West Coast Eagles goalkicking great Jack Darling will be honoured with AFL Life Membership after he reaches 300 official matches against Essendon.
Darling is set to play his 285th premiership match, in addition to 15 pre-season appearances in blue and gold, on Saturday night at Optus Stadium.
The 31-year-old’s durability has been a feature of his 14-season career, with Darling playing fewer than 20 games in a season only once, excluding the shortened 2020 Covid-impacted campaign.
Against Gold Coast last Sunday, Darling moved clear of dual premiership full-forward Peter Sumich into second place on the club’s all-time goalkicking list with the first of his two majors.
Only 2018 premiership teammate Josh Kennedy (712) has kicked more goals in blue and gold than Darling’s 516.
A four-time club leading goalkicker, Darling was awarded Life Membership at West Coast in 2017 and received an All-Australian blazer in 2019.
He sits outright third on West Coast’s games played list, only six behind Dean Cox (290), and could join premiership captain Shannon Hurn (333) in the 300-game club in the final round at Geelong if he plays every match this season.
