A Six-Pack Of IPA (Interesting Points, Allegedly): Jack Darling becomes third AFL/VFL man to notch rare feat

Jack joins legends Jack Darling has produced a feat of goalkicking consistency matched only by two of the greatest forwards in AFL/VFL history. The Eagle-turned-Roo booted three goals at the weekend to take his tally this year to 22, seeing him become just the third player ever to notch more than 20 majors in each of his first 15 seasons. The other two players in that category? Lance Franklin and Doug Wade, who sit fourth and fifth respectively on the league’s all-time goalkicking list with four-figure career tallies. Darling’s effort against GWS also saw him leapfrog Luke Breust to climb into the top 50 AFL/VFL goalkickers with a career total of 554. The comeback king? This season’s Fremantle side has joined the 2006 West Coast line-up as the only two squads in league history to win five games in a year after trailing by 8+ points at three-quarter time. And there’s a common denominator in both groups: Jaymie Graham. The former Eagle played in all five of West Coast’s 2006 comeback wins – before cruelly missing out on featuring in that year’s premiership win – and is now the Dockers’ forwards coach, where’s he’s helped oversee the flurry of late goals in Freo’s string of recent last-gasp victories. Neil nails it Neil Erasmus made the most of an extended shift away from Fremantle’s engine room to produce a pivotal performance in the win over Port Adelaide. In what was the first of his 13 matches this year where he didn’t attend a centre bounce, Erasmus played 98 per cent of his game time on the wing and two per cent up forward en route to a career-high 16 Champion Data ranking points. The fourth-year Docker also put up career highs of 22 effective disposals, 11 ground ball gets and six intercept possessions. Road warriors As well as their final-term heroics, Fremantle have also become road warriors to soar into top-four contention. The win at the Adelaide Oval marked the fifth different interstate venue where the Dockers have sung the song this year – alongside the MCG, Engie Stadium, People First Stadium and Barossa Park – to tie a club high also achieved in 2013, 2015 and 2022. They can claim an outright club record if they salute at a sixth venue with next weekend’s Marvel Stadium clash against the Western Bulldogs. Eagle-eyed forwards West Coast managed to go blow-for-blow with ladder-leaders Adelaide off the back of their most efficient forward-50 effort of the season. The Eagles achieved a season-best ratio of a goal from 32.4 per cent of their inside-50s. They were also a year-best 17.9 per cent better than expected when it came to goal kicking accuracy, converting on 66.7 per cent of opportunities when their expected accuracy – based off the location and pressure of each shot on goal – was 48.8 per cent. Medal misses Nat Fyfe and Lachie Neale are dual Brownlow medallists and former teammates – but the footy gods continue to conspire against them squaring off against one another. Friday night’s clash with be the seventh consecutive Dockers-Lions fixture where one or both players will be missing, with Neale absent due to a quad injury. The most recent time where the duo faced each other was in 2020, in front of no fans at the Gabba in the early days of COVID restrictions. It means a game in 2019 where Fyfe memorably outmuscled Neale for a mark at the top of the Optus Stadium goalsquare remains the sole match-up between the pair in front of a crowd.