{"id":446192,"date":"2025-04-08T01:32:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T01:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=446192"},"modified":"2025-04-08T05:14:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T05:14:21","slug":"experts-stunned-as-21-year-old-enters-elite-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=446192","title":{"rendered":"Experts stunned as 21-year-old enters elite conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Western Bulldogs<\/a> star Sam Darcy already the total key forward package at just 21?<\/p>\n

\ufeffDarcy has kicked 12 goals across four games so far this season, including five in his side's loss to Fremantle<\/a> on Sunday, to go with 21 disposals and 11 marks.<\/p>\n

Geelong<\/a> great Jimmy Bartel<\/a> wonders what more he needs to add to his game that we're not already seeing.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Clubs on 'high alert' as unsigned star 'up for grabs'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Why controversial star refused to ditch OnlyFans deal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Overcorrected': How MCG will respond to gun incident<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Western<\/p>\n

Standing at 208cm and proving to be an incredible mark overhead, Bartel believes he is already on the level of stars like Jesse Hogan, Charlie Curnow and Nick Larkey.<\/p>\n

"We keep talking about 'what will he be when he's 25, what will he be after another three pre-seasons', I want to know what he's not doing right now?" Bartel told Nine's Footy Classified<\/em>. \ufeff<\/p>\n

To which panel member Damian Barrett responded: "Nothing. He's doing everything".<\/p>\n

"He's strong enough in the marking contest, his goal kicking is sound … what's he missing?" Bartel added.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Bartel<\/p>\n

Champion goal kicker Matthew Lloyd<\/a> believes Darcy has already worked out the toughest aspects of the game for developing key forwards.<\/p>\n

"The hardest thing to find for young key forwards is aggression\ufeff, and that's where he is extremely rare in that he had that aggression from day one," Lloyd said.<\/p>\n

"I saw when he was playing for Scotch College that he had a streak to him that he had back then.<\/p>\n

"He's got a nasty streak to him … all those long limbs flying around and a couple of our boys are looking going 'do I really want to get in his way?'.<\/p>\n

"The worry was his kicking, but he has been pretty solid this year. His set shot is sound."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Bartel was asked whether Darcy could be considered amongst the best players in the competition right now, to which he answered: "He's in the conversation".<\/p>\n

\ufeffNorth Melbourne's<\/a> Nick Larkey and Adelaide's<\/a> Riley Thilthorpe currently lead the Coleman Medal on 14 goals, while Jesse Hogan sits third on 13, following his bag of nine goals against West Coast<\/a> on the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Western Bulldogs star Sam Darcy already the total key forward package at just 21? \ufeffDarcy has kicked 12 goals across four games so far […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446192"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=446192"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446197,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446192\/revisions\/446197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/446194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=446192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=446192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=446192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}