The curious case of Darcy Moore and the eight-week hamstring strain

JOSH Kennedy knows how hard it is to kick goals on Darcy Moore, but why hasn’t the Pie put his hand up to help his club in the Grand Final yet? Sam Landsberger looks at the curious case of a young star and an eight-week hamstring strain.

Would Darcy Moore enhance the Pies’ chances of beating the Eagles on Saturday? Picture: AFL Media

JOSH Kennedy knows how hard it is to kick goals on Darcy Moore.

“With Darcy, he’s very quick,” Kennedy told the Herald Sun this week.

“So it’s hard to get a lead-up on him because he gets going, and he’s so tall as well, which makes it hard in the air.”

The West Coast champion booted 3.1 against Collingwood in Round 17. But it was Moore, playing his first game in nine weeks, who took the points.

Kennedy grasped two contested marks opposed to Jeremy Howe in the first quarter and then kicked his third goal via a ‘Joe the Goose’ handball from Mark LeCras.

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Would Darcy Moore enhance the Pies’ chances of beating the Eagles on Saturday? Picture: AFL Media

It was a goalless second half as Moore found his groove. And it is that July duel which makes Collingwood’s selection so fascinating tonight.

While Tyson Goldsack heroically battled against a rusty Kennedy in the qualifying final, the Eagle’s second half — he kicked 2.4 — was telling, and then Goldsack was exposed by Jack Riewoldt last week.

Magpies coach Nathan Buckley yesterday said there were still “some moving parts” when it came to Grand Final selection.

But unless one of those parts is Moore moving his hand into the air, and declaring himself available, you suspect both teams will enter unchanged.

Unless he has suffered an undisclosed setback, it is hard to believe Moore couldn’t be fit.

Two weeks ago Buckley said Moore was “basically best on track” after the main training session and yet he didn’t play in the semi-final or preliminary final.

Darcy Moore cracks a smile at Pies open training on Tuesday. Picture: AAP

Surely 14 days on he is ready.

The Grand Final marks 56 days since Moore suffered what football boss Geoff Walsh dubbed a “hamstring strain” … to his good side.

“(But) the significance of the injury being in the right leg is it is not related to Darcy’s recent history,” Walsh said at the time.

It is unclear exactly when Moore suffered that Round 20 strain — he jogged off the ground — but he has had eight weeks to get it right.

Training at top speed for the past few weeks suggests any hamstring scans he has had recently are clear.

After Moore blanketed Kennedy in Round 17, Essendon great Tim Watson declared he had the makings of a “superstar defender” for the next 10 years.

Buckley said Moore’s performance that day was “a clear positive for us”.

“He made some really good plays,” Buckley said.

“That’s where we want to play him.”

It leads to Moore’s mindset. How hard must it be for Moore — the out-of-contract son of a club great — to put his hand up for a Grand Final?

What would Darcy Moore be thinking right now? Picture: Getty Images

Does he lack trust in his own body?

Moore has broken down in three out of his seven games this season and was a late withdrawal in the warm-up of another.

He has lasted just 57, 19 and 35 minutes in those breakdowns, which must weigh on his mind.

After all, Moore is a deep thinker. The Carey Grammar school captain loves to read, preferring to bury his head in a book rather than watch Friday night footy, and speaks fluent Indonesian.

“What we need to see is Darce actually say his hand is up and (he’s) ready to go. That is more of an emotional and mental belief in himself,” Buckley said recently.

“And then we need to get the tick off from the strength and conditioning and medical staff to say … it’s an acceptable risk to select him.”

Nathan Buckley: “There are a couple of boys that we think could help us.” Pic: Getty Images

BUCKS’ HISTORY WITH EAGLES’ COACH

-CHRIS CAVANAGH

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley has revealed he and West Coast counterpart Adam Simpson have plenty of history as they prepare to face off on opposite sides of Saturday’s Grand Final.

Buckley — who played for Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Collingwood — and Simpson — a North Melbourne great — never played together but have crossed paths many times over the journey.

“Our football careers have intertwined quite significantly,” Buckley said.

“We played against each other and often on each other for long periods of our career together. We retired about the same point. Actually, I think the day I spoke to North and said that I won’t accept the job was the day that Adam retired so there was a bit going on for North at that point.

Nathan Buckley, bottom left, and Adam Simpson, top right, are both former club captains.

“We did our Level 3 (coaching course) together and actually roomed together in Canberra to do the week-long Level 3 together. And a few years ago we travelled to Stanford (University) to do some professional development in that space. We would go to Stanford, come back to the hotel, have dinner over a couple of beers and talk about the day’s proceedings and what we may have learned and gleaned from it. So it’s interesting that it’s come full-circle to this.

“I have great respect for the bloke, the way he’s carried himself, the guy he is.”