Luke Darcy (born 12 July 1975) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) and now works for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

and

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

covering the AFL and the Olympics.

Early life

Luke Darcy was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, the son of

David Darcy David Darcy (11 August 19431 August 2020) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s. Darcy also played for and coached South Adelaide in the South Australian National F ...

, who had played with Footscray (as the Western Bulldogs were then called) and played for and coached

South Adelaide The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL). David, originally a Victorian, moved his family to Adelaide where Luke attended

Rostrevor College , motto_translation = , coordinates = , established = , type = Independent primary and secondary day and boarding , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = Cath ...

AFL career

Luke Darcy started his career with South Adelaide before his recruitment by the Bulldogs in 1993. Debuting in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, Darcy became known as one of the Bulldogs' most successful ruckmen/forwards. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

he took out the Bulldogs' Best and Fairest award, the

Charles Sutton Medal The Charles Sutton Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged best and fairest for the Western Bulldogs throughout the Victorian Football League/ Australian Football League season. The medal is named a ...

, and continued to play well in the following seasons. in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Darcy and the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a triple premiersh ...

were the first players to be awarded the

Leigh Matthews Trophy The Leigh Matthews Trophy is an annual award given by the AFL Players Association to the Most Valuable Player in the Australian Football League. It is named in honour of Leigh Matthews, who won the first MVP award in 1982, when the league was st ...

as the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

's Most Valuable Player (MVP) ¹. In 2004 he was the

's leading goalkicker. In a

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

match against

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

, Darcy suffered a season-ending knee injury when he twisted it, depriving the Bulldogs of a quality tall-forward option, something they missed during the year. On 20 December 2005 during the final pre-season training session before the Christmas holidays, Darcy re-injured the ACL during a fall which dislocated his knee, which meant that he would miss the entire 2006 season. The Bulldogs finished the season in eighth place, the first time the club had made the finals in six years. He had been part of a Bulldogs casualty list that included four ACL injuries during the season (up until only the Round 9 mark). During his time on the sidelines, he provided special comments for

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

's AFL coverage, and continued to do so after his playing retirement which he announced on 2 August 2007, the end of the 2007 AFL season. Darcy was officially added to

's AFL commentary team in 2007 (despite still playing football until the end of that season) and remained an Expert Commentator right up until the end of the 2011 AFL season, when the network lost broadcasting rights.
/sup>.

Statistics

, - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 40 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1995 AFL season, 1995 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1 , , 10 , , 5 , , 15 , , 4 , , 2 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 3.3 , , 1.7 , , 5.0 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 20 , , 12 , , 8 , , 160 , , 78 , , 238 , , 92 , , 15 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 8.0 , , 3.9 , , 11.9 , , 4.6 , , 0.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 23 , , 24 , , 13 , , 208 , , 92 , , 300 , , 131 , , 14 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 9.0 , , 4.0 , , 13.0 , , 5.7 , , 0.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1998 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 24 , , 13 , , 8 , , 187 , , 88 , , 275 , , 107 , , 15 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 7.8 , , 3.7 , , 11.5 , , 4.6 , , 0.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1999 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 24 , , 19 , , 15 , , 221 , , 104 , , 325 , , 136 , , 17 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 9.2 , , 4.3 , , 13.5 , , 5.7 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 17 , , 10 , , 5 , , 172 , , 99 , , 271 , , 106 , , 17 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 10.1 , , 5.8 , , 15.9 , , 6.2 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 21 , , 14 , , 8 , , 237 , , 145 , , 382 , , 118 , , 30 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 11.3 , , 6.9 , , 18.2 , , 5.6 , , 1.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 22 , , 23 , , 8 , , 249 , , 211 , , 460 , , 149 , , 63 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 11.3 , , 9.6 , , 20.9 , , 6.8 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 21 , , 9 , , 7 , , 211 , , 165 , , 376 , , 129 , , 46 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 10.0 , , 7.9 , , 17.9 , , 6.1 , , 2.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2004 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 22 , , 30 , , 13 , , 216 , , 136 , , 352 , , 127 , , 59 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 9.8 , , 6.2 , , 16.0 , , 5.8 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 6 , , 11 , , 3 , , 51 , , 30 , , 81 , , 43 , , 7 , , 1.8 , , 0.5 , , 8.5 , , 5.0 , , 13.5 , , 7.2 , , 1.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2007 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 22 , , 18 , , 8 , , 141 , , 87 , , 228 , , 91 , , 43 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 6.4 , , 4.0 , , 10.4 , , 4.1 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 226 ! 183 ! 97 ! 2063 ! 1242 ! 3305 ! 1233 ! 329 ! 0.8 ! 0.4 ! 9.1 ! 5.5 ! 14.6 ! 5.5 ! 1.5

Honours and achievements

*Individual **

: 2001 ** Leigh Matthews Trophy (AFLPA MVP Award): 2002 (tied with

) **

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

: 2002 ** Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year Award: 2002 ** Herald Sun Player of the Year Award: 2002 ** Western Bulldogs Leading Club Goalkicker Award: 2004 ** Australian Representative Honours in

International Rules Football International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed ...

: 2002 ** Western Bulldogs Captain: 2005–2006 ** AFL Rising Star Nominee: 1996 (Round 3)

Post football career and personal life

Darcy is married to wife Rebecca and has four children. He is also the son of former Footscray ruckman David Darcy. In 2008, Darcy became a member of the AFL rules committee while 2011 joined the AFL’s All Australian selection panel filling this role for nine years until 2020. Darcy resigned as a All Australian selector to join former club, Western Bulldogs as a director. In 2021, Darcy's son

Sam Darcy Samuel Adams Darcy (born Samuel Dardeck , as known as "Sam Darcy," 1905 – November 8, 2005) was an American political activist who was a prominent Communist leader in both New York and California. While active in the organization of New York Ci ...

was drafted by the

at pick number 2 in the 2021 AFL Draft under the Father-son rule. Darcy met the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian politician who has been leader of the opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Dickson in the House of Representatives sinc ...

through mutual friends, and became close friends. He is reported to have introduced him to meditation.

Media

Late in his AFL career, Darcy was an expert commentator for

, doing this while injured then filling in around his playing commitments. Darcy was part of the team full time once his retirement came at the end of 2007. His roles expanded on Ten becoming an

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

commentator as well as becoming a panellist on AFL panel shows '' One Week at a Time'', '' Thursday Night Live.'' and '' The Fifth Quarter.'' Darcy also joined radio station

in Melbourne to provide match commentary for its

coverage on Friday nights. He co-hosted Triple M Melbourne's '' The Hot Breakfast'' with fellow AFL personality

Eddie McGuire Edward Joseph McGuire AM (born 29 October 1964) is an Australian television presenter, journalist and Australian Football League commentator. He is also an occasional '' Herald Sun'' newspaper columnist. He hosts Channel Nine’s Millionai ...

until November 2020. Following the 2011 season,

lost the rights to broadcast

matches. Darcy joined the

AFL coverage. He mainly commentates on the stations Saturday Night games while maintaining his work at

on Friday Nights. In 2014, Darcy became the new host of Seven's AFL chat show ''

Talking Footy ''Talking Footy'' was an Australian rules football television program on the Seven Network broadcast from 1994 to 2004 and 2013–2020. The show was hosted mainly by Bruce McAvaney and Luke Darcy in both runs of the show. Original format (1 ...

''. Darcy has also been a fill in sport presenter on ''

Seven News Melbourne ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are p ...

'' and has served as a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

commentator for Seven, covering the 2014 Brisbane International. In February 2019, Darcy was announced as co-host of the

's lifestyle program, ''House of Wellness'' alongside

Jo Stanley Joanne McFarlane (''née'' Bailey), commonly known as Jo Stanley, is an Australian television and radio presenter and comedian. Stanley was a host of ''Jo & Lehmo'' on Gold 104.3 from 2016 to 2017. She previously hosted ''Weekend Breakfast'' ...

Rachael Finch Rachael Finch (born 8 July 1988) is an Australian TV host, model, and beauty pageant titleholder. She was awarded the 'People's Choice Award' for the 2006 Miss Teen Australia and finished as 3rd runner-up at Miss Universe 2009. Career Modelli ...

, Luke Hines and Jacqui Felgate. Darcy hosted Seven's coverage of the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

alongside

Johanna Griggs Johanna Leigh Griggs (born 17 October 1973) is an Australian television presenter and former competitive swimmer. She won a bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Griggs has been at the Seven Network since 1993 where she joined ...

References

External links

* *

Note

¹The AFL MVP award dates back to 1982, when the league was still the Victorian Football League (VFL), but the Leigh Matthews Trophy was only created in 2002. All prior VFL/AFL MVPs were retrospectively given the Leigh Matthews Trophy in 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Darcy, Luke 1975 births Living people People educated at Rostrevor College All-Australians (AFL) Leigh Matthews Trophy winners Western Bulldogs players South Adelaide Football Club players South Australian State of Origin players Charles Sutton Medal winners Australian rules football commentators Australia international rules football team players Australian netball commentators Australian rules footballers from Adelaide