Flag is main Darke desire
JAMES Darke is happy to let his football and not his words do the talking.
The modest 2017 Les Ash Medal winner took home the award on Wednesday night in one of the most comprehensive wins in the medal’s history.
Darke amassed 31 votes, most of them early in the season to surge to an unbeatable lead after just 14 rounds.
Yet, instead of focusing on his amazing season, the Torquay midfield star instead wanted to talk about his insatiable appetite for the 2017 premiership.
“I am really honoured to win the award but I definitely have some unfinished business to attend to in terms of winning a flag,” Darke said.
“I was amazed they kept reading out my name. I wasn’t sure if they were copying and pasting it from the week before.
“I think I am really focused on team success this year. I have my eyes on this weekend and Geelong Amateur for sure.”
Darke first etched his name into the history books in 2014, when he became the youngest player to have won the Les Ash Medal.
And now he joins an elite list of BFL players to have been multiple winners of the league’s best-and-fairest award.
“It’s certainly a good feeling to do that,” Darke said of becoming a two-time winner.
“(My 2014 and 2017 wins) were very similar I think. (We had) a bit more team success so maybe that helped get a few more votes.”
Darke was snapped up by GFL club St Albans following his 2014 medal victory. He managed two seasons at the Supersaints before deciding to return to his boyhood club to play footy with his mates.
It means he has claimed the BFL’s best and fairest award in the past two seasons he has played in the competition.
“It’s all experience,” Darke said of his time in the GFL.
“Like I said on stage there are bigger bodies in the GFL so I was sort of prepared to get tackled harder and being smashed around a bit and being able to handle myself a bit better.”
Darke knows minor premier Torquay has been given a massive chance of adding to its trophy cabinet in 2017. The Tigers head into tomorrow’s clash with Geelong Amateur fresh off the bye and with a desire to make it into the BFL Grand Final in the easiest way possible.
“We know our best footy is good enough. We just make sure we produce that when it matters,” he said.
So, will the Les Ash Medal add an extra target to Darke’s back?
“I’m not sure,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of good midfielders, but I’m happy to take a bit of the brunt if that means some other guys can play well and we can win.”