Darcy Parish is in an interesting state for fantasy this year. His ownership in fantasy competitions is rather low as he was coming off the back of a breakout season, where if you were looking for an absolute premium you were probably taking Touk Miller or Jack Steele. He has carried on his 2021 form and is currently leading the disposal count for the league... and yet his team is 2-9 and he is the subject of ongoing media speculation about his role in the team. Is he going to end up a top 8 fantasy mid? Probably. Are there red flags in his near future? Also yes. Will you buy him?
Darcy Parish is in an interesting state for fantasy this year. His ownership in fantasy competitions is rather low as he was coming off the back of a breakout season, where if you were looking for an absolute premium you were probably taking Touk Miller or Jack Steele. He has carried on his 2021 form and is currently leading the disposal count for the league... and yet his team is 2-9 and he is the subject of ongoing media speculation about his role in the team. Is he going to end up a top 8 fantasy mid? Probably. Are there red flags in his near future? Also yes. Will you buy him?
Darcy Parish won the Anzac Day medal last week, not his first best-on-ground performance but probably his most complete game adding inside grunt to what had been a mostly outside playing style. Collingwood's midfield is not much chop at the moment so maybe you can discount that set of numbers, but he is also in the right stage of his career to find out what his scoring ceiling is, and it appears to be quite high when everything clicks. Consistency is now his last piece of the puzzle, and he may even cop an Ed Curnow tag today as he searches for it.
Darcy Parish has become part of the A rotation in the Essendon midfield alongside Dylan Shiel and Zach Merrett, after an apprenticeship spent at half back and then running on the outside. Shiel's injury last week means they will lean more heavily on his inside skills, which for a player with a barrel chest like him are perhaps not as great as they could be at this still-early stage of his development. He will certainly get a chance now to show us the full range of his powers at the coalface, as the Bombers are going to need him in there with no Dyson Heppell to fill in either.
Faith needed for Parish
Despite not being picked for round 1 and then dropped temporarily for Anzac Day, Darcy Parish suited up for 20 matches at about the same rates as he has through his four-year career, which is slightly under that required to be startable in fantasy leagues week to week, even if he can string together some decent scores at times. Ceiling height is the problem for Parish, as after this long he really should have shown a more upward trajectory in his graph than the flatness he has rolled out since his debut. Coasting at this level is not good for his long-term job security, as younger models may go past him. Someone will pick him up in your league as a low percentage speculator.
Darcy Parish has been in and out of the Essendon side this year, after being groomed for an inside midfield role to take up the slack from the retirement of Jobe Watson and disappointing his club coaches. They have tried him as a half forward and he has had some limited success there, but perhaps it will be last week's injury to Devon Smith that will give him the opportunity to cement his place in the side. He should get a slate of senior games to finally prove himself in the next month or so, making him an interesting fantasy asset to own.
Rebirth for Parish?
After a very poor start to his third season, Darcy Parish was dropped following the loss to Carlton and then had surgery on a broken thumb. On his return in round 17, he lifted his fantasy average by 11 points but still couldn't get much beyond the forward baseline. It's all about volume for Parish, as he can sheepdog it a bit when starting on a wing and stay watching as better players run away with the pill. He still hasn't hit 30 disposals in a game and drops below 20 too often. Forward eligibility is the only reason he's worth picking up late.
Bearish on Parish
His body type suggested he would struggle with second-year blues, and duly Darcy Parish only added a handful of points to his fantasy average in 2017. His kick-to-handball ratio improved from 7:13 to 10:11, and he added one mark per game. Apart from a midseason calf injury, he ran out the season with much the same sort of game in the final as he had played all year. As a #5 draft pick, big things were hoped for from Parish. Some kids never fulfil their early potential, and Parish has admitted in the press that he needs to work on his aerobic capacity for repeat efforts. That comes from hard work in the off season, so it should become apparent during the JLT as to whether he has upside left in him worthy of more than a late pick.
