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Without a doubt, one of the breakout players in fantasy footy this season was Darcy Parish. The recently crowned All Australian midfielder moved from being on the fringe of squad selection to be an M1 potentially. The big question for new keeper leagues or those considering trading for him is how you should rank Darcy Parish in a keeper?
Embed from Getty ImagesIn 2021, DP5 was one of the players of the season. He concluded the season with an average of 105.5, ranking him 21st and 16th for total points. That alone is a promising position, but coaches will know that it wasn’t a smooth trajectory for the totality of the season.
Over the opening five weeks of the season, he averaged 86, and his sole ton of the year to date was 117. However, from Anzac Day against the Magpies that he was fully released to play as a midfielder. So from round six onwards, here’s the stat line for Parish.
From the final 17 games of the season, he scored 11 tons, 7 of them over 120 and 2 over the monster mark of 150. He averaged 111.7 and put together a hot streak of 7 consecutive hundreds between round 6-12.
With numbers like that over the final three-quarters of the season, keeper league coaches would think they’ve landed themselves a new franchise player. And it’s not a horrible call.
Like anything, you’ve always got to look at the narrative behind the numbers. Firstly, what caused the role change? Simple! A long-term injury to Dylan Shiel was after an almost season-ending injury to Jye Caldwell. So if injury created the opportunity, what happened upon their return?
Caldwell didn’t play again in the home and away season. But Shiel did in round 19. So in the 15 games, Parish played without Dylan, he averaged 117.7. However, when Shiel did play (7 games), he averaged 79.1. That’s a differential of 38.6. More specifically, over the final five games, when both played, Dylan averaged a mere 84.4.
To be clear, I don’t see a world with him moving out of the midfield role. Instead, my concern is scoring like that, which impact his scoring ceiling.
When allowed to be the midfield leader along with Zach Merrett, he’s a 110 averaging midfielder. However, when the Bombers have a few more mouths to feed, the small sample size says he’s not a Topline performer.
So, how do you rank Darcy Parish? I don’t have him ranked inside the top 15 players in a keeper league. But he has the potential to become one quickly. If you want to own him, you’ll probably have to use a late first – second round selection on him.
Where do you have DP5 ranked?
