Jack Darling relishing new role in Eagles’ forward line in latter stage of career

Species or creatures that adapt are the ones that survive.

Which makes West Coast’s Jack Darling an interesting case study. He looks like the fittest and strongest. But it is his ability to adapt to different roles within West Coast’s attacking structure that has enabled him to survive in the rough and tumble world of being an AFL forward.

Darling at times has been a whipping boy for West Coast supporters calling for generational shift. Many had Darling and Andrew Gaff at the top of their list for players they wanted to make way for youth.

They got their wish with Gaff earlier in the season. But after a three game goalless stretch which raised questions about Darling - the veteran forward has steadied and consolidated over the last two months and now thinks he has a good deal of footy left in him.

Darling’s critics take note: Jack’s back - and he is not planning on quitting just yet.

“I have been lucky in my career - not too many injuries - last year I had a broken arm which was my first surgery in 13 or 14 years,” he said. “I am 31. I will be 32 next month and I don’t feel it. Shannon Hurn and JK played until they were 34 or 35. I don’t see why I can’t. The club may see a different thing.”

The hot and cold relationship some Eagles fans have with Darling is something of a mystery. Most clubs would have walked over hot coals to have a second target in attack as good as Darling playing second fiddle to a primary target as good as Josh Kennedy.

Darling has moved past Peter Sumich as West Coast’s second highest scorer and has now booted 522 AFL goals from 288 games. He has been an All-Australian. He has led the club’s goalkicking four times in Kennedy’s presence.

Now he is relishing a new role - alongside in form Jake Waterman - and may have to adapt to another one again if ruckman Matt Flynn and co-captain Oscar Allen return to the Eagles team soon.

Flynn’s presence would probably send Bailey Williams into attack. Allen’s presence would probably change the forward line pecking order again.

For Darling it would mean more subtle changes in emphasis in the role he plays. That would be fine by him, he says.

“Matthew Knights, our new forward line coach, is big on being good in the air but you have to be good on the ground as well. And the smalls have to be good in the air as well.”

“The small guys can’t just leave it to the big guys to jump and the big guys can’t just leave it to the small guys to do the ground work.”

“I started my career as a third tall and I was a pressure forward. I would have a lot of tackles up at stoppages and mowing blokes down.”

This is actually true. As a teenage first year player in the AFL Darling laid four tackles a game while kicking 24 goals while the Eagles aimed at Josh Kennedy and Mark Lecras in 2011.

Then in 2012 - a season in which Lecras didn’t play because of injury and Kennedy played just nine times after a late start, Darling morphed into the club’s primary target as a 19 year old turning 20 mid-season and kicked 53 goals.

Then, with Kennedy and Lecras back he proceeded to change again into a secondary marking target in attack and peeled off eight of nine seasons where he kicked 30 goals or more, the exception being 2015 where he missed 10 games injured.

“Back in the day when we were flying, in 2017-2018 and 2019, we were playing a structure a bit like a 4-1-1 at centre bounces. You could get a lot of space and if we got a free kick or something my role was to get back to JK, get out of his way and help to block his man. If two went to one (Kennedy) then I might get the longer lead. I knew where he wanted to lead so I would stay away from there. I probably always was the second choice. When I had the ball up the field I was certainly looking for JK.”

Darling has not only had to adapt to playing second fiddle, but also the changing nature of the game. When he started, space and one on ones were a lot easier to find than they are now.

“Defences are really good these days. You think you have got your man done or under the ball and a winger comes back. Good backlines help each other out,” he said.

“Now it is really hard to get one on ones and there might be two or three forwards lining up to go for a mark inside forward fifty. There are far fewer one on ones. Then when you get the chance to have one and you don’t make the most of it you wonder when you might get the next one.”

It means that Darling has had to find a different way and the numbers say he has already started to. His tackle pressure is lifting again. He laid 12 two weeks ago in the win against Melbourne.

Some would say that the return of Allen and Flynn would put pressure on his spot in the team but Darling says what it means is that provided he does his bit in applying pressure and at ground level, he will get better looks against smaller opponents in the air.

“We are not overly tall. I am 191cm, Jake Waterman is 192cm and Oscar is something like 194cm. I started my career as a high half forward/pressure forward - if I can get to a point where I am on the third or fourth tall defender then it is going to be a pretty hard match up I think.”

“When we played Melbourne and Jake Lever went down - one of us got a good match up. It’s a good thing to have more talls as long as we are good on the ground.”

Darling admits he had a scratchy start to the season.

“I did a hamstring three or four weeks before the season and my body wasn’t fully right. I think I went three weeks without kicking a goal. Post that they have been pretty happy with my contest work - either marking it or bringing it to ground - not getting out marked which is pretty big.”

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“Running wise, body wise I am feeling good (he covered 14km against Adelaide with a top speed over 30km/h). I am not getting a lot of reward in terms of goals but I feel I am doing my bit, trying to bring others into the game and putting on some pretty decent pressure,” he said.

He likes the “intel” Knights has brought to the Eagles forward group.

“I feel like he has really developed my ground ball game, my pressuring and my contest work. If I am not marking it - and I haven’t taken a heap of marks this year - I feel like my contest work has been pretty good. I still have that hunger to put on pressure and contribute to the team in that way.”