As Sam Darcy's star rises before his eyes, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is focused on how he can ensure the prodigiously talented forward hits the heights he's capable of.
Towering former father-son pick Darcy kicked 4.2 and clunked eight marks in an eye-catching performance where he consistently threatened to break the game open in Friday night's 10.16 (76) to 10.10 (70) loss to Collingwood.
At 21, the third-generation, 208cm tall Bulldog has already kicked 42 goals in just 30 games, including 38 this year.
"He's a threat, he's a significant threat, Sam," Beveridge said.
"There's no doubt that you see his highest point stuff, you think 'how are they going to stop that?'"
Beveridge noted life as a forward was "temperamental" as they relied on their teammates to help them out.
He indicated the Bulldogs needed to get the ball inside 50 more, with better quality delivery, to allow Darcy to really influence games and reach his potential.
"I suppose that's the thing, he'll get the rub of the green here and there with different things," he said.
"But the supply and as he matures, can he cover more ground? Can we grow as a team to provide more and more opportunity for him?
"All those factors are gonna be the things that influence where he can get to in his career and where he can get to with his status in the competition.
"Because at the moment, everyone sees him as an enormous talent. Enormous - quite literally. Huge threat for their planning. Any team thinks, 'what are we gonna do?'"
"So we should all benefit from that but we didn't tonight. Sam was a definite influence but we didn't have enough around there."
Darcy worked over Collingwood premiership captain Darcy Moore on multiple occasions, and also worked up the ground well.
"He's a great player," Collingwood coach Craig McRae said.
"I'm watching him from afar just watching him do his thing against all teams.
"It's 208cm. Darcy Moore is our 203cm defender and he had a good night, he had moments where he got beaten on a good player.
"He's fast becoming a star, isn't he, Darcy?"
