Checked his age to remind me how old he is - he turns 22 in a two weeks. Yet it feels the chatter and expectations on him are for 25-26 year old. He is just a kid, and player wise he is just coming into that young man phase. Darcy looks to be as driven as the other highly driven players around. He has done well to date and he has a lot of improvement to come.
and he’s building a better body for strength and endurance. It’s only his 4th year so he still has time to get the body even better. I know I’ve mentioned this earlier, but he debuted in 2016. So only 3 seasons under his belt before this one. He really is one of our younger brigade, only a year older than McGrath.
Which makes the recruitment of Shiel even more pragmatic by the club.
While our midfield has Shiel and Merrett, Parish is not going to cop a tag. He is going to be able to do his thing for years to come without being the main focus.
Posters love to make a big call on kids, “he’s no more than a role player”, “he’s a fkg superstar” so they can be first on the bandwagon either way in the almighty imaginary blitz p!ssing contest
I really think his numbers are also a little bit skewed by the fact that earlier in the season when Myers was playing Darcy was spending more than half of the game as a Fwd.
In fact I just crunched the numbers and Pre Myers he was averaging 16 touches a game and since Myers’ self omission he is averaging 24.5 touches, 4 clearances and a Goal a game.
Numbers would be boosted again had he not spent like 70% of the giants game as a Fwd.
In recent weeks he is also starting to take that extra one or two steps before just instantly bombing it on his boot which is I think going to see him really start to stand out, his disposal still needs a little bit of work likewise his defensive pressure and running but he is tracking very very nicely.