Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has lauded the performance and potential of emerging star Sam Darcy, who had one the best outings of his 30-game career on Friday night against Collingwood.
Darcy was instrumental in the Dogs' fight despite the six-point loss, situated as a commanding attacking target and dominating aerially to catch the eye early into his fourth season at the elite level.
The 21-year-old booted four goals from 15 disposals and eight marks, with six of those grabs being contested while the young Bulldog also amassed 11 contested possessions and nine score involvements in the narrow loss.
Coming off a 38-goal season - his first campaign of more than four appearances at AFL level - Darcy looms as Beveridge's first-string tall forward despite the ranks of Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan also calling the Kennel home.
With the latter absent for personal reasons, Darcy has stood tall as he looks to better his 2024 goal haul and lift the Bulldogs back into premiership contention, with his display against the Magpies a sign of what's in store for the long haul.
"He's a significant threat, Sam," Beveridge said.
"Forwards, in their position, it's a bit temperamental because they do rely so heavily on their teammates. When you're an inside mid or a ruck, you're in charge and in control of your own destiny.
"But there's no doubt that you see his highest point stuff and you think, 'How are they going to stop that?'
"He'll get the rub of the green here and there with different things, but the supply and as he matures, can he cover more ground? Can we grow as a team to provide more and more opportunity for him?
"All of those factors are going to be things that influence where he can get to in his career and where he can get to with his status in the competition.
"At the moment, everyone sees him as an enormous talent, enormous quite literally, a huge threat for their planning. Any team thinks 'What are we going to do?'
"We should all benefit from that and we probably didn't tonight. Sam was a definite influence, but we didn't have enough around there and I think it was probably because of the lack of quantities of their opportunity."
Beveridge hinted the club will assess how they can best utilise their key position ranks to assist Darcy amid Ugle-Hagan's absence, with the Dogs set to welcome back key defender Liam Jones in the coming weeks.
Jones' return could allow Buku Khamis or James O'Donnell to be shifted forward, while 2023 father-son selection Jordan Croft is another first-round tall forward waiting in the wings.
O'Donnell is a chance to return from a jaw injury for next week's contest against Carlton, with Jones also in the frame as he eyes a comeback from a hamstring injury sustained during the pre-season.
I only saw the last 8 to 10 minutes of this game…. (I support neither club – and as a South Australian I do not share the vic supporter “distaste” for collingwood, who to me are simply just another overpampered yet underperforming Vic club).
During this time – it became painfully obvious that the result had been pre-determined.
Every plausible or even dubious “free” was awarded to Collingwood.
All dubious, plausible and most “obvious” frees were not paid to Footscray.
A quick look at the “stats” after the game showed that this may have been a common thing – given the discrepancy in the number of frees given (Footscray 14 to 33 Collingwood).
If the frees were “determined” for the whole game as they were during the last 8 to 10 minutes, it would suggest that in a “fair” game, Footscray should have won by a substantial margin.