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

[chubbspeterson]

Saw Clarko a few days ago having lunch. He ordered a Chicken Banh Mi.

 

[apollo_creed]

Darlings (191cm) potential impact on Duursma (190cm) - who multiple people have suggested is a hyper talented player with a tendency to coast - can't be understated either

Let's instil some work ethic and give him an example to chase

They’re not even remotely similar players.

 

[My Left Foote]

Clarko clearly hasn’t lunch with Chom because according to him we’ve brought Darling in for “leadership and experience”

 

[shinboner magic]

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

Was the premier walking past

 

[apollo_creed]

Responses from eagles fans when I asked what darling would bring to north

* best answer may be no 7

1:

-Defensively Darling is still good
-Will still attract a good defender, so will take some heat off Larkey
-Has been durable and a good trainer
-Knows where to lead/block to free up his partner (think Kennedy/Allen/Waterman)
-Likely contribute 20+ goals a season
-Will help set standards for the young forwards to match

Most importantly though
He isn't Pink or Teakle

Could be your Drew Petrie, who still has a role at the Eagles and is loved by the players.

2:

He'll run hard. He's lost his agility and any jump. For some reason he prefers to concede front position and try and shift his opponent under the ball (not very successfully mostly). He'll train hard, present in excellent nick and probably not get injured. He's happy to share the ball around when he gets it if there's a better option on.

3:

Jack is durable and will present well for the next 2 years

He has lost some of his leap so you won’t get as many pack marks as say 3 years ago

As a sidekick to Larkin, he will do well and probably get you 30 goals a year

He will straighten you up and command a decent defender man him up

He is also useful taking forward ruck knocks

He is also a pretty good set shot

4:

He moves like a brick shithouse, but he’s still great defensively, will draw a defender away from the other forwards and will run in patterns to open space up in the forward line. Durable player too so should help set training standards (just don’t ask him about vaccinations).

5:

Hes been the #3 or 4 target for us this year, with a very weak midfield kicking it in f50. Hes always going to find it hard to kick goals in that situation, he plays as a tall not a small so our structure just didnt work for him.
He copped a lot of shit for realistically being played out of position in a poor team.

He is still very good to elite for tackling/pressure inside 50. He doesnt lose many marking 1 on 1s, despite not winning them either.

I presume your club will want to draft a KPF, and then have Darling hold the fort for a couple of years with Larkey + Teakle/whoever(ruck/fwd) until your young KPF is actually ready. This makes sense and idk why your fellow supporters cant see this, a 18 year old KPF generally cant do much in their couple of years of footy.

Instead of having Pink or Teakle as an important part of your fwd structure who arent natural KPFs, you get a guy who knows how to play a FF or CHF role and knows how to be the #2. Should improve forward structure straight away.

I dont think you guys want Zurhaar to be forced to play as a pseudo tall either, Darling frees him up too to play whats more natural or even allow Zurhaar to have stints onball. I know you guys probably lack a big body mid with aggression

6:

Not a lot of scoreboard impact but he should would help alot in the defensive side and take pressure off larkey. He will be non competitive if he isn’t fit but like Simmo said this week, he hardly lost a contest this year (didn’t win a heap tho) but neutralised most of them. Think his slow down and being undersized he would be more suitable if he was the third tall tho

7: *

Has been said but by far his best remaining strength is halving contests. Sounds like a bad thing (shouldn’t forwards be winning them?) but so much of our ball movement plan over recent years has been dump it long to the wing to a 2v1, and Darling will somehow manufacture a stoppage from it more often than not. Very clever at tap ons, timely spoils, stuff you don’t want as your ace from your KPFs but it’s how he’s remained viable.

Work rate can’t be questioned. Regular impact can however. He’ll be in the right spots and you can see his old man body chasing and working, but some games he just doesn’t get anywhere near it with any regularity. As shown this year though, he still has these bizarre quarters and games where you think he’s 10 years younger and he drags you into periods of momentum.

As a work horse to guide a young forward line, and to halve some contests when you’re panic exiting D50, he’ll be an asset. As a match winner or scoreboard impact, he’ll make you tear your hair out with the quarter by quarter rollercoaster experience, and more often than not with where we’re both at you’d simply rather someone younger get the minutes. But if Clarko’s MO is get some experience in to set standards - can’t fault it at all.

For the Eagles, if we got a meaningful pick back (eg 40s not pick 75 or some nonsense) it would be a no brainer and a bit of a win for all parties. If that’s too rich for North, I’d prefer he just ring up game 300 here or test the market elsewhere to see if someone will give up a third rounder for him. But he’s about to be fourth/fifth in line for the only position our list has in absolute spades, so it all makes too much sense if the deal is there to be done.

There’s pretty much nothing positive there.

summarised - he will try hard and be popular with the players but he cant jump or move so dont expect much.

 

[Devington]

Was the premier walking past

Nah, it was the bloke who signs off on zoning permits right after the players buy the land.

 

[Devington]

There’s pretty much nothing positive there.

summarised - he will try hard and be popular with the players but he cant jump or move so dont expect much.

Just ignoring the consensus that he actually knows how to lead and still offers consistent defensive pressure?

 

[The Filth Wizard]

Just ignoring the consensus that he actually knows how to lead and still offers consistent defensive pressure?

If he can draw an opponent we’re benefiting. Zurhaar and Teakle haven’t really stopped Larkey getting double teamed so he should get an easier job, something he was battling for this year.

 

[perplexed]

Perplexed is correct. Clubs generally won't bid late on f/s fwiw.

They can, but you just need a list spot to match because the mimimum discount is 197 points - which is greater than the point value of late picks.

 

[apollo_creed]

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.

It’s amazing reading this thread. Anyone who has watched him knows how finished he is. Yet we have the delusional in here all desperately looking for positives and none of them relate to him not being shit next season. The guy can barely ****ing move and the ball exits our forward line with ease already.

Fast forward to next off-season after another bottom 2 finish and the same people will mount every argument they can for any player we trade/draft.

And then go off making excuses for why we continue to be shit. Not just shit bit historically shit. But apparently according to these people it’s not because of any decisions we’re making as a club and continue to make.

 

[apollo_creed]

Just ignoring the consensus that he actually knows how to lead and still offers consistent defensive pressure?

He knows how to lead… that is the bar for getting selected in our side

I honestly can’t believe some of the shit I’m reading in here.

Do I need to quote our record over the past five years and the fact we got worse in 2024?

The club is a joke and we continue to make terrible decisions that consign us to being shit for the foreseeable future.

 

[Devington]

He knows how to lead… that is the bar for getting selected in our side

I honestly can’t believe some of the shit I’m reading in here.

Do I need to quote our record over the past five years and the fact we got worse in 2024?

The club is a joke and we continue to make terrible decisions that consign us to being shit for the foreseeable future.

Our forwards have shit leading patterns. Some don't even have patterns. It's 100% a weakness our squad has, and yes it is shit.

I don't even particularly like the idea of recruiting Darling, his best is obviously some way behind him, but if we can't attract any walk up starts or better quality stopgaps... then yeah, Darling it is.

 

[buttox]

It’s amazing reading this thread. Anyone who has watched him knows how finished he is. Yet we have the delusional in here all desperately looking for positives and none of them relate to him not being shit next season. The guy can barely ****ing move and the ball exits our forward line with ease already.

Fast forward to next off-season after another bottom 2 finish and the same people will mount every argument they can for any player we trade/draft.

And then go off making excuses for why we continue to be shit. Not just shit bit historically shit. But apparently according to these people it’s not because of any decisions we’re making as a club and continue to make.

Some of us were outraged a week ago and have come to terms with it.
It's part of being an adult
You learn to move on and accept things you don't like but can't change.
Tony Abbott as pm taught me this lesson.

 

[zoomba23]

He knows how to lead… that is the bar for getting selected in our side

I honestly can’t believe some of the shit I’m reading in here.

Do I need to quote our record over the past five years and the fact we got worse in 2024?

The club is a joke and we continue to make terrible decisions that consign us to being shit for the foreseeable future.

Have you seen our side? None of them actually know how to lead. Larkey gets ok mark on lead numbers because we go out of our way to look for him. There's no point repeating how shit we've been if you're doing it for the sake of repetition. For you and a few others, Bigfooty seems to be a place of self-flagellation. I don't see what that adds, for you or for anyone who reads it. I logged off when it all got too much and things were better for it

 

[Sphynx]

I'd love to know what Clarko had for lunch, it feels like a pizza kind of day.

He had Pork.

A certain preliminary final coach coaching this weekend was also with us.

The topic of conversation surrounded the valuation of consistency vs ceiling.

They would take a player with very little deviation between their best and their worst vs a Tarryn Thomas type.

In both their eyes, consistency is a trait of toughness, they could never trust a mercurial player in finals unless they had to. Theyd take a modiocre consistent player over a mercurial player, as they know they will perform when needed with the chips against them. In their experience almost all of these mechriwl types wit under the pressure, in the moment.

Clarko made clear we have a severe lack of talent on the list, his main issue is with the Northern academies annd the lack of due process with priority picks vs his time at Hawthorn and their impact on the comp. Put it this way, there was a few moments where I could plainly recognize why he might have issues with Hawthorn…

People thinking he’s here for the extended long term need to rethink (3-4+ years)

The Essendon offer was legitimate, the only reason it was rebuffed was it came the day after he accepted the North offer, otherwise it was a serious goer. It was made via Tim Watson and Roger Merrrett, both friends of his older brother, both West Vic boys. Clarko grew up in an Essendon zone and has a soft spot, been long time mates with Watson, Merrett, Merv Nagle etc.

 

[buttox]

He had Pork.

A certain preliminary final coach coaching this weekend was also with us.

The topic of conversation surrounded the valuation of consistency vs ceiling.

They would take a player with very little deviation between their best and their worst vs a Tarryn Thomas type.

Clarko made clear we have a severe lack of talent on the list, his main issue is with the Northern academies.

What was fagans response to that?

 

[The Filth Wizard]

He had Pork.

A certain preliminary final coach coaching this weekend was also with us.

The topic of conversation surrounded the valuation of consistency vs ceiling.

They would take a player with very little deviation between their best and their worst vs a Tarryn Thomas type.

Clarko made clear we have a severe lack of talent on the list, his main issue is with the Northern academies and their impact on the comp. There was a few moments where I could plainly recognize why he might have issues with Hawthorn…

People thinking he’s here for the extended long term need to rethink.

The Essendon offer was legitimate, the only reason it was rebuffed was it came the day after he accepted the North offer, otherwise it ewe a serious goer. It was made via Tim Watson and Roger Merrrett, both friends of his older brother, both West Vic boys.

Surprised he had pork.

 

[Sphynx]

What was fagans response to that?

Not Fagan, Scott, Hinkley or Horse consulting.

 

[buttox]

Not Fagan, Scott, Hinkley, Horse consulting.

Thanks for sharing mate

 

[chubbspeterson]

He had Pork.

A certain preliminary final coach coaching this weekend was also with us.

The topic of conversation surrounded the valuation of consistency vs ceiling.

They would take a player with very little deviation between their best and their worst vs a Tarryn Thomas type.

Clarko made clear we have a severe lack of talent on the list, his main issue is with the Northern academies and their impact on the comp. There was a few moments where I could plainly recognize why he might have issues with Hawthorn…

People thinking he’s here for the extended long term need to rethink (3-4+ years)

The Essendon offer was legitimate, the only reason it was rebuffed was it came the day after he accepted the North offer, otherwise it was a serious goer. It was made via Tim Watson and Roger Merrrett, both friends of his older brother, both West Vic boys. Clarko grew up in an Essendon zone and has a soft spot.

You think he'll retire when the contract is up or head off to Tassie?

 

[Sphynx]

You think he'll retire when the contract is up or head off to Tassie?

He was very much content, finished, retired. He’d planned it many years out with his end of Hawthorns contract coinciding with the last year of his youngest son’s schooling at Caulfield.

He was in Europe and the US as part of a stadium and start up franchise study on the AFL’s wicket, particularly focused on the Green Bay Packers, who the AFL are basing their Tassie investment on.

He hooked up with Steve Kerr at the GSW as another step and got the itch.

GWS and North were the only ones to offer a role, Essendon came after acceptance.

He’s Paul Roos, not John Longmire, from the horses mouth - his goal is to get us competitive again. That’s it. Anymore is a bonus.

 

[Sillygit]

Surprised he had pork.

I was thinking pork pies for some reason...

 

[Ligma]

Pork is haram

 

[zoomba23]

He was very much content, finished, retired. He’d planned it many years out with his end of Hawthorns contract coinciding with the last year of his youngest son’s schooling at Caulfield.

He was in Europe and the US as part of a stadium and start up franchise study on the AFL’s wicket, particularly focused on the Green Bay Packers, who the AFL are basing their Tassie investment on.

He hooked up with Steve Kerr at the GSW as another step and got the itch.

GWS and North were the only ones to offer a role, Essendon came after acceptance.

He’s Paul Roos, not John Longmire, from the horses mouth - his goal is to get us competitive again. That’s it. Anymore is a bonus.

Interesting insights. It's probably a bit unfair to suggest, but I'm going to suggest it anyway, because this is Bigfooty and most of us talk utter bollocks. Is there a chance he isn't going as hammer and tongs as he could be, as a result of his being Paul Roos, rather than John Longmire? His self-described goal perhaps holding him back from completely investing emotionally, in the knowledge that he's gone after '27 and someone else will be able to take over for that last brutal climb towards the summit (assuming we haven't summited by then)? Or is he giving all he has at the moment and trying to remain level-headed about things given all that's happened (realisation that we're shit beyond what he expected, racism saga etc.) Or, as the third option, do you have no idea because these areas weren't really touched on?

 

[Sphynx]

Interesting insights. It's probably a bit unfair to suggest, but I'm going to suggest it anyway, because this is Bigfooty and most of us talk utter bollocks. Is there a chance he isn't going as hammer and tongs as he could be, as a result of his being Paul Roos, rather than John Longmire? His self-described goal perhaps holding him back from completely investing emotionally, in the knowledge that he's gone after '27 and someone else will be able to take over for that last brutal climb towards the summit (assuming we haven't summited by then)? Or is he giving all he has at the moment and trying to remain level-headed about things given all that's happened (realisation that we're shit beyond what he expected, racism saga etc.) Or, as the third option, do you have no idea because these areas weren't really touched on?

I’ve no doubt the guy gives 100% to anything he’s involved with. None. He's an intense, salt of the earth, old school figure. The guy I was with was even more impressive and there's no doubt why he has a 70% winning record.

He’s not 20 years younger however.

I’m way more concerned tonight than I was this morning.

We/I was here long before he became coach when he had Hawthorns interests at heart. We will be here long after.

We were here when Brady was doing West Coast bidding and we will be here long after.

People are best to remember that.

People eventually change, the club and its supporters always remain. The same goes for players. They are often short term custodians. We are attached by a lifelong bond. We are the club.