Darcy Fogarty has been labelled arguably the best kick of any big man to ever play for the Crows
Darcy Fogarty has kicked 20.4 in his first 16 games of AFL footy, prompting one club great to suggest he’s the best kick of any big man to ever play for the Crows – and that includes Tony Modra.
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Darcy Fogarty has kicked 20.4 in his first 16 AFL games, prompting one AFL great to suggest he’s arguably the best kick of any big man to ever play for the Crows.
That leads our Games Notes from Saturday night’s Showdown 48 in this week’s The Moment column.
FOGARTY looked like ripping the game apart early, but like his team it only lasted 10 minutes.
Still, the signs were good. His first three involvements were a contest in the air and on the ground which led to Rory Sloane’s goal, he cannoned into Tom Jonas with a big spoil to win possession for his team, and then ran to the opposite flank to mark and kick the set shot goal.
“He’s nearly got the best kick from a big man that I’ve ever seen at the Crows … and that includes Tony Modra,” Crows football director and club great Mark Ricciuto said on Triple M during the call.
Cameron Ling was equally as complimentary on Channel 7.
“That is a beautiful, simple kicking technique with those powerful legs,” Ling said.
Modra kicked 440.225 in 118 games for the Crows at an average of 3.7 a game in the 90s.
REILLY O’Brien could hold his head high after the Showdown loss. He broke even with Lycett in the ruck but took the honours around the ground with three contested marks and six tackles which is very good for a big-man.
He had limited help from Taylor Walker and Darcy Fogarty so whether he can maintain the workload for the next few weeks without a Frampton or Himmelberg will be interesting.
GREAT to see Tom Doedee back after a knee reco. The ball bounced off his chest at his first attempt but he still won possession, and he repelled three Port Adelaide attacking forays in the first quarter. As they say in horse racing, he will be better for the run.
THE Crows didn’t however get a lot out of their other three inclusions. Debutant Ned McHenry was never expected to set the world on fire but Adelaide would have hoped for more from experienced recruits Ben Crocker (five disposals) and Ben Keays (six disposals). McHenry at least had 12 and five were contested which is more than both Crocker and Keays. He also kicked 0.2 which could have easily been 2.0 with a bit of luck.
KEN Hinkley singled out Trent McKenzie in his post-match presser and rightly so.
The former Gold Coast Sun played just one game in 2018 and one in 2019 in between shoulder injuries, before arguably saving his career with a brilliant SANFL finals series.
On SA footy’s biggest stage on Saturday night, McKenzie was brilliant. He took a strong contested mark early, won an important one-on-one against Brad Crouch on the boundary and didn’t give the Crows talls an inch all game.
“I thought he was outstanding tonight … Trent’s a great story, if you talk about stories at your football club,” Hinkley said.
“He’s come to us (on his) last chance and he’s hung in there, hung in there, and now he looks like a really strong defender and great recognition for him.
“It’s easy to talk about Rozee and Duursma and Boak and Gray and Ebert, it’s not often you get to talk about McKenzie at full back and I think it was a really worthwhile mention for Trent, he was outstanding.”
TOM Jonas is embracing the responsibility of the No. 1 guernsey after going it alone with the captaincy this season and Hinkley saw that at three-quarter-time on Saturday night.
“I knew the team were committed to that at three-quarter-time – ‘let’s keep going because these are hard games and you’ve got to make the most of them’.”
Reporter: So you demanded they be ruthless in that last quarter?
Hinkley: “No, I didn’t, Tom Jonas did, which was really pleasing. You love Tom because nothing changes, ‘play the way you’re supposed to play boys’, he’s pretty simple isn’t he … you’re a bit scared with him I reckon.”
HE’S won a Showdown off his own boot before but that was arguably the best game Steven Motlop has played for the Power.
At times he tries to do too much with the footy but supporters must surely be prepared to wear the odd mistake because when it comes off, the creativity cracks an opposition defence wide open.
EBERT GOES ALL IN
Brad Ebert can’t pinpoint the exact day he made the decision to leave his helmet at home before he returned to footy training last month but he does know why.
At 30 and after a series of concussions which looked career-threatening at times last season, Ebert wore the helmet in Round 1 against Gold Coast in March.
“Over pre-season coming back I just felt like I would try it again, and there were a couple of knocks where you’d question things and say ‘let’s just put it back on to be safe’,” he told The Advertiser on the weekend.
He was good in Round 1 too, with 20 disposals and kicking 1.3 in the Power’s big win over Gold Coast.
But then the competition was suspended, players sent on an indefinite break and Ebert admits the uncertainty of the future did initially worry him.
“There was a period where I thought ‘I’m 30 and if the season doesn’t go on, who knows what happens?’” Ebert said.
“But at the same time I thought it was a good opportunity to freshen the body up after a fairly long pre-season and I could come back fit and raring to go.”
So that’s what he did. Training alone and eventually in pairs, Ebert used the break to his advantage and by the time he returned to Alberton he felt physically and mentally refreshed.
That’s when he decided to ditch the helmet.
“After that extended period (off) I just felt confident in my head, confident in my body and it was one of those ones where I came back for those three weeks and trained and felt fine without it so let’s just go without it again,” he said.
Mark Ricciuto described seeing Ebert without a helmet as a “statement” in Showdown 48 which was among widespread praise from the Triple M commentary box about the way he was playing.
Ebert was running hard, strong in the air, clean on the ground and his presence in the forward line was another reminder of the luxury Port Adelaide has in its midfield depth.
“I guess if you’re looking at the depth in the midfield, I probably only got 10 minutes in one of the quarters and that was about it, some games I’ll get more, some I’ll get less, and that’s on the back of how many guys can through there,” he said.
“It’s been good to play that half-forward role and get up and down the ground.”
True to form, Ebert copped a knock early and had four stitches just above his eyebrow and returned to the field with his head bandaged up.
“It seems to be that spot for some reason,” he said.
But it didn’t worry him.
“He (Ebert) turned up tonight and some of the stuff he was doing in the first half was like ‘wow’,” teammate Travis Boak said.
There was his marking contest at half-forward, clever knock-ons, tackle on Paul Seedsman to win a free kick and one minute into the third term he won the ball in the air, again on the ground and fired a sideways handball to Xavier Duursma who ran into an open goal.
“You could see the boys were pretty fired up, it’s been a fairly long period there with no games so we knew it would be hotly contested from the start and we had to maintain it from the start,” Ebert said.
The night had special significance for Ebert who continued a proud family history in the black and white prison bar guernsey.
“You stop to reflect a little bit and realise the history and tradition of it all,” he said.
“My family has had a fair run in that guernsey – my great grandpa, grandpa on my mum’s side and my uncle and dad – it was a proud moment for me.
“And whenever you can wear that guernsey is an honour.”
As he prepares to head north to the Gold Coast for Port Adelaide’s next three games inside a quarantine hub, Ebert is also torn over whether his immediate family will join him for his 250th game which is set for Round 4 against West Coast – the club where he started his AFL career. But the 14-day mandatory isolation period when they return may mean he celebrates with his football family only.
Originally published as Darcy Fogarty has been labelled arguably the best kick of any big man to ever play for the Crows