Toast Jack Darling - 250 AFL Games

[BeeTee]

His game against Richmond in 2018 was one of the finest individual games i have ever seen by anyone in any team. He was in the zone and was unstoppable.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

West Coast Eagles from 2001-2014:

2001 22
2002 45
2003 68
2004 91
2005 116
2006 142
2007 166
2008 188
2009 210
2010 232
2011 257
2012 281
2013 303
2014 325

West Coast Eagles from R5 2006-now:

2006 22
2007 46
2008 68
2009 90
2010 112
2011 137
2012 161
2013 183
2014 205
2015 230
2016 253
2017 277
2018 302
2019 326
2020 344
2021 366
2022 378

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Even before his vaccination issue earlier this year he was one of our most maligned and misunderstood players. Equally capable of tearing a game apart in 15 minutes of brilliance as he was of brain farts of monumental stupidity. Made the difficult look simple and the simple impossibly difficult

He can't be that misunderstood as you've described Ol' Ovaries perfectly right there.

Definitely and horrendously underrated if you look at his career as a whole, but man, whenever I think of Darling I always picture him doing his own research:



Great player, great career, wild to think he'll most likely overtake Sumich on the all-time goalkicking list considering he's spent it in JK's shadow.

Well done on the 250 you silly kent.

 

[Flarn Rarn]

Also tried to work out “least games missed to get to 250” but it was too hard. Maybe I’ll try again.

Might have screwed this up somewhere but I think it's close.

Games missed on the way to 250 (ordered by games record holders):

Hurn, Shannon 48
Cox, Dean 30
Jakovich, Glen 36
Glass, Darren 62
McKenna, Guy 30
Kennedy, Josh 93
Banfield, Drew 51
Matera, Peter 41
Embley, Andrew 94
===========
Darling, Jack 19
Gaff, Andrew 23

Edit - Embley is almost certainly wrong - probably because he played exactly 250 games. Will work it out.

Edit 2 - I'm counting games missed after debut, so any games missed before they first played aren't registered.

 

[arfadunger]

Absolute gun. Anyone can have a crack at him for his brain fades and stupid errors, but his stats speak for themself. Also, incredibly consistent and durable. His work rate up and down the ground is outstanding and the amount of contests that he at least halves when he has no right to is elite. If you told clubs on draft night that a particular prospect was going to have a record such as Darling's throughout his career they would be jumping over each other to try and get him. Thank you (once again) young tent lady.

 

[Flarn Rarn]

The funny thing about the list above is that an enormous proportion of Gaff's games missed are his ban for that thing he did.

 

[WCErevival]

So we've only had 9 players play at the MCG. Amazing stat.

 

[Keys]

So we've only had 9 players play at the MCG. Amazing stat.

Someone’s on the ball

And a pedant

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Also tried to work out “least games missed to get to 250” but it was too hard. Maybe I’ll try again.

That was an ordeal working that out and I hate you all.

Possible games from the time they were recruited, not from debut. Which hurts Cox as he spent the whole of 2000 in the WAFL before he debuted.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Once he gets to 50m his goal kicking percentage is much lower.

Isn't that true for approximately 95% of players?

 

[Rowan18]

That was an ordeal working that out and I hate you all.

Possible games from the time they were recruited, not from debut. Which hurts Cox as he spent the whole of 2000 in the WAFL before he debuted.

It also hurt Cox that we're not Freo, otherwise he probably would have played 350 games. Instead, we had Lycett that we needed to bring through the ranks so he could go on and win us a flag.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Also tried to work out “least games missed to get to 250” but it was too hard. Maybe I’ll try again.

If it helps, I believe he’s equalled the record for “least games played to get to 250”

 

[Ochre]

That was an ordeal working that out and I hate you all.

Possible games from the time they were recruited, not from debut. Which hurts Cox as he spent the whole of 2000 in the WAFL before he debuted.

Sure this is right? McKenna is 282 by my count.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Sure this is right?

Not in the slightest.

 

[Keys]

Sure this is right? McKenna is 282 by my count.

As if you did any work to figure something out

 

[WCE_phil]

Second ever game I believe.

I think we forget just how bloody quick in a straight line he used to be.

 

[RookiePick]

Well done JD.

A unique character in our history, that's for sure.

Playing good footy again these last few games.

In our top handful of KPF despite playing second fiddle to our greatest KPF through the bulk of his career.

 

[Keys]

I think we forget just how bloody quick in a straight line he used to be.

Yeah once he got up to speed he was quick

As agile as an iron ore train though

 

[THE A5]

Came into the comp in an era when the 190cm Key Forwards were going extinct and not only survived but thrived. At his best his unstoppable. Too quick and agile for the talls and too big and strong for the smaller defenders. quick and clean ball movement tho hides his deficiencies a lot.

 

[southcoast]

Should have given him a run in the midfield.

We’ll never know. What could have been.

 

[YeoGabbaGabba]

It might not be the most popular opinion but I am a massive fan of Jack’s. Thought in the last few weeks before the bye when we were getting smashed he really tried his guts out for the team and still gave that 110% effort. Shame he’s been a scapegoat in some recent times for such a solid player

 

[Rowan18]

Came into the comp in an era when the 190cm Key Forwards were going extinct and not only survived but thrived. At his best his unstoppable. Too quick and agile for the talls and too big and strong for the smaller defenders. quick and clean ball movement tho hides his deficiencies a lot.

I'm not sure about that last part. The Woosha era was all about bomb it in and mark it around the boundary line. He hasn't had quick and clean ball movement consistently for his career, only the years we've been good.

As someone else said, even when it is bombed on his head, he's still smart enough to spoil to advantage

 

[Stinky Breeches]

He came to the club under a cloud due to his apparent attitude issues.
Drafted to us very luckily at 26(would have gone pick1 the year before)and has been a wonderful leader and model citizen ever since.
Sure he didn’t want to get the vax, but did anyone?
Sure he is prone to a brain fart…
But he has been one of our best pick ups in our history and some eagles supporters continue to bash him whenever he makes a mistake.
People forget that at times during his career he was one the best player in the comp, an all Australian and a premiership player.
Give the guy the respect he deserves because if he went to another team we would all say “wow I wish he played for west coast”.
He will go down as the 2nd or 3rd leading goal kicker in our history.
I for one will always appreciate him.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Bit of an enigma, Jack. He’s quite fortunate we held on in the GF, I wonder how his legacy at the club would have ended up had his second GF marking nightmare ended up costing us everything.

He’s played plenty of good footy for the club, some excellent, and I’m very grateful he’s pulled on the blue and gold.

 

[Get_The_Gaff]

2010 National draft

Pick 10 Tom Lynch 421 goals

Pick 26 Jack darling

27

Jack Darling

Age

31

Ht

191cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.1

3star

K

7.9

3star

HB

4.2

3star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.0

5star

G

1.9

5star

D

8.0

2star

K

4.3

2star

HB

3.7

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.4

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

14.6

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.0

5star

M

6.0

5star

T

4.0

5star

G

1.4

5star

467 goals