Wreck It Ralph: Why Darcy Parish is the Josh Dunkley-type Essendon has been searching for all along
Darcy Parish has been quietly going about his business since moving into the midfield – but his stats should make his rivals take notice.
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Essendon spent the entire trade period attempting to land a goalkicking high-possession inside midfielder then decided the price was too high.
Josh Dunkley came with a reasonable price tag and the draft demand of a pair of first-round picks that would cost Essendon two of Archie Parkins, Nik Cox or Zac Reid.
By the end of Round 2, Essendon was winless and Darcy Parish was still a frustrated half forward trapped in an inside midfielder’s body.
For all of Ben Rutten’s excellent moves this year, finally throwing Parish into the midfield came through crisis and not clear-headed coaching.
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When Jy Caldwell and Dylan Shiel went down with long-term injuries in that loss to Port Adelaide, Parish finally had his chance.
In the past four weeks of the season, it has become apparent Parish is the inside midfielder Essendon needed all along.
And while Dunkley has been on fire before his ill-timed shoulder injury, it’s time for Essendon to call off the dogs.
With the kid-led resurgence well on track and the contracted Dunkley likely to stay at the Western Bulldogs anyway, why waste any energy on a trade bid that will again run aground?
Dunkley, who many at the Dogs believe was swayed by those close to him and never really wanted to move, seems certain to become this year’s Tom Papley.
A star who considered a trade then for various circumstances decided he was more than happy at his club all along.
Before the injury against GWS, Dunkley had attended 60 centre square bounces for the year and was the 12th-ranked player in the competition.
The two-man man-crush between him and Adam Treloar is a delightful storyline, so kudos to the Dogs for holding their nerve and almost certainly keeping their player.
Parish, sixth in last year’s best-and-fairest, has long craved serious midfield time.
As recently as last Friday his contract talks had not exactly stalled, but hadn’t progressed in any meaningful way.
Geelong has long been a suitor given his links as a Geelong Falcon, with Parish happy at the club but keen to assess how the season unfolded and the exact role he was likely to play.
Surely Anzac Day, his fourth exceptional performance as an inside mid in a row, has proven to him and Ben Rutten that he deserves the role and he will get the continued midfield time he deserves.
Keep it up and he will be rewarded with a contract befitting of his new-found stature and Essendon’s $2 million of cap space.
From Rounds 3-6 the No. 5 pick in the 2015 national draft is No. 1 in the league for clearances and No. 6 for disposals.
In Rounds 1 and 2 his split was 41 per cent forward, 59 per cent midfield.
From Rounds 3-6 it is 97 per cent midfield, three per cent forward.
He has attended the most centre bounces at the club in that time – an average of 21.8.
And as a result this year he has career highs for ranking points, disposals, contested possessions, score involvements and clearances.
Essendon’s midfield remains a work in progress – they are 17th for contested possession differential this year, 16th for clearance differential.
But it should bat deep enough by the time the kids have played 40-50 games to not even need Dunkley.
Think Shiel, Caldwell, Parish, Andy McGrath, Zach Merrett, Jake Stringer, Kyle Langford, Perkins, wingman Cox, and at times Devon Smith.
Anyone who wants to tell you what Zach Merrett is doing with his future is just guessing.
But just like those supporters who are absolutely on for the ride despite a 2-4 win-loss record, surely he can see the club’s progress.
He should be able to see an established brand, see the cultural improvement, see the want to pressure and tackle, see the fact these players are fighting for each other and seemingly having a ball doing it.
If that’s not enough, that’s OK.
List manager Adrian Dodoro can go and use the compensation pick to take that and what is likely to be the club’s own top-10 pick and go again in a midfield-laden 2021 national draft.
Essendon supporters who had hoped to be in the premiership window are smart enough to realise their club finally seems back on track.
They have seen Peter Wright and Nick Hind busting a gut as canny recruits, with Wright inconsistent but trying to reclaim his future as an athletic tall leaving it all out on the table.
They have seen the games pumped into Perkins (four), Cox (six), Harry Jones (six), and Reid (one) as a critical down payment on the future.
They might be frustrated as all hell that that elusive finals win still seems in the distant future.
But games like Anzac Day when Parish proves he might be what they drafted – and what they have believed he could be as a pure midfielder – will sate them until that day comes.
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Originally published as Wreck It Ralph: Why Darcy Parish is the Josh Dunkley-type Essendon has been searching for all along
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