Toast Jack Darling - 250 AFL Games

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Barrybran said:
Darling, Brownless, Roughead, Loewe as a super quick response. There'll be better players but those guys have all been very good second fiddles.
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Brereton?

Shared a forwardline with Dunstall

Hard to know who was second fiddle between those two though

Brown and Lynch for the Lions was a pretty good pair. As are Hawkins and Cameron
 
Campaigner for good said:
This is well articulated, thank you! He may not have reached the heights people expected after his first few seasons but he has still comfortably produced a very very good career. I'm pretty sure people would have been stoked on draft night to know that we had picked the bloke who would finish as our second highest goal kicker.
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I daresay that's what leads to some of the opinions of JD. He burst on the scene and was dominant in those early years. The expectation may have been 'well if he's doing this at 19-22, he could be anything by 25-26'.

The more likely outcome is that he just reached his ceiling quite early and has rewarded us with durability and consistency that is almost unmatched in terms of KPFs.
 

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DanWCE said:
I daresay that's what leads to some of the opinions of JD. He burst on the scene and was dominant in those early years. The expectation may have been 'well if he's doing this at 19-22, he could be anything by 25-26'.

The more likely outcome is that he just reached his ceiling quite early and has rewarded us with durability and consistency that is almost unmatched in terms of KPFs.
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His ceiling was the middle part of 2018 and 2019 where there were periods where he was the most dominant forward in the competition.

Interestingly it's possible that Darling will end his career with more goals than Charlie Curnow (27, 253 goals), Harry McKay (26, 232 goals) or Nick Larkey (25, 26 in June, 209 goals).
In fact it's entirely possible that no key forward currently between the ages of 23 and 30 atm beats Darling's goal tally in their career. Maybe Naughton or one of the King boys. However, they'd need some luck and have form well into their thirties to make it possible. Plus both Naughton and Ben King will have strong competition to be the no. 1 forward target at their clubs with the younger key forward talents coming through.
 
eaglespremiers said:
His ceiling was the middle part of 2018 and 2019 where there were periods where he was the most dominant forward in the competition.

Interestingly it's possible that Darling will end his career with more goals than Charlie Curnow (27, 253 goals), Harry McKay (26, 232 goals) or Nick Larkey (25, 26 in June, 209 goals).
In fact it's entirely possible that no key forward currently between the ages of 23 and 30 atm beats Darling's goal tally in their career. Maybe Naughton or one of the King boys. However, they'd need some luck and have form well into their thirties to make it possible. Plus both Naughton and Ben King will have strong competition to be the no. 1 forward target at their clubs with the younger key forward talents coming through.
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JD went beast in 2018 but statistically how much variance is there between that year and the year JK missed with injury? I'm guessing it's higher in contested marks in 2018 but his potency remains fairly consistent over time.

Where his peak is wasn't what I was referencing at all, but more that his career is less bell curve and more table top. Reached a peak early and largely maintained it for an incredible amount of time as opposed to a gradual rise, short peak, gradual decline. In that regard bell curve is probably not the right reference point but it's late...
 
DanWCE said:
Where his peak is wasn't what I was referencing at all, but more that his career is less bell curve and more table top. Reached a peak early and largely maintained it for an incredible amount of time as opposed to a gradual rise, short peak, gradual decline. In that regard bell curve is probably not the right reference point but it's late...
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I agree, his consistency is commendable (up to the last couple of years), and relatively unusual for a key forward.
 
Below are his career statistics by totals and by averages

Two things standout.

1) He’s been incredibly durable. By my count he’s missed just 23 games, 10 of which were in 2015 (the only full season he played less than 20 games) due to a fractured foot that delayed his start to the season until R11

2) He’s been incredibly consistent. From 2012 to 2022 his goals per game average ranged from 1.62 to 2.49. Has kicked at least one goal in 237 of his 284 games which is a strike rate of a goal or more in 5 out of every 6 games

A732FA09-E9D2-4B7C-B1E5-2CA65D6E86D2.jpeg

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Jack suffers from people not understanding that progress isn’t linear.

If you’re good as a kid, you’re expected to be great.
If you’re great as a kid, you’re expected to be generational.

That patch in 2018 where he was the best player in the comp for two months was a preview into what might have been if he’d done that consistently, but also doing that consistently means he’d have won Brownlows from the goal square.

I think we’ll reflect on just how phenomenal he was once he’s gone, and have a chuckle about some of his real head scratching moments that he peppered in amongst well over a decade of being a true top 10 KPF in the league.
 
HoneyBadger35 said:
Jack suffers from people not understanding that progress isn’t linear.

If you’re good as a kid, you’re expected to be great.
If you’re great as a kid, you’re expected to be generational.
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Isn't that the truth.
HoneyBadger35 said:
have a chuckle about some of his real head scratching moments that he peppered in amongst well over a decade of being a true top 10 KPF in the league.
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It's funny, because he has proven to be a ridiculously good contested mark at various times in his career. But on the odd occasion (and perhaps it's happened a bit more in the last couple of years) he just gets a rubber chest while in some space. But he is actually a very brave forward, particularly given his size and has taken some great marks in the past, not the least of which the last goal at Subiaco (which was a vitally important goal at the time):


Incidentally, Yeo mentioned that Jack was one of his two best mates at the club this week.
 

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eaglespremiers said:
Isn't that the truth.

It's funny, because he has proven to be a ridiculously good contested mark at various times in his career. But on the odd occasion (and perhaps it's happened a bit more in the last couple of years) he just gets a rubber chest while in some space. But he is actually a very brave forward, particularly given his size and has taken some great marks in the past, not the least of which the last goal at Subiaco (which was a vitally important goal at the time):


Incidentally, Yeo mentioned that Jack was one of his two best mates at the club this week.
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Funny you say this cause Yeo had his 30th birthday celebration on grand final day last year at his pub and only two players rocked up. I can’t remember who the. Other one was but Darling was the other one to rock up. I found it a bit odd only two blokes rocked up but also it was Gf day and some blokes would have had commitments on the day
 
Jack has had a great career but I reckon he is a tad unlucky. Him and JK are only 5 years apart but I think if he’s was drafted in the mid 2000’s like Jk he most likely ended up having an accident even better career. Plenty of KPP’s around his size back then and even the bigger one weren’t that much taller than him. His endurance/size combo would have a genuine nightmare for most of them.

That said it’s only in the last couple years that he’s started to struggle to exploit the big key backs
 
THE A5 said:
Funny you say this cause Yeo had his 30th birthday celebration on grand final day last year at his pub and only two players rocked up. I can’t remember who the. Other one was but Darling was the other one to rock up. I found it a bit odd only two blokes rocked up but also it was Gf day and some blokes would have had commitments on the day
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Maybe Yeo isn't that popular outside of club walls for all we know?
 
eaglespremiers said:
Isn't that the truth.

It's funny, because he has proven to be a ridiculously good contested mark at various times in his career. But on the odd occasion (and perhaps it's happened a bit more in the last couple of years) he just gets a rubber chest while in some space. But he is actually a very brave forward, particularly given his size and has taken some great marks in the past, not the least of which the last goal at Subiaco (which was a vitally important goal at the time):


Incidentally, Yeo mentioned that Jack was one of his two best mates at the club this week.
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Lol - Pav is such a twat. In the video, they show the replay after darling kicks it and he days "it was a seven point play as it hit the post", implying that Darling didn't complete the mark.
 
CursoryMercenary said:
Darling unfortunately never reached his full potential he's been a very good player but he's never reached the level of a Hawkins, Riewoldt or Pavlich.
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Potential is a difficult thing to measure. I think it would be more accurate to say he never really had the potential to reach the same level as those players - but they're all-time greats, so zero shame there. I think Jack topped 50 goals a couple of times, but the others would have had multiple years in the 60s and maybe 70s.
 
CursoryMercenary said:
Darling unfortunately never reached his full potential he's been a very good player but he's never reached the level of a Hawkins, Riewoldt or Pavlich.
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I don't agree with that. I think he just reached his potential quite early on and has enjoyed quite a lot of consistency at that level. Some just expected him to turn into something he never did based on how much of a freak he was when he joined the side
 
THE A5 said:
Funny you say this cause Yeo had his 30th birthday celebration on grand final day last year at his pub and only two players rocked up. I can’t remember who the. Other one was but Darling was the other one to rock up. I found it a bit odd only two blokes rocked up but also it was Gf day and some blokes would have had commitments on the day
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Well, that explains why Yeo slid to pick thirty on draft day.
 
ioppolo said:
Maybe Yeo isn't that popular outside of club walls for all we know?
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Who spends their birthday with everyone from work? Most people would only have a couple people rock up on grand final day if they invited all their work colleagues. Doesnt mean they aren't well liked.

It's a total misconception that every player at a club is best mates
 
oak79 said:
Who spends their birthday with everyone from work? Most people would only have a couple people rock up on grand final day if they invited all their work colleagues. Doesnt mean they aren't well liked.

It's a total misconception that every player at a club is best mates
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Especially as you get older. I could understand the younger guys sticking together.
 
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