Each week of the 2025 AFL season, ESPN.com.au's Jake Michaels looks at six talking points.
This week's Six Points features the rise of Sam Darcy, the ultra hypocritical Steven May, some Patrick Dangerfield applause ahead of game 350, and a wild Josh Treacy stat.
1. The Sam Darcy hype is real, and here's how good he could be
If we were to rank every player in the competition at this exact moment, I'm not sure where Sam Darcy would fit in. Top 30? Absolutely. Top 20? Maybe. But let's come at it from a different angle and rank them all based on potential. Yeah, there's no question he's sitting atop the pile.
The Western Bulldogs' spearhead missed almost two months with a complicated knee injury but did not skip a beat in his return last Thursday night, slamming through three goals and clunking contested marks for fun in a domination of the Saints at Marvel Stadium.
Let me stress Darcy is still just 21 years of age. He's not close to being a finished product and yet he's already thrust his name alongside the likes of Jeremy Cameron, Jesse Hogan, Ben King, and Charlie Curnow. Speaking of the best key forwards in the competition, how does Darcy compare at this stage of his career?
It's clear Darcy is well on track to match the output of these stars of the game, all of which are Coleman Medal winners. At 2.08m, and with vice-like hands and accuracy in front of the big sticks, he's inarguably one of the most fascinating players the league has ever seen. Don't be surprised if he's thrown his hat into the ring for most valuable player in the game by the end of next season.
And to think there are two more Darcy father-sons in the pipeline...
2. Take a good, hard, long look in the mirror, Steven May
Steven May didn't hesitate to rip skipper Max Gawn a new one in Round 12 when the big man fluffed his lines, turned over the ball, and all but sealed another narrow win for Collingwood on King's Birthday. But perhaps May should have bitten his tongue and not let his emotions get the best of him, given his latest performance.
The Demons lost again on the weekend, this time to Port Adelaide, and this time it was May who can be considered the reason -- or, at the very least, a major reason -- why they came up short.
After Daniel Turner started poorly on Port spearhead Mitch Georgiades, May was moved onto the main man, but struggled immensely. Georgiades ran riot, enjoying career highs in goals (7), shots at goal (11), marks (10), marks inside 50 (8), and disposals (18).
According to Champion Data, May played on Georgiades for 98 minutes on Sunday afternoon. In that time, Georgiades had 14 disposals, six contested possessions, eight shots at goal, and kicked six majors. It wouldn't have been unreasonable for Gawn, as Melbourne skipper, to have retaliated by offering his own words of advice ... maybe six times.
The performance against Port continues a worrying trend for May. This season, he has the ninth-worst defensive one-on-one rate among the top 50 for such contests. Maybe stop worrying about what your teammates are doing and focus on sorting out your own game.
3. Patrick Dangerfield's career remains underrated
On Friday evening, Geelong champion Patrick Dangerfield will play his 350th AFL game. The Cats skipper will become just the 25th player in league history to reach the milestone, further cementing himself as one of the greatest of all time.
There aren't many players in history who have been greater match winners than Dangerfield, who time and again has been able to stamp himself on a contest and drag his side over the line. But an aspect of his game that often goes unappreciated is his extraordinary consistency. Have a look at how his career numbers stack up against some of the other all-timers.
To average these numbers for 349 games is an incredible feat. Since Champion Data has been recording AFL statistics (1999), no player has tallied more clearances, contested possessions, and inside 50s than Dangerfield. He also ranks second to Scott Pendlebury -- who has played 64 more games than Dangerfield -- for total Rating Points.
And while we're on the subject of Dangerfield, something I'll be watching with intrigue later in the year will be how he fares on Brownlow Medal night. You see, Dangerfield could break Gary Ablett's record for the most three-vote games polled in the award's history. The 2016 winner currently has 54 of them, one behind Ablett on 55.
4. I've discovered what's wrong with Carlton
At halftime of the Eagles-Blues game on Sunday evening, Fox Footy's Kath Loughnan spoke with Carlton veteran Sam Docherty. With 68 points on the board, she acknowledged that Michael Voss would have to be pleased with how the game was panning out, but Docherty's reply was telling about the mindset of this club.
"We're less about that than the 22 (points conceded) to be honest," said Docherty. "We defended well, keeping them to 22 for a half is not bad. We're a defence first team."
It's fine to have an identity, and Carlton's has certainly been more defensive than offensive of late, but its attacking game under Voss has become diabolical. After piling on 68 points in the first half, the Blues mustered just 18 in the second half ... against the worst team in the league, mind you.
FACT: Carlton has kicked 100+ points in just two of its past 19 games.
This season, Carlton ranks dead last for scores per inside 50, 12th for points from turnover, 10th for total points scored, and eighth from points from stoppages. They have managed to kick 80+ points in just five games, only once more than both the lowly Kangaroos and Tigers. For reference, Geelong has done it 11 times, Brisbane and Adelaide both nine times, and Collingwood eight times.
You can be the greatest defensive team of all time (this Blues side is certainly not that but it only further proves my point), but until they can sort out their scoring woes, they simply cannot be taken seriously.
5. Something quirky I noticed
If you take a quick squiz at the AFL ladder, you'll notice we currently have three teams in the league boasting a percentage of at least 133; Collingwood (134%), Geelong (133.8%), and Adelaide (135.2%).
That mightn't seem overly remarkable, but it's the first time it's happened this late in a season since 2015. That year, at Round 14, we had West Coast (156.01%), Hawthorn (148.69%) -- the two eventual Grand Finalists -- and Fremantle (137.83%) all with monster percentages.
6. My favourite stat of the week
Admittedly, this one is as niche as it gets, but it certainly caught my eye! On Saturday evening at Optus Stadium, Josh Treacy played a starring role in Fremantle's narrow win over North Melbourne, clunking a game-high six contested marks and driving the ball inside 50 on seven occasions.
It was the 27th time in recorded history a player has amassed at least those totals in a game, but this was the first time someone had done it and not kicked a goal. Treacy ended the night with 0.2 next to his name, but he did have the game-saving mark in the dying stages.