiel
Merrett McGrath Langford

Parish rotates through the Shiel/McGrath positions
Caldwell through the Dunkley/McGrath
Heppell with Dunkley/Shiel
Merrett can come inside for McGrath at times

He can play HFF as a starter too. So that's a plus for us. But he is far better on the ball.

Ideally we don't trade him as we're low on midfield talent. And he is a good pure midfielder.
But if he got jack of being played as a fwd/mid, could see a trade request come in.

Great points, I 100% agree. Would still be good value on the HFF but yep surely he’d want a move. He’s got too much upside to be a pinch hitter, and like you said it’s a shame how the dons haven’t seen bigger things for him.


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mm_jam

Draftee
Oct 28, 2020
8
6
AFL Club
Collingwood
Essendon supporters don't agree but If we manage to get Dunkley in I would be ok with offloading Parish

Yeah I think it’s best for all parties concerned, a shame to lose him but that’s footy, and having a dunks/shiel/McGrath set up will hopefully make you forget parish pretty quickly. Things are set up nicely for parish to leave and get a 2-3 year deal elsewhere, shine as a pure mid and then chase that bigger/longer contract as he turns 26/27 and looks to enter the prime of his career.


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May 6, 2007
39,099
22,788
South East Suburbs
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Tottenham Hotspurs, Melbourne Vixen
Woeful kick for a mid-fielder....
had better disposal efficiency than Brandon Parfitt, Dion Prestia, Jack Viney this year



just sayin/
 

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Sep 12, 2007
1,640
994
Melbourne
AFL Club
Essendon
I genuinely don’t understand why this bloke isn’t in our starting mids every week. His clearance/per ball up would be the best in our team by some mark.

Every time he bangs down the door for a mid spot we put him to a fwd flank for a month.

The week before sheil got injured he dominated the last quarters clearances and I thought finally he’s gonna be a starting mid. They didn’t put him on ball once 🤦‍♂️


......I may be bias as I had him in sc draft expecting him to be perminant in ball after watching his preseason games. :D
 

mm_jam

Draftee
Oct 28, 2020
8
6
AFL Club
Collingwood
I genuinely don’t understand why this bloke isn’t in our starting mids every week. His clearance/per ball up would be the best in our team by some mark.

Every time he bangs down the door for a mid spot we put him to a fwd flank for a month.

The week before sheil got injured he dominated the last quarters clearances and I thought finally he’s gonna be a starting mid. They didn’t put him on ball once 🤦‍♂️


......I may be bias as I had him in sc draft expecting him to be perminant in ball after watching his preseason games. :D

Haha I have some bias towards his situation too. I just traded for him in a keeper league, thought I’d roll the dice in case he gets a move to another club. Biases aside, none of what we’ve said is far fetched, Parish has what it takes.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
I genuinely don’t understand why this bloke isn’t in our starting mids every week. His clearance/per ball up would be the best in our team by some mark.

Every time he bangs down the door for a mid spot we put him to a fwd flank for a month.

The week before sheil got injured he dominated the last quarters clearances and I thought finally he’s gonna be a starting mid. They didn’t put him on ball once 🤦‍♂️


......I may be bias as I had him in sc draft expecting him to be perminant in ball after watching his preseason games. :D
Goddard was talking about him on trade radio today, it's something about the defensive mindset stuff that he was asked to improve on (and he has improved on it a bit this year as well).
 

mm_jam

Draftee
Oct 28, 2020
8
6
AFL Club
Collingwood
Goddard was talking about him on trade radio today, it's something about the defensive mindset stuff that he was asked to improve on (and he has improved on it a bit this year as well).

Just gave it a listen, quite interesting Goddard and De Stoop seem to believe that he’s “found his position” there and that his future lies at the dons as things stand.


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Feb 5, 2018
13,936
33,320
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Chicago Blackhawks Melb Renegades
Would have him at Hawthorn in a heartbeat but we already have Worpel who is pretty similar in age, size, speed and output.

Liam Shiels will probably be close done by the end of next season but he doesn't get a lot of full time mid minutes anymore.

Darcy would need to go to a side who would play him as a premanant midfielder because that is definitely his best position.
 
Apr 23, 2016
30,511
42,679
AFL Club
Essendon
Seems like he is behind shiel, Merrett and McGrath for centre square time

that and Heppell coming back along with Caldwell recruited makes me think he’ll be permanent forward

to think they wanted Dunkley also- they clearly don’t rate parish in the midfield

Merrett was playing a more outside role to finish the season from memory, I think he's best there. And there's been some comments regarding Heppell playing some time at half-back as well.

I'd hope Shiel & McGrath are our main two midfielders, with guys like Caldwell / Parish getting reasonable time on-ball and playing off a half-forward flank. I hope Smith doesn't start in the centre square at all.

Parish is a quality on-baller, but suffers because the way he plays means he probably needs to be a few inches taller and a few kg's heavier to really push other guys out of there. At a minimum he needs be a few kg's heavier if he wants to be a compact inside player like a Taylor Adams or Lachie Neale, or work on his tank to play that hard working Richmond-esque HFF-Midfield role.
 
Mar 18, 2014
43
66
AFL Club
Geelong
Completely agree, Geelong sticks out as the best potential suitor for all the reasons you’ve pointed out - gotta love that go home factor haha. And in typical geelong style, watch them snag him for chips, with a much smaller contract than the likes of a Brad Crouch who they were initially targeting. Not to mention I think he could have as big of an impact and at three years younger too!


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Jacob Hopper would be our preferred target IMO. We need a bigger body in there who accumulates to combine with Guthrie and Parfitt over 2022-23.

Parish would be OK if one of Cooper Stephens or Charlie Constable really came on next year to the point of them being a likely B+ Grader but that seeks unlikely.
 

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