The Tackle: Jay Clark’s likes and dislikes from round 14
The cherry-picker reach and gliding movement makes Sam Darcy hard to stop and just 34 games into his career, one of the best ever has declared the young Dog footy’s most valuable commodity.
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Has the AFL’s new king emerged? According to one of the greatest ever, Sam Darcy is footy’s best forward since Jeremy Cameron. So how far can he carry the Bulldogs?
Jay Clark gives his likes and dislikes from round 14 of the AFL season.
LIKES
1. ALL RISE FOR THE NEW KING
Sam Darcy is the new king.
The sky-scraping Western Bulldog with laser kicking skills on both sides of his body has been dubbed a “cheat code” by his teammates.
It’s the cherry-picker reach and gliding movement which makes him unstoppable in a marking contest.
And in just his 34th game, the Bulldogs’ latest father-son gem showed why he has already become one of the most influential players in the game.
In his comeback from a serious knee injury on Thursday night, Darcy racked up 19 touches and three goals despite some rough-handling from the Saints’ defenders which seems certain to be a common tactic as clubs stretch to find ways to stop him.
While Collingwood and Geelong clamour for top billing in this year’s premiership race ahead of inaccurate reigning premier Brisbane, it’s Darcy who looms as one of the biggest wildcards in the run home.
Up the field, the 208cm goal kicker receives some of the most sublime delivery in the caper from Marcus Bontempelli and Ed Richards and Co. who help make up the top midfield unit in the game currently.
And finding a way to stop the Bontempelli-Darcy combination will be the biggest headache in the opposition coach’s box each week.
North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey, who is one of the game’s greatest key forwards, said the 21-year-old Darcy was already “the most valuable commodity in the game” and someone who showed “clear competitive instincts”.
“He is the player every club in the competition would want more than any other player in the league,” Carey told the Herald Sun.
“And isn’t it refreshing to watch a guy doing what he does because he is not just a mark-kick player.
“He can have 20 possessions and three goals a game and for a key forward that is special, that is an A-plus game for a key forward.
“So there is so much to like. He is great on his left (foot), he puts pressure on the opposition and there is a bit of mongrel in him.
“He is the best key forward to come into the competition since Jeremy Cameron.”
And while Victorian clubs complain about the northern states academies, the father-son rule continues to deliver clubs some enormous gifts.
Cody Walker, who is the son of Carlton’s Andrew Walker but also part of Richmond’s next generation academy, is another tipped to go very early in next year’s draft, while Essendon’s Koby Bewick looks a star of the 2027 crop.
It means the most romantic rule in footy, and certainly one of the most popular in Victoria, will come under increasing fire from interstate rivals.
On the field, Darcy also knows he has it coming.
His brilliant rise will attract significant attention as defences prepare to collapse on him in a way which should help release Aaron Naughton and the Dogs band of medium and small forwards.
There were three instances on Thursday night when Darcy queried the umpires after appearing to be either held or hit from behind in marking contests involving Saints’ big men Anthony Caminiti and Rowan Marshall.
Coach Luke Beveridge didn’t miss the opportunity to highlight the treatment in his post-match press conference.
“Obviously they paid him a fair bit of attention and it is something he is going to have to deal with week to week,” Beveridge said.
“As long as he is just treated the same as every other key forward that is all that matters.”
So the physical toll is one thing, but Carey said Darcy clearly had the temperament, determination and support to handle the mental load and attention on him as a generational key forward.
“The opposition will go to work on him,” Carey said.
“They will block him, stop his run at the footy, and his teammates will come across him, but to me he just looks like he has got that competitive instinct where he will work his way through that.
“Others you would say they probably won’t. I have no doubt Darcy will.”
2. CATS’ FREE HIT
There’s a joke on every corner about the Cats’ salary cap
But as the Cats prepare for another high finish, the genius of their recruiting methods are on show again with a man they got essentially for free
When Geelong made a trade with Essendon to go back one spot from 10 (Nate Caddy) to 11 (Connor O’Sullivan), they got pick 31 as the sweetener.
And with that second-round selection the Cats took a 26-year-old VFL ball magnet named Shaun Mannagh who on Saturday booted three goals against the club who helped make his AFL dream possible at the Cats.
He is a classy finisher, Mannagh, and when he sprinted past Tyson Stengle and threaded a dribbling goal through on the outside of his right boot from a tight angle it was all second nature.
The Werribee star is clean as a whistle.
And the pressure and reliability of the Cats’ small forwards is a key part of the goal kicking operation when you also consider Cameron’s mobility, Patrick Dangerfield’s power, and Ollie Dempsey’s spring and endurance.
So, there are threats everywhere in the air and at ground level, and it could take them all the way as the Lions faltered on Saturday.
Mannagh has booted 15 goals from 11 matches this year and narrowly missed a fourth on Saturday when he hit the post running into an easy one.
Cameron stole the show with six majors and Max Holmes made a statement about whether he actually be more important or complete as a player than Bailey Smith, but around the fringes Geelong keep adding the jets who also keep the club at the top.
FREO’S TWIN TOWERS
THIS was why Fremantle believe it has footy’s best job-share program.
The club is convinced Sean Darcy is best deployed as the main ruckman allowing Luke Jackson to do damage around the ground with his athleticism and clean ground level pick-ups.
And against North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri, it worked a treat.
The big moment came late when Josh Treacy saved the game with his last-minute mark, but in the ruck this was one of the Dockers’ biggest statements of the season that it cannot only work, but flourish, amid trade interest from Melbourne and Geelong.
Darcy’s bulk was more effective against Xerri in the ruck than Jackson who struggled to use his jump to climb above Xerri.
But it was around the ground where Jackson excelled digging out the hard handball with one minute remaining in the third term to set up a Caleb Serong goal.
Then later in the last term he produced a right foot snap which was the go-ahead goal late in the fourth.
It is that all-round skill set which makes Fremantle happy it has both big men and on Saturday night against one of the best in Xerri the twin talls worked as Fremantle held on late to clinch the gritty win.
DISLIKES
1. SOFT TISSUE STRAIN
Essendon has already overhauled two major areas of its football club.
When Dave Barham took over as president a review flagged the need to bolster the development coaching program, while Matt Rosa also took over from Adrian Dodoro last year as Bombers’ new list boss.
But there is a third area of concern which will require attention at season’s end. The injuries, and in particular, the soft tissue problems which have plagued the club.
It might just be bad luck, but Essendon has continued to lose some of their most important players including Zach Reid, Kyle Langford, Jordan Ridley, Matt Guelfi and Darcy Parish among others to soft tissue strains this year.
While it has exposed some of the kids to senior footy this season in a campaign where the club was never going to finish high up, coach Brad Scott would love a better run going forward in this department.
So a decent probe is required at season’s end on why the club thinks it has had a tough run on this front. Essendon has lost the third most matches to injury this season behind the Cats and the Swans, while Adelaide and North Melbourne have had the most favourable runs.
The Bombers have fielded 10 debutants this year and were perhaps unsurprisingly smacked off the park by 95 points by one of the mature and well-drilled sides in the competition in Geelong on Saturday.
And it was not the first time a Cat has kicked a bag on the Bombers as Jeremy Cameron ran riot on Essendon defender Jayden Laverde with six majors.
He was given great service by running machines Max Holmes and Bailey Smith but the gap in the game should not have been as wide as it was in the midfield.
The Bombers, even for all the absences including suspended hard nut Sam Durham, should not have been belted as bad for centre clearances 19-9 and inside 50s by 25.
Parish continues to be on a minutes restriction as he works back from continued injuries while Archie Perkins who had 11 touches last week, started sub even despite all the senior player absences.
Scott put many of the kids before Perkins who hasn’t kicked-on in recent times like Durham and Nic Martin despite the hype around his performances in round 1 last year when Perkins had 24 touches, two goals and 12 tackles and in round 1 in 2023 when he mustered 20 touches and three majors.
Perkins, Reid and Nik Cox were the three big picks in the first round of the Covid-ravaged 2020 national draft and Perkins has hit a flat spot, Reid had his injury issues before his breakout this year, and Cox’s career is at the crossroads with concussion.
SEASON OVER
That is curtains for Melbourne’s season following a return of Simon Goodwin’s same old headache.
And it will prompt serious consideration over the next few months about whether the club has the forward stocks to service the kind of improvement the coach requires next season or whether it goes hunting an established goal kicker.
Because Mitch Georgiades booted seven goals to sink the Demons and remind them exactly of what they would love to have in a big marking target.
It remains one of footy’s great mysteries how the Demons can continue to have more inside 50s than its opponent after six more entries than Port despite five less goals.
Goodwin has been trying to integrate change but at times it has still relied on heroic acts or huge hauls from Max Gawn or Kysaiah Pickett to win.
But it is when finals are out of reach is when the true resilience and faith of the playing group will be tested.
Port’s campaign still has a pulse and former Cat Esava Ratugolea had one of his best games in defence while Georgiades dominated the aerial battle.
The damage of Port Adelaide’s ballwinners such as Connor Rozee and Jason Horne-Francis hooking up with seven-goal star Georgiages was at odds with what some of the Demons did on Sunday.
Horne-Francis looked like a top-10 player in the competition with his power and brilliance and there is no doubt the players are still digging in for Ken.
The Power produced some blistering footy especially in a second-term passage when Connor Rozee intercepted at half back and linked up with Zak Butters who takes as many hits and bumps as anyone in the game in order to release a teammate into space.
He could be the most selfless ballwinner in the comp, Butters.
Port is on a run and could continue the rise against Sydney Swans and Carlton over the next fortnight to climb back to the fringe of the eight.
But for Melbourne a season which started terribly will end without finals action again as they prepare for the bye followed a tough away clash against Gold Coast.
SLEEVES UP
This is where Levi Ashcroft will be able to round-out his game.
And why Josh Dunkley is one of the most underrated linchpins in the game.
The Brisbane Lions fell to their third home loss of the season laying just 28 tackles against GWS Giants on Saturday as Brisbane’s goal kicking yips continued.
Over the past fortnight the Lions have booted a combined 21.33 to fall to consecutive losses as GWS booted some long goals on the run to steal all the momentum early.
But coach Chris Fagan can’t have Levi and Will Ashcroft laying zero tackles between them, which allowed the GWS running game to click back into Orange Tsunami mode at the Gabba.
Levi Ashcroft is a brilliant midfielder in his first season after he was taken pick five last year.
But it was the sixth game this season he has failed to notch a tackle. Over time, that will improve.
Dunkley provides important balance in the Lions’ engine room as he is a sleeves-up operator who often covers off for teammates.
The Lions will attempt to show their hunger hasn’t dropped off, even though their execution most certainly has in recent weeks.
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