Toast Jack Darling - 250 AFL Games

[HoneyBadger35]

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.

That GF is such a perfect summation. The easiest clip of them all to share is the dropped mark, but it's very hard to convey in a gif or a viral post just how thoroughly he tore that game a new arsehole in the third quarter.

One of those situations where the dropped mark would never have remotely mattered had it not been for him dragging us into a winnable position in the first place.

Classic Jack really.

 

[Altum Volantes]

I have been genuinely torn on this bloke for his entire career basically.

I hate watching him live because I cringe every time he gets near it. I have no faith he’ll nail his kicks on goal (despite him being pretty reliable) and his dropped marks still give me PTSD.

The vaccine stance and ninja flip when the heat went on…. My god.
I’ve said enough about that.

….but here we are….250 games down, likely to retire our 2nd highest goal kicker (unless the other players really do hate him and he gets traded….which seems highly unlikely).

If he played for a big Vic team, he’d probably be one of the biggest names in the game. Imagine a bloke with his record at Collingwood/Carlton/Essendon over the last 10+ years.

Instead, he’s one of ours and we sure as s**t don’t win the 2018 flag without him.

Well Done Jack. You frustrating, magnificent bastard.

 

[squashface]

It will be very interesting to reflect on his career once he retires but as Simmo said yesterday, that might be a long way away.

I can see him playing another 5 years.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

He looks like Josh J Kennedy yet is a supermodel compared to JJK.

Built like a brick shithouse.

Has a body that I don't understand how he effectively does the ninja back somersault.

From first coming across his name circa 2008 to now, it's a ride for the boy from Sorrento-Duncraig.

Him and Luke Parker

26

Luke Parker

Age

31

Ht

183cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.2

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

11.6

5star

M

3.8

4star

T

5.6

5star

CL

5.8

5star

D

22.1

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

9.9

5star

M

3.9

4star

T

5.0

5star

CL

5.5

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

8.0

5star

CL

5.2

5star

become the first VFL/AFL players born in 1992 to hit 250 league games.

Could easily've been up to anywhere from 550-600 league goals but 467 will do so far.

Alex Rance

Alex Rance

Age

34

Ht

194cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

7.7

5star

M

5.7

5star

T

2.4

4star

MG

226.9

3star

No current season stats available

D

17.0

5star

K

5.8

3star

HB

11.2

5star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.6

5star

was called a handsome weirdo.
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

's a handsome ball of frustration but I like him.

My all time favourite Eagle.

 

[Keys]

Franklin - 656
Hawkins - 621
Kennedy - 619
Reiwoldt - 604
Cameron - 508
Betts - 475
Darling - 467
Breust - 466
Walker - 459

He’s in pretty good company

 

[Truckosaurus]

2010 National draft

Pick 10 Tom Lynch 421 goals

Pick 26 Jack darling 467 goals

Also not a grub like Lynch.

 

[Rowan18]

Franklin - 656
Hawkins - 621
Kennedy - 619
Reiwoldt - 604
Cameron - 508
Betts - 475
Darling - 467
Breust - 466
Walker - 459

He’s in pretty good company

Wow - that shows just how good Betts was during his time at Adelaide. Going back tk Carlton dulled his reputation as he went on for a year or two too long. Amazing to see a small forward be 6th in the league for goals since 2010

 

[kane249]

 

[southcoast]

Lucky he wasn’t cited for 4 or 5th Ninja kick to the opponents head.

 

[Mulldogg]

Second ever game I believe.

At the time someone here said it was like hitting the turbo button on NBA Jam the way he just made up yards.

Never a more apt video game reference for mine. Amazing speed.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Have no idea how he's able to do the back somersaults the way he does.

 

[kane249]

Have no idea how he's able to do the back somersaults the way he does.

His years of martial arts training pretty much

 

[MIKE85]

Well done Jack, I was actually surprised he was at 250 already, seems not that long ago he debuted. As everyone has said, amazing talent, always good for a few goals, and something stupid, but you take the good with the bad. To come out the way he did in the third quarter of the 2018 GF, after stinking it up in the first half, shows a fair bit of character, and he helped turn the game. Took something like 4 contested marks for the quarter!

As a lover of the number 27 from my childhood days of Jako being my favourite, Darling’s done the number proud. I was worried for a while when it left up to McKinley to do something in it, so thank god for Jack.

 

[jesterwester]

He’s such a barometer for us, Jack. I guess that might be due to the delivery we give him up the field - but when he’s firing he brings the group with him. He is just such a power forward in every sense.

In another era he might have kicked 700+ but if he does play another 3 -4 years he will get pretty close to 600 which is genuinely elite.

So very thankful that Fremantle had a policy of drafting skinny flankers over KP talent at that point in time and he got to us.

Premiership player. All Australian, 4x leading goal kicker for us he is one of the best to have pulled on our jumper. Well done on 250, Jack!

 

[WCE_phil]

He’s such a barometer for us, Jack. I guess that might be due to the delivery we give him up the field - but when he’s firing he brings the group with him. He is just such a power forward in every sense.

In another era he might have kicked 700+ but if he does play another 3 -4 years he will get pretty close to 600 which is genuinely elite.

So very thankful that Fremantle had a policy of drafting skinny flankers over KP talent at that point in time and he got to us.

Premiership player. All Australian, 4x leading goal kicker for us he is one of the best to have pulled on our jumper. Well done on 250, Jack!

If he had played in the 80's to mid 90's I would have had him down as a player who could have reached 1000 goals.

 

[Rowan18]

That 2010 draft shows how much guesswork there is when drafting kids that haven't finished developing. When looking in hindsight you'd swap Gaff and Darling's selections everyday of the week.

 

[Keys]

 

[southcoast]

All said and done - brain farts etc to one side for a moment.

The gap between his best and worst ain’t that great and you don’t see many ‘worsts’

 

[Balls In]

Jack is massively underrated and appreciated. Unbelievable that he is at 250 games already. I reckon he could go another 5 seasons and be waaaay up on the all time WCE games played and goals scored tally. Tireless worker in limited space (ie in a tent)

 

[The wily weagle]

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.

I think about that scenario often

Had that dropped mark ended up going down the other end and costing a goal, and thus the grand final, surely he would have been run out of Western Australia

 

[Rowan18]

I think about that scenario often

Had that dropped mark ended up going down the other end and costing a goal, and thus the grand final, surely he would have been run out of Western Australia

Probably. But in reality, you could also blame Ryan (with two posters in the last), Kennedy (missed set shot in front of goal) or Masto (missed set shot directly in front) for not nailing it. Before Sheed kicked his, I was s**t scared we were about to become one of those teams who kicked themselves out of a flag. We absolutely dominated the Pies in that quarter and should have won by 20 points or so.

 

[BeornJ]

All the best for game 250 Jack. You've been a warrior for the club for such a long time, and hopefully many years to come.

 

[the harry]

I think about that scenario often

Had that dropped mark ended up going down the other end and costing a goal, and thus the grand final, surely he would have been run out of Western Australia

Was it Clinton Young that screwed up in the goal square for hawthorn? Dunstall reportedly made the call that day that he'd never okay for hawthorn again.

Could see a world where similar happened.

 

[MeltMan]

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Gonna need to have a big game with JK rested.