Sarah Dargan (born 3 February 1999) is an Australian rules footballer who last played with Sydney in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

competition (AFLW). She previously played three seasons with Collingwood, after being drafted to the club in the 2017 draft, and two seasons with

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

after being traded to the club ahead of the 2021 season.

Early life and state football

Dargan grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

with a family who love Australian rules football, kicking a ball around the backyard with her older brother, Matt. Dargan started out as a basketballer, before playing junior football for

Pascoe Vale Pascoe Vale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek local government area. Pascoe Vale recorded a population of 18,171 at the 2021 census. History Pa ...

in division one of the Northern Football League, excelling as a mid-sized forward. Ahead of 2015, she joined

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...

and played senior football with them for three years, being touted as a superstar. While playing with Calder Cannons, she also represented Vic Metro for 3 years. In 2015, she helped Vic Metro win the 2015 AFL Youth Girls National Championships title, scoring a goal in the Grand Final at Bendigo Bank Stadium, where they beat Queensland by seven points. This followed her two goals against Queensland in their opening match preceding it. In 2016 she was part of the Vic Metro team that won the

2016 AFL Youth Girls National Championships The 2016 edition of the AFL Youth Girls National Championships was held from 2 May to 6 May in Melbourne, Victoria. Nine teams competed in the round-robin tournament, divided into pool A: Queensland, Western Australia, Vic Country and Vic Metr ...

title. In 2017, Dargan was named one of Vic Metro's best in their opening loss to Vic Country, but due to this loss they lost the

2017 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2017 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2017, with six teams competing and with a further three playing in a two-match round-robin series as a de facto Division 2. An Allies side (made up of players from ...

title to Vic Country despite winning their remaining games. In April 2018, Calder Cannon's coach, Alicia Eva, labelled Dargan as a "special kind of player" and predicted her being drafted to an AFLW club.

AFL Women's career

Dargan was drafted by Collingwood with their third selection and twentieth overall in the

2017 AFL Women's draft The 2017 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2018 season. As the previous season's player contracts were all capped at one-year ...

. Collingwood's coach, Wayne Siekman, said "she is clean off the ground, has a good change of pace and knows where the goals are." Her selection defined her as a bolter, having not being invited to the combine or the draft itself. She made her debut in the eight point loss to Carlton at

Ikon Park Princes Park (or Carlton Recreation Ground, currently known by its sponsored name Ikon Park) is an Australian rules football ground located inside the wider Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. It is a historic venu ...

in the opening round of the 2018 season. In the winter of 2018, she played three games for Collingwood's

VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football L ...

(VFLW) team, before rupturing her

Lisfranc ligament The Lisfranc ligament is one of several ligaments which connects the medial cuneiform bone to the second metatarsal. Sometimes, the term ''Lisfranc ligament'' refers specifically to the ligament that connects the superior, lateral surface of the me ...

in her left foot, which required a long period of rest and rehabilitation. At the beginning she was upset not being able to play, but looking back she appreciated being able to see the coaches' box angle of the game which helped develop her knowledge. In round 2 of the 2019 season, Dargan kicked her first professional goal against

, which was Collingwood's first AFLW goal at the club's spiritual home,

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

. In round 4 of the season, she was nominated for the

AFL Women's Rising Star The AFL Women's Rising Star award is presented annually to the best young player in the AFL Women's (AFLW) during the home-and-away season. The first award was awarded in 2017. The award has been sponsored by National Australia Bank (NAB) since ...

award, following her move to the midfield and her performance in Collingwood's nine point loss to Greater Western Sydney. She finished the game with a career-high 16 disposals, as well as laying six

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and kicking a goal. She was surprised by the nomination, but honoured and happy to see her hard work pay off. Dargan played a key role for Collingwood in the 2019 season. In April 2019, she re-committed to Collingwood, alongside

Brittany Bonnici Brittany Bonnici (born 3 August 1997) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Early life and state football Bonnici first played competitively with the under-11 boys of the Wall ...

Ruby Schleicher Ruby Schleicher ( ; born 16 March 1998) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Schleicher is a dual AFL Women's All-Australian. Early life and state football As a junior basket ...

, Erica Fowler,

Sophie Alexander Sophie Alexander (born Sophie Alexander Katz on May 20, 1978, in Mexico City, Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by ...

, Eliza Hynes, and captain Steph Chiocci. In August 2020, Dargan was traded together with Sarah D'Arcy to

in a deal which saw Collingwood receive

Aliesha Newman Aliesha Newman (born 16 September 1995) is an Australian rules footballer playing for Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. She has previously played for Melbourne, Collingwood, and Sydney. Early life Newman was bor ...

. In May 2022, Dargan joined expansion club Sydney for their inaugural season. In March 2023, Dargan was delisted by Sydney, having played a key role in their forward line.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to round 3, 2022 season 6'' , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 8 , , 0 , , 1 , , 19 , , 21 , , 40 , , 3 , , 20 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 2.4 , , 2.6 , , 5.0 , , 0.4 , , 2.5 , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center , 2022 (S6) , , 17 , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , , 5 , , 4 , , 9 , , 2 , , 1 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.0 , , 4.0 , , 9.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , - , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 23 ! 3 ! 4 ! 86 ! 72 ! 158 ! 18 ! 62 ! 0.1 ! 0.2 ! 3.7 ! 3.1 ! 6.9 ! 0.8 ! 2.7

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dargan, Sarah 1999 births Living people Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Calder Cannons players (Talent League Girls) Richmond Football Club (AFLW) players Sydney Swans (AFLW) players