AFL 2025: North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson to give forward Jack Darling every chance to play

North Melbourne is using every minute available to get a veteran forward fit for Saturday as he battles a nasty leg injury.

North Melbourne could wait until an hour before the first bounce on Saturday to confirm the selection of veteran forward Jack Darling.

Darling suffered an unusual cut leg from a rogue boot during the Kangaroos’ 11-point win over Carlton last weekend.

The new Roo played through the pain of the gruesome wound but required stitches and has been held back from training this week.

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson said he would name Darling before putting the forward through his paces ahead of Saturday’s match against Hawthorn.

“It was obviously a pretty significant injury as it turned out (and) enormously courageous for him to come back out onto the field,” he said.

“Our docs did a great job to be able to do that and his courage to accept it could be wrapped up, get back out on the ground and contribute to our win was really important for us.

Jack Darling's blood soaked sock after his leg was opened up.

“Needless to say he’s had that stitched up and hasn’t been able to do much training yet. Because of the stitches he’s unable to get it too moist with sweating and stuff.

“He’ll be a test, we’ll select him tonight to play and hope that he gets up, but that decision might be made an hour before the game … he gives himself a chance to play but we won’t know until an hour before the game, more than likely.”

Darling has kicked 13 goals over 14 games in his debut season at North Melbourne after 532 in 298 at West Coast.

Clarkson said the 33-year-old was eager to play and his fitness would come down to movement and expert advice.

“Yeah, yeah he wants to play, he said that right from the get-go even before he got it stitched up last week,” he said.

“We will wait and see what his function is like and more importantly whether the surgeon and the docs think him doing too much exercise or getting a knock on it might have the stitches bust.

“We need to be mindful of that. He might play with some sort of guard if he does play, but we will cross that on Saturday morning.”

North Melbourne defender Jackson Archer had a hamstring scare in the VFL and will also be put through a fitness test.

The Kangaroos, with four wins, are chasing their best season since 2019 when they tackle Hawthorn in Tasmania.

Originally published as AFL 2025: North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson to give forward Jack Darling every chance to play