Sam Darcy ACL recovery, Dr Steve Larkins analysis, Taylor Walker comments, Western Bulldogs

It was the distressing moment in a difficult week where a star collapsed and the footy world gasped, an instant where fans were united no matter the colours they were wearing and those who play winced with immediate understanding.

The sight of Sam Darcy crumbling to the ground with a serious knee injury in Geelong last Friday silenced those at the ground, with Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge acknowledging this week it was a “traumatic moment”.

It is not just those in the cheap seats who are shattered when a top gun goes down.

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According to renowned sports medicine specialist Dr Peter Larkins, about 18 to 20 AFL players rupture their ACLs a year and, understandably, their peers feel the pain as well as they watch teammates embark on a lengthy rehabilitation process.

Adelaide champion Taylor Walker was a similar age to Darcy when he ruptured his ACL in 2013 and said he felt sick to his stomach watching the young star as he realised what had occurred.

“I was watching the game and knew it straight away. When you do an ACL, you feel excruciating pain for a period of time, and then it goes away, and that was evident with what we saw with Sam,” Walker told foxsports.com.au this week.

“I was like, ‘Oh. You poor bugger’. You don’t want anyone to go through that, let alone one of the best players in the comp. It is not great for Sam, and it is not great for the competition. And to think it is 20 years since his dad did it … it is crazy.

“We all benefit from watching Sam Darcy play because he is in the ten best players in the competition, so we want him back out there playing and putting bums on seats, because he is a tremendous talent.”

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As former West Coast premiership coach Adam Simpson noted this week, it was predicted the angular Bulldog would be footy’s best player this season, given his immense talents. He was a pivotal pillar in the Bulldogs premiership push.

Instead, the 22-year-old is in the infancy of what shapes as an extended rehabilitation program with no guarantees – his surgery was delayed a few days due to swelling – and the Bulldogs face a new reality as they approach the rest of the season.

There is the irreplaceable individual to consider, one Simpson described as a “unicorn” given his weaponry, with a view to the future, and also the immediacy of readjusting the side in order to contend this year.

After a brilliant start to the season, the Bulldogs are back in the muck in seventh spot with key personnel either sidelined or under injury clouds heading into tonight’s clash with the ladder-leading Sydney at Marvel Stadium.

Fox Footy expert analyst Jordan Lewis believes the Bulldogs can still challenge for a flag, such is the talent on their list, but the men from the west will need to reconsider how they go about it.

“We will need to do it a bit differently without Sam there and it is a big challenge against the Swans,” Beveridge said.

“We have had time. We have spun out of that. By the time we get to the game … we will be ready and Sydney has been impressive. It is going to be no lesser task than what we have been facing. There won’t be any concerns with the valour with which the players need to present to play against the Swans.”

WHO LEADS THE BULLDOGS UP FRONT?

Fox Footy pundits Adam Simpson and Jordan Lewis agree that while the challenge facing the Bulldogs, which have four wins from six matches, is more difficult now, they have enough talent on their list to contend.

During his tenure at West Coast, Simpson was forced to compensate for the loss of an “irreplaceable” talent like Darcy in champion ruckman Nic Naitanui, who dealt with significant knee problems, including ACLs.

In a positive, the powerhouse ruckman was able to return to footy to earn All-Australian status in 2020 and 2021 – he also made the nominal representative side in 2012 – but was sidelined during the Eagles’ successful premiership bid in 2018.

“Dealing with (losing) your best player, you can’t replace them, having been through that situation with Naitanui doing a knee,” Simpson said on SEN this week.

“There is so much emotion at the Bulldogs. I think they live off it a little bit, they thrive off it, so when it tips over to the point where you lose your best player in that manner, it is harder than most for them to come back and get back into the game and show some resolve. It is almost like it breaks them. It is a badge of honour, that emotion.

“But what does Bevo and the team do going forward around strategy versus the system? It is going to be really interesting. But I am not writing them off, though. There is a good enough way they play … but they have to get to work.”

The timing of the injury gives the Bulldogs time to identify a forward structure without Darcy that is effective and, while his absence is far from ideal, history shows they can perform even when he is absent from their attack.

Dating back to 2024, the Bulldogs have averaged more points per game and are more efficient in converting forward forays in matches when Darcy, who took the Mark of the Year in 2025, has been absent.

Aaron Naughton is a star as well and now carries a heavier burden. The three-time leading goal kicker has booted 18 goals already this season and is third in the Coleman Medal, with his average of three per match the highest of his career.

Rhylee West was the third most potent Dog last season with 39 goals, but has managed just one this season, while Laitham Vandermeer, who kicked 20 goals in 2025, is yet to play at senior level this year after Achilles issues in the pre-season.

THE WILDCARD

In a segment on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday, Lewis identified the backline as a significant area of concern for the Bulldogs – they have conceded more than 100 points three times in six games – and it is a familiar Achilles heel.

The Bulldogs sit in the bottom half of the league in terms of conceding inside-50 entries and are the sixth-worst when preventing scores from those entries. Their ability to win the contested ball in defence also rates poorly.

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“For me, their defence lacks leadership. It lacks fight at the moment. I think they have too many ball watchers in their back end and not enough ball users and not enough leadership. It is a glaring issue,” Lewis said on Fox Footy.

In the days following the Darcy despair, it was suggested the Bulldogs could benefit from playing skipper Marcus Bontempelli forward, but Lewis believes they would get more value bolstering the backline with the champion.

“They are stacked in the midfield. They have depth in the midfield. A Bontempelli to halfback for me would change their fortunes going forward,” he said.

“I still think they can contend but they have a serious issue in defence which they need to fix and they have a player inside those walls who, I think, can be a Luke Hodge at the Dogs in the backline.”

Collingwood legend and current Geelong assistant coach Nathan Buckley said it was an option that might be considered but he believes the Bulldogs are likelier to adopt a more attacking strategy.

“They have got some challenges in front of them. This is a tough competition. You do need a little bit of luck along the way. They haven’t had it the last couple of weeks and they are going to have to find different ways to go about it,” he said On The Couch.

“Bontempelli back? It might be an argument for them. They have tried to team defend, largely, and that has broken down a bit in the last 10 quarters. The second half against Essendon and then against Hawthorn and Geelong on Friday night. But it is a big call to push him back.

“The way the Dogs have fixed it in the past has just been to attack better and win ball better and then that helps their D. That might be the road they go down again.”

THE PATH BACK FOR SAM

Darcy, meanwhile, has been back at Whitten Oval this week ahead of surgery scheduled for later this week before he embarks on an extended recovery aimed at a return next season.

“He is in a good frame of mind. He is a great character, as you know. He will come back and be a player that will continue to improve and grow. We are going to miss him for a while, but we just have to deal with that, and others need to step up,” Beveridge said.

“It is more just the human side of someone being out of the game for that long. The good thing is – he has obviously ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament – but there is not a lot of other damage, which is important for the long run around degenerative issues and what it means for him post footy, so that is a good result. You are always looking for positives.”

Walker, who is delighted young Crow Dan Curtin is closing on a return to footy after suffering a significant knee injury in the pre-season, said there are periods through the rehabilitation period that are challenging for players returning from an ACL.

“The next few weeks, he will be trying to get the swelling out of his knee as quick as he can so that the healing can start,” he said.

“Mine was a bit more complex because I snapped the lateral ligament as well and I spent about six to eight weeks doing nothing, so you can go a little stir crazy. But it is one of those things. As soon as you accept that it has happened, then you just sort of get on with it and begin the process.

“He will have a bit of bed rest over the next few weeks and then hopefully it will be pretty straightforward for him, especially if there is no meniscus injury. Hopefully it is straightforward and he can get back on with it, take the right time to rehab his knee and then get back playing bigger and better footy.”

Dr Larkins hopes that proves to be the case. But he told foxsports.com.au this week there are no guarantees that an athlete who has suffered an ACL will return to their peak despite the clear advances in treatments and understanding of the joint.

The extent of the injury can be a factor and the recovery time can be a factor – the Bulldogs said it appears Darcy has avoided more extensive damage to his knee – along with genetics and family history can impact how an athlete recovers and returns to the field in any sport.

“Over the entire country, there will only be 18 to 20 ACLs in the whole AFL system this year and if you are looking at how well they do and how they perform, they are a different subject group to the regular population,” Dr Larkins said.

“They have incredibly good access to surgeons and they have rehab that is ideal, obviously, because they have a full-time club physio and a full-time club strength and conditioning person and they have the use of a swimming pool at their work place. It is their job. It is their work. So their ability to rehabilitate their knee and get everything right is next level.”

There are obvious success stories. Melbourne captain Max Gawn is a standout performer, clearly. But footy is also littered with players who have not been able to recapture their best form after suffering a knee injury, hence his caution.

He said patience was always required when it came to assessing the success of surgeries and said perspective is necessary.

“I look at Max Gawn and how good a player he is and he is standout, absolutely. Look at how good a player he is. It is not like they never get back,” he said.

“But if you said 100 out of the 100 players who have had an ACL over the past five years come back and play at their peak, the answer is no. And I have been looking at it for 22 years.

“If you do have an ACL operation, and you have damaged a cartilage and you have some bone bruising as well … those may return to play at suburban level, they may return at VFL level and they may make it back at AFL level as well.

“But if you look at Champion Data performance stats – and I think an ACL is not a one year injury, it is a two-year injury because while players might come back after one year … it takes them a long time to get their performance level back – and AFL data over the last 200 to 300 players, the number runs at about 29 percent who came back at the same level.”

Adam Simpson is hopeful the Bulldog’s youth will help him make a complete recovery and a strong return to footy at some stage in 2027, saying footy is far better with stars like Darcy on the field and firing.

“We saw a couple of signs (of) the potential and the way he was touted pre-season was that he was going to be the best player in the competition, so it is just sad for everyone that we don’t get to see him grow into this season,” he told SEN.

“There was enough talent in that side to make him look really good. They had not quite worked out how to manage it without (Tim) English in the team, but previously they were getting it done without him at his best.

“And I am still sure his best is still to come. He is untapped. Let’s hope the unicorn can come back.”