A lot of players dropped easy marks last night. I wouldn't be holding that against him.
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Senior Darcy Wilmot (2021-)
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Had to find something to put in the con section!
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #29
Darcy Wilmot: Best Feeling I've Had in My Life
Darcy Wilmot was lost for words after winning in his debut game against Richmond tonight.
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #30
'Best feeling I've ever had': Proud Lion dazzles on debut
WHEN Darcy Wilmot was playing junior footy for Yarrambat, he used to sit down with his dad and watch vision of Luke Hodge playing for Hawthorn on an iPad, learning tricks from the four-time premiership great who finished his 346-game career in Brisbane.
Before last Thursday night's elimination final at the Gabba, it was Hodge who presented Wilmot with his first Lions jumper after Chris Fagan pulled a surprise selection, making the 18-year-old only the third player to debut in a final since 1987.
Grant Wilmot played five games for Collingwood in 1980 and was a local legend in the Diamond Valley Football League for Montmorency, before passing away five years ago. Darcy wears No.44 for Brisbane in honour of his late father, who wore the same number for Collingwood.
While Grant watched on from above, Wilmot's mum and two sisters were at the Gabba on Thursday night to witness Darcy make a memorable start to his AFL career in the Lions' two-point win over Richmond.
"He'd probably be coming up to me and hugging me (if he was here). He'd be so proud of me and letting me know about it. We'd be talking all about it. He definitely would be proud," Wilmot told AFL.com.au in the rooms after his debut last Thursday night.
If Wilmot was born a day later – he was born on the morning of New Year's Eve in 2003 – he would have still been playing for the Northern Knights on Saturday, instead of proving he has the talent and temperament to play at the highest level two nights earlier.
"It's the best feeling I've ever had in my life. To have it with the bunch of boys you work so hard with, it just means everything to us, the fans and our football club. It's absolutely unreal. I can't put it into words,” he said after finishing with 11 disposals and a composed goal that rocked the Gabba.
"I just wanted to get out there and play footy. I love playing footy, so getting to play at the highest level was always my dream. It is my personality not to shy away and keep it simple. I knew what I had to do and just kept to it.
"That (the goal) was unreal. I just tried to be really composed coming up to it, but as soon as I kicked it I turned and wanted to celebrate with my teammates. I heard someone say 'Give it to the crowd' so I got up and about. The crowd were unreal. I absolutely loved the atmosphere. You couldn't dream about it."
With Noah Answerth serving a one-game suspension for striking Melbourne's Alex Neal-Bullen in round 23, the Lions turned to the player they selected with pick No.16 in last November’s NAB AFL Draft, opting not to play him against Southport in a VFL final to ensure he didn't get injured.
Wilmot first got wind of the idea when Fagan played him in the senior side in match simulation at training last Thursday morning, before calling him to confirm his selection later that day, providing the teenager with seven days to get his head around the almost unthinkable – debuting in a final.
"I had a bit of insight last Thursday when Fages said to me 'For the 14 v 14, I want you to play with the ones but doesn't mean you're going to be playing; I'll tell you in the next 24 hours'," he said.
"I was pretty on edge for the next nine hours and I was on a phone call to my girlfriend and was said to her 'sorry I've got to go, Fages is calling me'. He just said to me 'I want you to know you're going to play your first game'. And I was just like 'that's crazy, let's go!'.
"He told me that throughout the whole season I had been really consistent in the VFL and I've earned the opportunity and responsibility. They know my character that I am at the football club. They knew if I just kept it simple and went out there and played my football and helped my teammates, I was going to be alright."
After an impressive maiden pre-season in Queensland, Wilmot was on track to debut at the start of the season before he copped a one-game suspension for a dangerous tackle on Adelaide young gun Ned McHenry in a practice match.
Just when it looked like his VFL form would be rewarded with a debut midway through the season, Wilmot entered the AFL's health and safety protocols and missed out on a first taste against Essendon in July when the Lions were forced to make nine changes.
Wilmot has now had his taste of senior football and looks destined for a long future in the game, but with Answerth available for selection for Friday night's semi-final against Melbourne at the MCG, Fagan and the match committee inside the Gabba will have a tough week at the selection table.
Love his epic celebration. Hopefully he goes from strength to strength and stays in the 22
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #34
Lions youngster Darcy Wilmot playing for late father, Dayne Zorko on sledge fallout
Brisbane Lions young gun Darcy Wilmot carries two special reminders of his late father, Grant, to honour him on and off the football field.
One is a pair of his sandals, which he sometimes wears on game day.
The other is the No.44 guernsey he sports as a tribute to the jumper his father donned in his one season at Collingwood in 1980.
A five-game player with the Magpies in their grand final season that year, Grant Wilmot, who passed away in 2016, was a driving force behind the young Lions’ junior football career.
Now, as Wilmot’s fairytale finals series continues, his father’s memory is driving him as the Lions chase a grand final berth in Friday’s preliminary final against Geelong.
“It’s nice to have a part of him still down here with us and with me, especially,” Wilmot said.
“He would have loved seeing me playing at this level, and to have something (the No.44) to remember him every time I go out is really special.
“I also wear a pair of his sandals; I wear them during the week and sometimes on game day.
“He helped me a lot when I was younger, then when he passed away it was more about me just keeping at it because he would have loved me just doing what I want and (to) have fun.
“So, I keep him in my mind. He is there with me.
“You don’t really think about it in the game, it more motivates me in the lead-up (to) the game and in the build-up.”
If his dad’s simple wish was for his son to have fun on the field, Wilmot has certainly made good on that in his fledgling AFL career.
After waiting all season to break into the Lions senior side, it has been a fairytale ride for the 18-year-old defender this finals series.
Brisbane’s first-round selection in last year’s national draft at No.16 overall, Wilmot earned a surprise call-up to make his AFL debut for the Lions’ elimination final against Richmond.
If making your debut in a cutthroat final wasn’t enough, it turned out to be an epic one – a thrilling two-point win in front of a home Gabba crowd.
Wilmot had been given an indication from Lions coach Chris Fagan he could be in the frame to play in the sudden-death final during the bye week.
While the carrot was huge, it only added to the tension for the teenager.
“‘Fages’ told me the week before, which was the bye week, that he wanted me to play 18 v 18 (match simulation at training) and be in the senior team – he said ‘(It) doesn’t mean you are playing, but it could, I will let you know in the next 24 hours’,” Wilmot said.
“It was a little nerve-racking the next 24 hours waiting for the call, so I just kept my mind off it going about my days as normal.
“He rang me that night and told me I’d be playing against the Tigers and I was a bit stunned thinking how crazy it was.
“The build-up to (the game) was more nerve-racking, but I was more excited I’d be out playing footy at the highest level and living out my dream. I just loved it.”
And didn’t he.
Becoming only the third player to debut in a final since 1987, Wilmot produced one of the most memorable moments of the elimination final when he capitalised on a 50m penalty to score his first career goal in the second quarter.
If the final was epic, so, too, were Wilmot’s celebrations.
The Lions’ youngster energetically fist pumped the crowd and jumped about while he was mobbed by his teammates.
“I remember kicking it and just thinking ‘Wow’,” Wilmot said.
“I just wanted to be loud and celebrate with the boys as loud and energetically as I could.
“The photos probably show that pretty well.
“I’ve kicked three goals since being at the Lions, one in the AFL and two in the VFL.
“I don’t normally celebrate too much, but the crowd that night and the boys getting around me there was a lot more atmosphere and energy, which just took over.”
Wilmot’s elimination final selection was followed by a semi-final appearance in the Lions’ MCG hoodoo-breaking win over premier Melbourne.
Clearly not overawed by a big occasion, Wilmot revealed the secrets behind his big-game routine.
“I have a heap of situations – one of the main ones is that everything I do I have to do evenly or twice,” Wilmot said.
“So, if I touch the boxing gloves, which we touch as we run out, I have to do it with two hands.
“If I have a drink during the game, I have two sips then spray myself with the water bottle twice.
“I do a lot of mindfulness stuff before the game to get myself in the right mindset of having fun and enjoying myself when I am out there playing.”
Wilmot lives with teammates Jimmy Tunstill, Deividas Uosis and Kalin Lane and adjusted to being away from his Melbourne-based family and friends.
“At first you get a bit of homesickness, then when you develop relationships with teammates and staff it gets easier as you are doing more with them away from footy,” Wilmot said.
“I am absolutely loving it now.
“‘Frog’ (Ryan Lester) is my mentor and takes me under his wing to teach me stuff. I try and take him under my wing also to teach him stuff I can, even though he is the senior player.”
Two games and two finals down, the next assignment against flag favourite Geelong now awaits.
“I am pretty excited,” Wilmot said.
“(I’m) looking forward to the challenge to take the next step for the club to make it to the grand final. If I can be a part of that it would be amazing.
“Geelong has been the benchmark side most of the season and are minor premiers, so we know it will be a tough match.
“The last few weeks our confidence has grown and grown so we know we can match it with anyone anywhere.”
Cubs2Lions
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Will he play round 1 next year?
Nunez
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All depends on his pre season at his age IMO. If he has a strong pre season, I think he'll be best 22.
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Automatic selection.
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I don’t think the Coaching group will be afraid to change things up a bit next year.
I feel pretty sure he will start the year.
I feel pretty sure he will start the year.
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From Dalys trade radio interview you’d assume so
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #43
Energetic Lions young gun snags Rising Star nom
DARCY Wilmot's extended run in Brisbane's senior side has seen him rewarded with the AFL Rising Star nomination for round 14.
Wilmot was taken by the Lions with pick No.16 in the 2021 NAB AFL Draft and made his AFL debut in an elimination final last year
The 19-year-old has played every game for the Lions in 2023, averaging 13.5 disposals per game.
While most of the focus during Brisbane's win over Sydney last Friday night was on father-son pair Jaspa Fletcher and Will Ashcroft, 19-year-old Wilmot delivered another solid performance with 19 disposals and four marks across half-back.
Coach Chris Fagan said he was impressed with the Wilmot's solid contribution in all 13 matches this season.
"He is a really good one-on-one competitor who reads the play really well and provides us with great rebound," Fagan said.
"The 'Motty' we see off the field isn't the same Motty we see on the field.
"He is a very charismatic individual who loves having fun around the Club, but when he takes the field, he is very disciplined and plays his role for the team as he is a great team man."
Wilmot's post-match celebrations during Brisbane's finals run last year underlined his vibrancy and enthusiasm, which he has brought to the Lions' back half in 2023.
"His energy and enthusiasm for the game is unmatched," co-captain Lachie Neale said of Wilmot earlier this year.
"I don't know if he's taken over from him, but he reminds me a bit of Mitch Robinson.
"He gets the guys up and about, always having a laugh; you need a bit of that in the locker room."
Wilmot is the second Lions player to be nominated for the Rising Star this season, following teammate Will Ashcroft's nomination in round two.
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #44
Darcy Wilmot Finds out he's a Rising Star Nominee
See the moment Danny Daly told Darcy Wilmot he'd been nominated for a Rising Star award.
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #47
Electrifying Wilmot puts the jets on with streaking finish
Darcy Wilmot produces this blistering goal to continue his side's momentum shift
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
FULL VOTES: North young gun named Rising Star for 2023
Harry Sheezel has capped off a record-breaking season for a first-year player by being crowned the AFL Rising Star
www.afl.com.au
Before it gets lost in all the noise, Darcy came fifth in the rising star. Love this kid!
ZoBlitz
The Ghost Who Walks
- Moderator
- #50
AFL Milestone for Wilmot
It is Darcy Wilmot’s birthday… Not his actual birthday, but the first anniversary of the birth of his AFL career.
It was 1 September 2022 when Wilmot, then an untried, ambitious 18-year-old in his first season in the AFL, was catapulted into the country’s hottest sporting arena.
It was no ordinary debut. He was the first and still only Brisbane player among now 346 over 37 years to debut in a final. And only the 34th among what was then 13,026 AFL players all-time, and the third since 1987.
He hasn’t missed a beat since. Or a game. And will play his 27th game in a row on Saturday week in the qualifying final against Port Adelaide at the Gabba.
Wilmot got his chance last year in the Gabba qualifying final against Richmond, when Cam Rayner and Noah Answerth were suspended, and Jarryd Lyons was injured. He joined Deven Robertson and Callum AhChee as reinforcements, and hasn’t looked like losing his spot since.
So impressive has he been that he ranked 5th overall in the 2023 AFL Rising Star Award in which Will Ashcroft was controversially – and many will say wrongly – overlooked for the top prize due to injury.
It’s all been part of a meteoric rise for the dynamic defender from the Northern Knights, who is only the fifth Brisbane player to wear #44.
Already he has climbed to second spot on the #44 games list behind champion Nigel Lappin (279), who is fourth all-time in the AFL at 279 behind Corey Enright (332), Justin Madden (332) and ex-Fitzroy favourite Richard Osborne (283), after quickly passing Archie Smith (16) and going past Aaron Cornelius (25) and Darren Carlson (25) in Round 24.
Still only 19, Wilmot boasts a 19-7 win/loss record – second-best all-time for the club after 26 games.
Only dual premiership player Robert Copeland was better. He was 23-3, having started his career with a loss before 16 wins in a row saw him win the 2001 flag in his 17th game. And four more wins to start 2002 stretched his streak to 20.
Keidean Coleman (18-8), Ash McGrath (17-1-8), Brandon Starcevich (17-9), Jonathan Brown (17-9) and Daniel Rich (16-1-9) are next best, but Wilmot’s early win ratio will be the envy of many of his teammates. Like Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry, who started 4-22, and Harris Andrews and Eric Hipwood, who were 5-21.
