Opinion Jack Darling to the Midfield

[Carbine Chaos]

dajesmac to the midfield then?

 

[dajesmac]

dajesmac to the midfield then?

At 187cm and 87kg I do have the stats.

Too bad I'm a shocking footballer.

 

[WCETRUTH]

No less agile than Pav and he made the transition. Darling adds a lot of pressure around the contests.

Darling fumbles like an alcoholic without a morning boost on the corn flakes.

 

[lewigie]

They really should have a "ninja flip" test at draft camp.

 

[Masto]

Darling fumbles like an alcoholic without a morning boost on the corn flakes.

Is this alphabet?

 

[WCETRUTH]

Is this alphabet?

nup

 

[HungLong]

Straight swap Darling for Lecras. Lecras is made of glass (not the darren variety, unfortunately) and cannot handle the rigours of midfield punishment.

 

[WCE_phil]

I'm more than happy for us to give it a go however i don't really rate darlings handball skills, particularly in congestion so not sure how it would work out. Best case scenario is we end up with a player similar to jobe watson, bit less agility, better kicking skills and more goal kicking power. I'm just not sure of his creativity at the bottom of packs. If it did work though all of a sudden we go from having a small midfield to a reasonably large one. Shuey, scooter and darling would all be big boys. Priddis needs to **** off. I've put up with it for too long, yes he tries hard and yes he is good at what he does however he ****s our structure and can't rotate anywhere else. Against the good sides he just gets run off. (sorry swannies for turning it into another priddis thread)

 

[lmach]

Is this alphabet?

Legend dairy. Follow these two words and you'll find your answer.

 

[Ted38]

True. Although my point about TKD was that the standard of agility is different.

I agree with EH that Darling does 'run on rails', isn't great below his knees and is poor by hand. Being a Tae Kwon Do black belt doesn't equate to being an AFL midfielder in terms of agility because the level of athleticism is very different.

Also slightly off topic, I am the same age as Darling, the same belt and competed in every state or national wide Tae Kwon Do tournament growing up, and never came across him once. I think there's a fair chance he went to a TKD school where self-defense was focused on more so than competition, in which case he may not have done much sparring.

I am totally speculating though.

Firstly I don't agree that he 'runs on rails', whatever that means, and I've never said that he would be suited to the midfield although at the moment, given our midfield, I'm sure he would make a worthwhile contribution. In junior football he did play a lot as a midfielder and always saw himself in that role and he was a very accomplished junior athlete over multiple distances.
He didn't compete a lot in sparring mainly because of his concentration on football but I can guarantee you that he would have more than held his own in his division. He learnt his Taekwondo primarily through his father who is a 6th Dan and whose club is part of the organization that is renowned for producing some of the best Taekwondo fighters in WA. I am sure you would have come across or perhaps fought some of them during your Taekwondo career.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

Legend dairy. Follow these two words and you'll find your answer.

I spotted it straight away then my post was deleted.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

For those anti darling spelling in the midfield, your points are sound.

However he is no less agile than Roughead who starts a handful of centre bounces in the middle.

The benefit of darling in the midfield is it allows wellingham/Shuey/masten etc to spend a few extra minutes resting in a pocket in addition to their time on the bench.

I can't think of another side that has such a fixed forward 6 and back 7 who don't ever go on ball. I reckon Rosa would be close to the only one who goes from half back to on ball on occasions.

It puts a lot of pressure on our midfielders who get outrun late in quarters and the end of games

Darling may or may not be the answer, but unless we start rolling a few blokes through to see how they go - we will never know

From my point of view it isn't a matter of looking for a permanent mid, rather blokes who can give a positive chop out and bring something different to a centre 4 setup. Darling with his bulk and pace offers that potentially.

 

[Underdog]

He'll never be more than a stop gap so I'm not interested. I'd rather we just give him further development up forward.

Everyone highlights Hawthorn as only having 1 player who doesn't run through the middle and that should be our target. Hawkins and Pods don't run through the middle. Pavlich no longer does and Mayne doesn't.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

He'll never be more than a stop gap so I'm not interested. I'd rather we just give him further development up forward.

Everyone highlights Hawthorn as only having 1 player who doesn't run through the middle and that should be our target. Hawkins and Pods don't run through the middle. Pavlich no longer does and Mayne doesn't.

Mayne does. All of Geelong's smalls and flankers do.

 

[Underdog]

Mayne does. All of Geelong's smalls and flankers do.

So recruit smalls that do. Leave our young tall forward to develop in one of the hardest positions on the ground.

I wouldn't say Mayne does to any meaningful degree. Nevertheless, it's largely irrelevant.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

He'll never be more than a stop gap so I'm not interested. I'd rather we just give him further development up forward.

Everyone highlights Hawthorn as only having 1 player who doesn't run through the middle and that should be our target. Hawkins and Pods don't run through the middle. Pavlich no longer does and Mayne doesn't.

Stop gap is fine, IMO that is all that is needed - a stop gap for a few minutes a quarter. It also allows us to get him in the game if the ball isn't getting down there.


So that is 2 players from those sides.

At present we have 5

Perhaps it is Josh Hill that needs midfield minutes

 

[Underdog]

Everyone but Darling and Kennedy should be looking at midfield minutes. If they are not capable of that, then that needs to be taken into account when assessing them.

I'm not sold on the whole "get him into games" aspect. There's nothing stopping him from getting to each contest from a flank like Masten - other then instruction of course.

 

[Bob Fossil]

The Roughead comparison is silly as he is excellent at ground level due to his basketballing background.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

For those anti darling spelling in the midfield, your points are sound.

However he is no less agile than Roughead who starts a handful of centre bounces in the middle.

The benefit of darling in the midfield is it allows wellingham/Shuey/masten etc to spend a few extra minutes resting in a pocket in addition to their time on the bench.

I can't think of another side that has such a fixed forward 6 and back 7 who don't ever go on ball. I reckon Rosa would be close to the only one who goes from half back to on ball on occasions.

It puts a lot of pressure on our midfielders who get outrun late in quarters and the end of games

Darling may or may not be the answer, but unless we start rolling a few blokes through to see how they go - we will never know

From my point of view it isn't a matter of looking for a permanent mid, rather blokes who can give a positive chop out and bring something different to a centre 4 setup. Darling with his bulk and pace offers that potentially.

To add to this I can't think of another team that has such a fixed position for wingers and on-ballers.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

To add to this I can't think of another team that has such a fixed position for wingers and on-ballers.

One particular midfielder in our side is especially inflexible.

 

[dajesmac]

To add to this I can't think of another team that has such a fixed position for wingers and on-ballers.

True. Although our midfield is pretty raw and inexperienced to some degree, that versatility is only really coming through now (Shuey and Gaff playing more inside roles, Masten's excellent outside game). That takes time. Wellingham's versatility is a feature and hopefully Sheppard can develop a similar level of flexibility. Scooter can at least alternate between negative and offensive.

The concerning ones are Priddis, Hutchings and Rosa. Those guys are locked to their position and role in the midfield.

 

[Smotie]

Him and Schofield should rotate in there. Heck lets put Cox, NN, Darling and schofield in there.

Bust some bodies up.

 

[Probitas_]

Stop gap is fine, IMO that is all that is needed - a stop gap for a few minutes a quarter. It also allows us to get him in the game if the ball isn't getting down there.


So that is 2 players from those sides.

At present we have 5

Perhaps it is Josh Hill that needs midfield minutes

I've been wondering this myself for most of the year. Would love to see them at least try it.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

I've been wondering this myself for most of the year. Would love to see them at least try it.

The times when he has gotten possession further up the ground he has been a great user of the ball, has made good decisions and has clean disposal by foot. It would also allow him to utilise his speed and marking ability a tad more. We need him to go through the midfield as it is how the game is played these days and he offers quite a bit.

 

[Probitas_]

The times when he has gotten possession further up the ground he has been a great user of the ball, has made good decisions and has clean disposal by foot. It would also allow him to utilise his speed and marking ability a tad more. We need him to go through the midfield as it is how the game is played these days and he offers quite a bit.

Absolutely agree.

Criminally underrated player, goes out of his way to help his teammates. I wasn't sold on him at first but the dogs must be spewing. Very consistent year, and has that wonderful habit of just popping up when you least expect him and assisting with goals.