Australian Football

The son of David, Luke Darcy's football career was traced out to a degree in reverse order to that of his father's. While David became captain-coach of South Adelaide after completing his VFL tenure with Footscray, Luke's senior career commenced with the Panthers before he was selected as a father-son pick in the 1992 National Draft. Darcy played one game for Footscray late in the 1994 season and three during 1995 before establishing himself as permanent member of the Bulldogs' senior side in 1996.

Under coach Terry Wallace, Darcy's career as a ruckman and key forward blossomed, and the Western Bulldogs' best-ever achievement of four consecutive finals series from 1997 to 2000 owed much to Darcy and his twin tall, Scott Wynd. As Wynd neared the end of his career, Darcy took on the responsibility of shouldering the bulk of the ruck duties and he became a star of the AFL. He polled 11 votes in the 2001 Brownlow Medal and was a hot favourite to take out the award the following year. Though he ended up finishing sixth in that year's award (won by Brisbane's Simon Black), the 16 votes he polled playing for a team that ultimately finished 12th was indicative of a very fine season.

Ever-reliable in the ruck, Darcy was always ready to answer the call as a pinch-hitting key forward, and won more than a few games for the Dogs via his goal-kicking. He was appointed captain in 2005, but his season ended after just six rounds when he injured his knee, requiring a full reconstruction. In the following year's pre-season, Darcy re-injured that knee and was forced to sit out 2006 in its entirety.

Darcy returned in 2007 but, despite having a solid season, struggled to come to terms with a game that in his absence had increased markedly in tempo. He retired after that year and has since established himself as a prominent radio and TV commentator and media personality.

Author - Andrew Gigacz