Jack Darling (born 13 June 1992) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who plays for the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL), having previously been a premiership player with the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

. Darling was recruited from West Perth in the WAFL with pick 26 in the 2010 AFL Draft.

Early life

Darling was raised in Perth's northern suburbs and played junior football with Sorrento Duncraig Football Club representing Western Australia at both U16 and U18 level (in 2009). Too young to enter the

2009 AFL Draft The 2009 AFL draft consisted of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2009/10 Australian Football League off-season. These were the trade week (held between 5 October and 9 October), the national draft (held on 26 November), the ...

, he was predicted during the 2009 season to be a top-five draft pick, but some off-field incidents, including being suspended from his school and spending time in hospital following a fight at a nightclub, saw him slip to the first selection of the second round in the 2010 Draft.

AFL career

Darling made his AFL debut for West Coast against in round 1 of the 2011 season, kicking 2 goals. In round 6, Darling was nominated for the 2011 AFL Rising Star after an impressive 3 goal display against . Darling was a part of West Coast's 2018 Premiership Side, which defeated Collingwood by 5 points in the 2018 Grand Final. He had a very quiet first half, failing to register a mark and having close to zero influence on the game. However, he turned that around in the third quarter and finished the game with 7 marks, 12 disposals and a goal, playing a pivotal role in helping West Coast achieve a remarkable comeback. On 21 January 2022, the AFL's requirement for Western Australian-based players to get their first COVID-19 vaccine dose passed, with Darling initially being the only Western Australian player not to get his first vaccine dose. The AFL required WA players to get their second dose by 18 February 2022, but the Western Australian government requires players get their second dose by 31 January 2022. Darling received his vaccination in time to play the 2022 season clearing both the AFL and local Government requirements. In the 2023 pre-season, Darling sued Seven West for defamation over their coverage on Darling's alleged

vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal of vaccines despite availability and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using ce ...

. Shortly after the conclusion of West Coast's 2024 season, Darling requested a trade to

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

, where he had been offered a 2 year contract. The trade request came after 14 seasons with the club, including 298 games and 532 goals. The trade officially went through on 7 October 2024. Jack Darling

Playing style

While Darling predominantly played in the forward line early in his career, from

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

onwards, he enjoyed stints in the midfield where he prospered in a tall half-forward role. As a forward, Darling is renowned for his tackling pressure and goal sense. He often creates unlikely goal-scoring opportunities through his unrelenting pursuit of opposition defenders in possession of the ball. His athleticism and endurance allow him to regularly find space from his opponents throughout the course of a game, and he continually strives to make himself a viable marking target inside his team's forward 50. He is just as effective on the ground as he is in the air. Darling has a black belt in martial arts and taekwondo, and often performs rapid lunges to propel himself from the ground using his hips and torso. His father, David, teaches martial arts as a discipline in Perth. Jack Darling attracted comparisons to AFL greats

Wayne Carey Wayne Francis Carey (born 27 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A dual-premiership captain at North Melbourne ...

and Jonathan Brown.

Statistics

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2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , 27 , , 23 , , 24 , , 11 , , 165 , , 119 , , 284 , , 103 , , 93 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 7.2 , , 5.2 , , 12.3 , , 4.5 , , 4.0 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , 27 , , 24 , , 53 , , 25 , , 198 , , 68 , , 266 , , 131 , , 68 , , 2.2 , , 1.0 , , 8.3 , , 2.8 , , 11.1 , , 5.5 , , 2.8 , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , 27 , , 21 , , 42 , , 27 , , 168 , , 80 , , 248 , , 96 , , 58 , , 2.0 , , 1.3 , , 8.0 , , 3.8 , , 11.8 , , 4.6 , , 2.8 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

, , 27 , , 22 , , 39 , , 29 , , 208 , , 106 , , 314 , , 106 , , 86 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , 9.5 , , 4.8 , , 14.3 , , 4.8 , , 3.9 , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , 27 , , 15 , , 26 , , 18 , , 108 , , 63 , , 171 , , 78 , , 46 , , 1.7 , , 1.2 , , 7.2 , , 4.2 , , 11.4 , , 5.2 , , 3.1 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 27 , , 23 , , 44 , , 21 , , 156 , , 125 , , 281 , , 123 , , 61 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 6.8 , , 5.4 , , 12.2 , , 5.3 , , 2.7 , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , 27 , , 23 , , 43 , , 25 , , 184 , , 93 , , 277 , , 119 , , 67 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 8.0 , , 4.0 , , 12.0 , , 5.2 , , 2.9 , - , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

† , , 27 , , 21 , , 48 , , 27 , , 188 , , 88 , , 276 , , 129 , , 50 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 9.0 , , 4.2 , , 13.1 , , 6.1 , , 2.4 , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , 27 , , 14 , , 59 , , 18 , , 114 , , 48 , , 162 , , 51 , , 32 , , 2.3 , , 0.8 , , 8.1 , , 3.4 , , 11.6 , , 4.1 , , 2.3 , - style="background:#EAEAEA; font-weight:bold; width:2em" , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , 27 , , 18 , , 30 , , 12 , , 112 , , 57 , , 169 , , 64 , , 35 , , 1.6 , , 0.6 , , 6.2 , , 3.1 , , 9.3 , , 3.5 , , 1.9 , - , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , 27 , , 13 , , 29 , , 12 , , 110 , , 56 , , 166 , , 76 , , 30 , , 2.2 , , 0.9 , , 8.4 , , 4.3 , , 12.7 , , 5.8 , , 2.3 , - , scope="row" text-align:center class="sortbottom" colspan=3 , Career , 227 , 437 , 218 , 1673 , 888 , 2561 , 1061 , 620 , 1.9 , 0.9 , 7.3 , 3.9 , 11.2 , 4.6 , 2.7

References

External links

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WAFL Online statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Jack 1992 births West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players West Perth Football Club players Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia People educated at Sacred Heart College, Sorrento Australian people of South African descent All-Australians (AFL) VFL/AFL premiership players East Perth Football Club players West Coast Eagles (WAFL) players North Melbourne Football Club players