Braden Quartermaine: Struggling forward Jack Darling becomes the face of the West Coast Eagles’ collapse

In what has descended into a complete bin fire of a season, round seven brought one of the more surreal chapters to play out for a bleeding West Coast. Friday night’s 109-point mauling at the hands of Richmond, the biggest loss of Adam Simpson’s nine-year reign, was played amid the strangest of atmospheres at Optus Stadium. The crowd, while they were still there, veered between sitting in deathly quiet shock and resembling bored cricket fans, eager to make their own amusement in the knowledge the season had already disappeared down the drain. When Jack Darling presented for his first mark closing in on time-on of the second quarter, it prompted a loud and sustained Bronx or sarcastic cheer. Sometimes these sorts of things have a good-natured humour about them but this time, with the Tigers having already raced more than 50 points clear, it felt like it had a nasty edge to it. Having missed nearly two months of pre-season training after refusing to meet the AFL’s vaccine deadline and with Simpson having directly linked his struggle for form with his training ban, the highly-paid and high-profile Darling is the face of the club’s 2022 collapse and it was time to vent. Chris Judd once said booing never bothered him, reasoning that fans were aiming at a character wearing a team uniform rather than the person inside the guernsey himself. But with Darling’s medical quandary having become such public fodder and with the jeering coming from his own supporters, it was a sad moment. It must have been confronting for a player who has served the Eagles with 456 goals across 242 games. Darling has kicked six goals in six games since returning to the team and despite the lack of supply, has rarely looked himself even when the ball does get down there. He might have sown the seeds with his medical choices, but circumstances have also conspired against him. Darling clearly should have begun in the WAFL after such an unusual summer, limited to training in a local park by himself for much of the crucial post-Christmas phase, and stayed there until he found form. Instead, it was a case of all hands on deck ahead of the infamous match against North Melbourne in round two. With Oscar Allen in a moon boot and Josh Kennedy going down as part of the big COVID group, there was no one else and Darling was asked to return as some sort of saviour. After thousands of fans went on their way well before the final siren on Friday night, having decided four quarters of carnage was too much to bear, there came a reminder that if you leave the footy early you never know what you will miss. Kennedy’s fourth goal, arriving early in time-on of the final term after he received a quick handball from Hugh Dixon and snapped instinctively, reduced the margin from 108 to 102 points. In any other circumstance it would have been inconsequential. But here was a champion’s 700th goal and a moment to reflect on an immense contribution and character. It was made more special because Kennedy duly recognised it himself, gripping the Eagle logo on his jumper and saluting his family in the stands. In the twilight of his fabulous career with his iconic beard starting to grey, here was a living legend proudly paying homage to his love for the club in one of their darkest hours. For those who weren’t aware, the Optus Stadium scoreboards quickly reminded everyone of the milestone and the adulation built into a standing ovation – with the team more than 100 points down. The juxtaposition of this reverence for Kennedy and his past with the shambolic state of the scoreboard and the present was what made it a remarkable moment. The veteran forward, who said his mum travelled to Perth for the match “just in case”, later described the ovation as something that “hit him deep”. Kennedy also snapped a fourth goal in the last quarter the last time these teams met in last year’s round 13 classic. He’s still a dead-eye but much has changed since then. Kennedy’s final-minute goal dragged West Coast over the line by four points last year, at a time both clubs sat in the top eight. They clung there a while longer but their respective results since that night make for stark reading. The Eagles have now gone 3-13 since then, while Richmond’s romp improved their record to five wins and a draw from 16 games since the same point. This time around viewers got 12th v 17th in a so-called marquee fixture, scheduled with good intentions based on memories of the Tigers and Eagles at their best. Time will tell whether Richmond really have turned back time or have just become the latest team to flatter themselves by dining on the West Coast carcass.