Collingwood’s Darcy Moore opens up on most demanding year of his AFL career

He’s become arguably the best key defender in the competition, but Darcy Moore has revealed another set of sharp skills in Collingwood’s hub.

Collingwood’s Darcy Moore: ‘I’m somebody who is not a massive ‘footy head’ who always lives and breathes the game.’ Picture: Michael Klein

Darcy Moore flicked through the pages at a record pace.

When the football talk became all-consuming in the hub, the All-Australian found sanctuary in the chapters of 1960s classic To Kill a Mockingbird, psychological thriller Bluff and a rock star autobiography on Rolling Stone Keith Richards.

He even delved deep into the thinking of US President Donald Trump in a book written by his niece, Mary L Trump.

 As much as Moore has had an outstanding season marshalling one of the best defensive units in the competition, finding some life balance in football’s travelling roadshow has been, at times, tricky for the superstar centre half-back.

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So, when he needed a break from the 24/7 footy, Moore became a bookworm.

“I have found that (balance) pretty difficult, to be honest,” Moore said.

“I’m somebody who is not a massive ‘footy head’ who always lives and breathes the game, so that has been really hard living in quarantine environments with teammates and coaches,” Moore said.

“You aren’t really seeing anyone else, so it is a lot of footy all day every day, and it is hard to switch off from that.

“So I think I started the trip reading about a dozen books in the first couple of weeks, and then I got the clippers out.”

To help things, Collingwood tried to make a clear distinction between football mode — when players were required to wear club gear — and their own leisure time.

That’s when players could do their own thing, like study or play basketball or table tennis.

But, after whizzing through his novels, Moore then opened up a pop-up barber shop, where teammates in recent weeks have queued up for a trim.

John Noble got a “speed stripe”. Adam Treloar wanted a “skin fade”.

Atu Bosenavulagi was perhaps his best cut.

And Taylor Adams and Jack Crisp were two of the last to sit in the chair for a freshen up ahead of Saturday night’s elimination final against West Coast.

But Jamie Elliott’s do was the big one.

“I have done Jamie Elliott’s two or three times now,” Moore said.

“A few people have said, ‘I can’t believe Jamie is letting you cut his hair’ and I’m not sure whether that is a little dig at him for being vain or something.

“But yeah when he (Elliott) said I could cut it that was definitely a landmark moment.”

Collingwood’s Darcy Moore gives teammate Atu Bosenavulagi a haircut in the hub. Picture: Instagram

Perhaps, the same could be said about Moore’s on-field performance in 2020 when the father-son gem put some niggling soft-tissue injuries behind him to become one of the premier key intercept defenders in the competition.

He was the rock in a defence which conceded the third-least points (average 51.8 per game) in the home-and-away rounds — behind only Port Adelaide (51.1) and Richmond (51.4). And where the Collingwood forward half has lost steam on occasion this year, the back-six have maintained a pretty constant choke hold on their rivals.

 Moore, 24, said while it was nice to receive some individual recognition for his first All-Australian jacket, he took more pride in the back line’s performance as a unit this year. It remains the key to their premiership hopes.

“When the team has been shipped off from city to city, and other parts of our game have fallen apart at times and been inconsistent, it has been nice that we have been able to hold our heads high and been so consistent down back,” he said.

“The back line has probably been the strongest part of our game for the whole season.

“That is something we have hung our hat on all year and are pretty proud of.”

It is why Moore is confident the Magpies have the coverage to blunt West Coast’s marking power in the cut-throat eliminator in Perth.

The Eagles inflicted Collingwood’s biggest defeat of the season in Round 8 when they triumphed by 66 points, reopening some of the scars from the thrilling 2018 Grand Final win over the Magpies.

Even in that contest two months ago, Moore held Jack Darling goalless over their 62-minute match-up ahead of another likely showdown tonight.

Moore said the battle in the air would be pivotal.

 “They (Eagles) have dominated aerially for five or six years now, and are so consistent in that area at both ends of the ground,” he said.

“They have just got some serious ability there and it’s what their game is built on.

“For someone like me it is a massive challenge, and they definitely got on top of us last time we played them, so we have a got a bit of a point to prove there.”

But the challenge will be as much as mental as it will be physical.

For all the hoops the team has jumped through this season, the loss to a red-hot Port Adelaide in the final round consigned the Magpies to leave their families behind on the Sunshine Coast for another week in the west.

Before the departure the players enjoyed a few drinks to celebrate Adams’ and Brayden Maynard’s birthdays and Scott Pendlebury’s 314 games record, helping draw a line on the regular season.

But then it was back on the road and back into quarantine at Joondalup Resort, leaving the grounds only three times this week to train — once at Perth Stadium and twice on an adjacent oval.

Moore said the club’s recent finals experience and record on the road would hold the club in good stead.

“We are under no illusions, it is a big challenge,” he said.

“Flying six hours across the country and then being holed up in a strict quarantine facility for seven days before the game at Optus Stadium in front of 30,000 West Coast fans (isn’t easy).

“We have had seven or eight weeks in a row playing at the Gabba, and we were feeling pretty settled at Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast.

“But getting on the road again is almost a little bit of a refresher and there is a clear sense for us that this really is a finals game. It is really going to focus the group.

“We are a pretty mature group and we have got some guys who have played in lots of big games and lots of finals series and the last few years in particular we have got experience as a team performing in those games.

“And after the last three or four months we have had, we are as ready as we have ever been to travel as a team to get the job done. So we have had plenty of practice, and we have got it down pat now and are pretty optimistic.”

Herald Sun