Daryl Sticks Close
The Herald, Wed., July 27 1966

By Bruce Walkley

North Melbourne half-back flanker Daryl O'Brien, 24, this season has won the title of giant-killer.

Some of the league's best half-forward flankers, including Richmond star Roger Dean, have said they rate him as one of their toughest opponents, even though he does not get as much publicity as some other half-backs.

They say he worries them by sticking close all day, while some others provide them with opportunities by chasing kicks.

O'Brien's opponents make up almost a Who's Who of League football.  Among them have been Dean, Barry Vagg, John Northey, Bob Skilton, Ron Barassi, Des Tuddenham, Graham Arthur and John Somerville.

O'Brien says, When you're playing on these players, you can't afford to be attacking.

"Your job is to stop them from getting kicks.  They need only about half-a-dozen to give their side a big lift.  You can't afford to give them an inch."

'No Start'

O'Brien said it was hard for a professional footrunner to give another man a yard in a big race like the Stawell Gift, run over 130 yd.

"In football you can't give them half a yard over 10 yards," he said.  O'Brien said the hardest half-forwards to play against were the ones who were always moving and making postion.  "Sometimes they go to a position where it seems there's only one chance in a 100 for the ball to come," he said.

Helped Him

"If you're not with them they've taken a chance that makes them a good player when the ball does come."

O'Brien is glad he's had to play on the best players.  He believes beating some of them has helped him hold his place in the North Melbourne side.

"If you come out and do your job against players like that they can't drop you," he said.

O'Brien has made one concession to the modern style of dashing half-back play.  This year, for the first time, he occasionally goes for a mark instead of punching the ball away...if he feels he is in the right position to beat his opponent.

But he isn't likely to start dashing for the ball 10 yards in front of his opponent, the mark of the dashing half-back who is so fashionable today.

"I reckon that's pushing your luck a bit too far," he said.

Photo caption:
DETERMINED DARYL.  Strong North Melbourne half-back flanker Daryl O'Brien shows all the determination which has made him a top player, as he takes a chest mark on the run at training last night (photo by Bob Buchanan).