Mark Duffield assesses West Coast’s Jack Darling trade and the out-of-contract Eagles in limbo
He’s one of the greatest goalkickers in West Coast history — but Jack Darling is destined to finish his career elsewhere. MARK DUFFIELD explains why and assesses the state of play for the club’s other out-of-contract players.
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The left-field trade of West Coast’s Jack Darling to North Melbourne now looms as a real possibility as Alastair Clarkson and the Kangaroos list management team look to add a heavy injection of experience to their young team.
Darling, a 32-year-old veteran whose 298 AFL matches sits him second behind only Shannon Hurn on West Coast’s games-played list, has one year of a contract to run at the Eagles and would be set to earn about $800,000 in 2025.
It is understood the Eagles had planned to honour that deal, but are very open to the idea of Darling joining the Kangaroos for a late draft pick with them picking up part of his salary.
Darling’s North Melbourne deal would be for more than one year but would involve performance triggers, a source told CODE Sports.
Clarkson has been open about his want to add experience to a team that has a lot of young talent but lacks older bodies and structure in key-position posts.
North have leaned heavily on the goalkicking ability of Nick Larkey in the past two seasons. Larkey kicked 71 goals in 2023, but the next best at the club was Jaidyn Stephenson’s 26. Paul Curtis (30 goals) ranked second to Larkey’s 46 majors in 2024.
Darling’s goalkicking output has diminished gradually over four seasons from 42 in 2021 down to 22 in 2024, but his role has become more unsettled this year due to the emergence of Jake Waterman in attack.
Waterman, Oscar Allen, emerging youngster Jack Williams and 2023 draftee Archer Reid give the Eagles more than enough tall options to feel comfortable letting Darling go in the twilight of his career.
At North, his place in the structure would be potentially as important as his goalkicking output.
North played defender Toby Pink as a makeshift forward at times this season — placing pressure on hybrid forwards Paul Curtis and Cam Zurhaar to also play tall.
Darling’s potential departure does however add another layer of uncertainty to the Eagles players waiting on their contract fates, with as many as eight players in limbo.
Part of the uncertainty is caused by the fact that there is no senior coach in place, with the club believing it should wait for Adam Simpson’s successor before passing judgement on some of the more marginal calls on the list.
The selection of the coach could also affect West Coast’s ability to bring players in.
While Andrew McQualter — understood to be one of the top four candidates under consideration — would not automatically get the job because of his relationships with Richmond pair Jack Graham and Liam Baker, a McQualter appointment would certainly not hurt the Eagles hopes of luring the Tigers premiership pair.
Most Eagles insiders have McQualter and Geelong assistant Steven King as the two favourites for the job.
If one or both of Graham and Baker came it could trigger an extra delisting or two among the Eagles uncontracted players with the club expected to start making cuts in the middle of next week.
Originally published as Mark Duffield assesses West Coast’s Jack Darling trade and the out-of-contract Eagles in limbo
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