If it was Nicnat tapping the ball last night, the commentators would have been waxing lyrical about some of the hitouts to advantage Darcy had. It was some fantastic tap work that gave our young midfielders first use of the footy with plenty of space to work in and it deserves recognition.
He's been great in the past fortnight competing well with Grundy to nullify his influence (I'd say he would have drawn the contest if Grundy didn't get a fluke goal from a horrible turn over) and beating Ceglar (14) and McEvoy (11) with 25 hit outs and a few towering contested marks around the ground. He positioned himself well both behind and ahead of the ball to ensure the Hawks were never able to go long down the line without his fist to spoil.
There were many clearances that were made infinitely more clean and an easy takeaway by a great tap of his and his ability to create space for his midfielders. It didn't always come to fruition (there was a brilliant tap from a boundary throw in on the wing in the third quarter where a deft hit nailed Blakely on the burst running on his own straight towards goals before Connor bizarrely changed direction and handballed to someone under pressure for no apparent reason) but the quality of the ruckwork was something very impressive for a kid who turned 22 last month and is far and away one of the best young ruckman to have played the game.
It seems apt to compare him to the year older Tim English who has been soundly beaten by Witts, Soldo, Ladhams and McInerny in the past month. Having a ruckman who can do the job of a ruckman is a huge boost and makes the likes of Fyfe, Mundy, Brayshaw, Cerra and Serong's job that much easier.