I just don't rate Darling. I prefer Mayne.
Fair enough. Each to their own. I'm a fan of Mayne as well, but Darling is a more dangerous target up forward, while still being a very good tackler and pressure player. Not in Mayne's class re: pressure and tackling most likely, but he definitely has sides to his game that Mayne doesn't.
In terms of 'what we knew' there was plenty to like about Pitt, and no indication that he had a dodgy heart. We knew that Kersten could lead/mark/kick. We also knew that Darling had very little improvement.
How do we know the bolded? Darling has shown that he's a pretty handy player. He started off that well, that it might be hard to identify improvements in his game... but with his frame, pace and skill set there's no reason to think he would be the same player now as when he first joined the Slime.
As far as I'm aware, Darling could also lead/mark/kick, along with Kersten.
Given all of this I can't be too disappointed in the selection of Pitt (we can however be disappointed in his subsequent heart health), but going 'best available' through to 20-odd when Kersten was sitting there really troubles me. Can be justified to some extent I guess if he really didn't want to come to Freo ... but Pav got over it didn't he?
Fair enough on the last. Forster (pick 29 from memory) isn't at the club any more either. I can see where you're coming from now. Personally, I'm happy enough with the two guys we picked before him though, but picking Forster instead of Kersten is a miss.