Western Bulldogs father-son prodigy Sam Darcy has further strengthened his bid for a potential AFL debut in the coming weeks, having dazzled for the club's reserves on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, son of 2001 Charles Sutton Medal winner Luke Darcy, joined the Bulldogs as the second overall selection in last year's National Draft after emerging as the best key-position player in his class.
Darcy has been forced to bide his time since landing at the Kennel, with a stress fracture in his foot having sidelined the 205cm tall teenager late last year.
The Glen Iris product was ruled out of the opening half of the season before making his VFL debut with Footscray in Round 8 against Collingwood's reserves.
Since then, Darcy has been moved across differing roles in attack, as a ruckman and down back, with the Dogs now looking to give their young tall more minutes in defence.
His latest outing for the Bulldogs was arguably his best yet, flourishing on the last line of senior coach Stewart Edge's backline in a 26-point win in Werribee.
Darcy amassed a game-high 14 marks for the match, garnering a return of 20 disposals and 3 inside 50s to help lead the Dogs to their seventh win of the season.
With Footscray placed just two wins outside of the top eight with three games remaining in the season, the victory over Werribee - a fellow finals hopeful - narrowly keeps their season alive.
With the Bulldogs' senior side also in an uphill battle to secure a finals placing, Darcy may be a factor in Luke Beveridge's planning for the final few rounds of the AFL season.
Darcy's debut could be on hold until next year should they continue their conservative approach with the young star, with a maiden match this season likely coming down to their finals calculations across the final three games of the home and away season.
Beveridge relegated senior key backman Alex Keath from his side for Round 20, which fell to Geelong by 28 points on Saturday night.
Keath recorded 14 touches and 7 marks of his own in the VFL against Werribee, looking to return to form and potentially land a lifeline in Beveridge's side for next week.
He may find some competition from Darcy for a reprieve, with the son-of-a-gun only strengthening his name in selection conversations.
The Bulldogs were able to keep Geelong's lethal forward pair of Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins to a combined four goals at Kardinia Park this weekend, and will now turn their attention to negating Fremantle's versatile attack of Matt Taberner, Rory Lobb and makeshift forward Griffin Logue in the air.
Beveridge may look to recall Keath or throw the keys to Darcy for the matchup, while selection pressure may mount on trio Zaine Cordy, Buku Khamis and Ryan Gardner.
AFL-listed players Lachie Hunter (24 disposals, 4 tackles, 3 clearances), Toby McLean (24 disposals, 7 tackles, 9 clearances) and Josh Schache (11 disposals, 5 marks, 3 goals) were also prominent in the win, while Lachie Sullivan (29 disposals, 8 tackles, 7 clearances and 2 goals) was dominant for the Dogs.
The Bulldogs will host the Dockers at Marvel Stadium next Saturday, with the match to commence at 4:35pm (AEST).
