Player Watch #?: Jack Darling - has officially requested to be traded to NM on a two-year deal. Pick 64 is expected to be tabled.

[The Warlord]

For starters we can't wheel and deal with pick 64. It also takes a list spot of someone like Cooper Harvey or Blake Drury. And it certainly means we can't bring in a young tall to develop.

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Love the way the AFL teased the story with "the pick that'll unlock the Darling trade".

Pick 64!

Whiteboards in list managers offices across the country have been scrubbed clean now that pick 64 is in play

 

[Flawed Genius]

Love the way the AFL teased the story with "the pick that'll unlock the Darling trade".

Pick 64!

Whiteboards in list managers offices across the country have been scrubbed clean now that pick 64 is in play

Just saw Stephen Wells fall to his knees in a Barwon Heads shopping center car park

 

[Jeremy Jordan]

Love the way the AFL teased the story with "the pick that'll unlock the Darling trade".

Pick 64!

Whiteboards in list managers offices across the country have been scrubbed clean now that pick 64 is in play

Was pick 64 as part of our compensation package for being garbage?
“The AFL gifted North pick 64, and they are just throwing it away….”

 

[rickety]

How does bringing Darling in affect the long term plans

Simmos assistant coach ...

 

[King Corey]

Just saw Stephen Wells fall to his knees in a Barwon Heads shopping center car park

The sky had blackened and Requiem was booming for all to hear.

 

[Flawed Genius]

The sky had blackened and Requiem was booming for all to hear.

(I acknowledge Wells is far more likely to find some bloke playing for Grovedale thirds and draft him with #64, then develop him into a 4x AA half back who plays 318 games but never leaves the greater Geelong city limits, than Brady is to do anything good with the pick)

 

[speedy]

Wins next year is precisely what’s best long term

Yeah, just like that morale boosting end of season win against GC.

 

[Flawed Genius]

Yeah, just like that morale boosting end of season win against GC.

We can't be shit forever

 

[giantroo]

 

[BlueandWhiteinmyBlood]

Just saw Stephen Wells fall to his knees in a Barwon Heads shopping center car park

Okay, Im embarrassed to ask as it probably means I’m getting old but this is one phrase I can’t seem to find out how and where it originated from but I see it all the time, please enlighten me.

 

[speedy]

A club champion at west coast, but they don’t want him.

Don’t want him teaching their young forwards. Don’t want his one percenters. Don’t want him driving their training standards.

That’s alright, at North he will be an invaluable resource.

 

[The Warlord]

CBF listening but interested to know how much of his cash we paying.

 

[Event Horizon]

The guy is cooked. It’s obvious isn’t it? Do the shit for brains down at north think he’s going to turn it around? He will struggle to hold his spot in the seniors if he doesn’t.

If he turns up unfit after the Xmas break it could be the final straw for me.

When we dominate a team at Marvel as we have done quite a few times for parts of the game at least, he will have enough smarts to find separation. I think he will thrive at Marvel in fact. Even in his current state. As far as being fit, he knows how to look after his body better than most.

 

[Event Horizon]

And why the **** are we offering up any sort of half meaningful draft pick? We should be getting a pick upgrade for taking him off their hands.

True, but we probably aren't going to use the pick either way

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

This reeks of a coaching staff desperate to see improvement in the win column next year and losing focus on what’s best long term.

I'm sorry but what's bad about that? I'd be worried if they weren't desperate to see improvement in the win column next year. I don't think our supporter base could take another year like the 5 that have just gone by.

 

[Orange Peanut]

The guy is cooked. It’s obvious isn’t it? Do the shit for brains down at north think he’s going to turn it around? He will struggle to hold his spot in the seniors if he doesn’t.

If he turns up unfit after the Xmas break it could be the final straw for me.

I doubt it very much that he will be on peanuts.

This reeks of a coaching staff desperate to see improvement in the win column next year and losing focus on what’s best long term.

And why the **** are we offering up any sort of half meaningful draft pick? We should be getting a pick upgrade for taking him off their hands.

Yeah, probably doesn’t…. Only because we have no young forwards to put games into.

That’s long term key forward strategy 101 right there.

Yeah, just like that morale boosting end of season win against GC.

A club champion at west coast, but they don’t want him.

Don’t want him teaching their young forwards. Don’t want his one percenters. Don’t want him driving their training standards.

That’s alright, at North he will be an invaluable resource.

So, you're a "no" on the whole Darling thing mate?

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

A club champion at west coast, but they don’t want him.

Don’t want him teaching their young forwards. Don’t want his one percenters. Don’t want him driving their training standards.

That’s alright, at North he will be an invaluable resource.

Have you thought about what he's already taught the likes of Allen and Waterman? Have they just come from the clouds on their own merit, or has Jack done his job and will now be moving on to teaching an 18-year-old at North how to be elite?

 

[My Left Foote]

What about pick 58?

The last 10 years of pick 58:
2023 George Stevens
2022 Noah Long
2021 Lachlan Rankin
2020 Cameron Fleeton
2019 Trey Ruscoe
2018 Fraser Turner
2017 Jack Patmore
2016 Matt DeBoer (delisted by Freo drafted by GWS)
2015 Tom Phillips
2014 Harry Dear

 

[My Left Foote]

Had 29 and kicked 1 against us in Hobart this year.

He's played 74 games, I had no idea, his stats look okay.

 

[scottywiper]

Have you thought about what he's already taught the likes of Allen and Waterman? Have they just come from the clouds on their own merit, or has Jack done his job and will now be moving on to teaching an 18-year-old at North how to be elite?

Gee. All that great service and they're shoving him out door . Seems harsh.

 

[speedy]

Have you thought about what he's already taught the likes of Allen and Waterman? Have they just come from the clouds on their own merit, or has Jack done his job and will now be moving on to teaching an 18-year-old at North how to be elite?

So our own all-Australian key forward (who some want as captain) can’t do the same?

All this setting standards and guiding our young key forwards (of which we have none) is all bullshit.

They have recruited him to fill a massive hole in our forward line. And they have scrapped the very bottom of the barrel to do so.

A 33yr old undersized key forward who has lost his athleticism and will most likely degenerate even further in the next 2 years.

If it makes people happy, I will admit he’s an upgrade on what we have (which is pretty much nothing).

What irks me… this is the best the club can do to fill a massive hole?
Pretty much sums up the club.

So no, I’m not going to pat the club on the back and say job well done.

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

Gee. All that great service and they're shoving him out door . Seems harsh.

Remember Liam Shiels being delisted by Hawthorn? He’s played an invaluable role in the development of Sheezel. Harry couldn’t speak higher praise of Pup.

Keep carrying on misery guts. You can dislike the way Jack plays onfield, but daring to question what his important role will be off-field for our club shows a clear lack of knowledge of what is valued inside the four walls of a club.

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

So our own all-Australian key forward (who some want as captain) can’t do the same?

All this setting standards and guiding our young key forwards (of which we have none) is all bullshit.

They have recruited him to fill a massive hole in our forward line. And they have scrapped the very bottom of the barrel to do so.

A 33yr old undersized key forward who has lost his athleticism and will most likely degenerate even further in the next 2 years.

If it makes people happy, I will admit he’s an upgrade on what we have (which is pretty much nothing).

What irks me… this is the best the club can do to fill a massive hole?
Pretty much sums up the club.

So no, I’m not going to pat the club on the back and say job well done.

Mate. I love Larks, but he’s not that guy. I’m referring to players who know what it’s like to have a long, successful career.

The ability to receive in-depth knowledge from players who have not only been great on-field for a long time, but also who know how to get to the promised land is so important for our young guys.

I’m very critical of what the club has done in the past, but I don’t understand why getting Darling is some “make or break” move for some fans.

 

[speedy]

Mate. I love Larks, but he’s not that guy. I’m referring to players who know what it’s like to have a long, successful career.

The ability to receive in-depth knowledge from players who have not only been great on-field for a long time, but also who know how to get to the promised land is so important for our young guys.

I’m very critical of what the club has done in the past, but I don’t understand why getting Darling is some “make or break” move for some fans.

It’s not make or break…. Its just more of the same shit that’s been going on here for far too long.

 

[lockheed]

I'm 62 I can remember watching North in the late 60's and early 70's. We were terrible. I think it was 1972 or '73 and we beat Carlton at Princes Park who had won the flag in 1970 and '72. It was like a premiership for us. Two years later in 1974 we were playing off in the Grand Final with Barassi as coach. The following year I was at the Grand Final with my Dad. He bought a couple of tickets off scalpers before the game. It was one of the happiest days of my life to be there when we won our first VFL Premiership. I barrack for the Roos because of my Dad of course. He and Mum were Irish immigrants who came to Australia in the 1950's. Dad got a job driving trams and as did many of the Irish in those days, and they were mostly either North or St Kilda supporters. Fortunately Dad chose North! Yes the last few years have been putrid, but the sun rises again tomorrow morning, and we still have a team to support. It will turn, the plethora of young talent will eventually turn the wheel in our favour again. Hopefully the experience and support Darling and Parker (please come to North) will see us beginning to bear fruit in 2025.

I've supported North since sometime around 1969. I remember when people thought that Sam Kekovich would be the messiah, grieving with all of North when his brother died when run over when training along a road. I remember when the 10 year rule came in, and seemingly we had an endless supply of brown paper bags; Royce Hart killing us in the '74 grand final, and so on.

The good moments are grand, the bad moments are awful. Like most supporters, we try to be optimistic and hope the wheel will turn. And like cockroaches, we persevere.