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Does Sam Darcy have the luck of the whistle?
SEN • August 1st, 2025 7:42 pm
Sam Darcy has already progressed into a rather unstoppable force, however according to Kane Cornes, the key Dog may have the luck of the whistle.
Thursday night was an out and out clinic for the Western Bulldogs, piling on a hardly believable 88-point win over top four hopefuls GWS. Once again, the key forward partnership of Darcy and Aaron Naughton excelled, combining for 10 goals from 15 scoring shots.
Playing against arguably the competition’s best key defender in Sam Taylor, Darcy was a force, booting five goals from eight scoring shots and looking a threat every time the ball entered the forward 50.
“I don't know how to stop Sam Darcy,” Cornes told SEN Fireball.
“That's the best player you could handpick to play on him - if you could handpick any player in the comp who can play on (Darcy), who would you pick?
“Well, you pick Taylor. It's frightening.”
Although his ability can hardly be denied, Cornes believes that Darcy may have a relatively favourable run with the umpires.
On Thursday, Darcy only managed three marks inside 50 en route to his eight scoring shots. However, the forward was granted four free kicks.
In Round 20, he was awarded three free kicks, kicking six goals and two behinds, while the week prior, he earned five free kicks for one goal.
“The other factor that you've got is that the umpires are just going to look after him like you wouldn't believe,” Cornes continued.
“This is one of the great frustrations that I have, is that coaches mention, ‘oh, Sam Darcy's not getting any free kicks.’
“The overcorrection to those comments from coaches - same with Matt Rowell - is just not right. They shouldn't have this much influence.
“There are some free kicks that Darcy is getting, another 4 last night, that shouldn't be free kicks.
“So, what are you going to do? What are you going to do with him when the non-controlling umpire is willing to pay free kicks for very minor or zero indiscretions.
“There was one on Taylor last night that had to be seen to be believed, so that's going to be a problem for the opposition, a real problem.
“He's got a way that he can contort his body, which makes it look like there's a lot more contact than there is. We don't want to go to the footy see the umpires blow their whistle and a guy flailing and getting a free kick.
“There's one in particular, I'm thinking 2nd quarter, it might have been 3rd quarter, which is just not a free kick.
“So don't look for things that aren't there because a coach says that he's getting poorly treated.”
Following an extraordinary win, the Bulldogs have leapt into the top eight, however the Suns are bound to knock the Dogs back to ninth place following their Round 21 clash with Richmond.
A game behind the Giants with far better percentage, the Bulldogs are well within reach of a place in September, and with two highly winnable games before their final fixture against Fremantle, there remains everything to play for.
