Darren Holmes (footballer)

Darren Holmes
Personal information
Full name Darren Holmes
Date of birth (1970-09-03) 3 September 1970 (age 54)
Original team(s) Walla Walla, Lavington
Height 188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 83 kg (183 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1991–1994 Sydney Swans 42 (6)
1995–1996 Fitzroy 21 (3)
Total 63 (9)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1996.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Darren Holmes (born 3 September 1970) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Sydney Swans and Fitzroy in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s.

Holmes was originally from Walla Walla in the Hume Football League and won the league Thirds best and fairest award in 1986.[1]

Holmes was then recruited to Lavington in the Ovens & Murray Football League and played in their 1988 grand final loss to Wangaratta Rovers,[2] prior to playing with Sydney Swans.

A utility, Holmes had his most productive year in 1992 when he made 19 appearances and after two more seasons was traded to Fitzroy.[3] He was a member of the last Fitzroy squad in the AFL, playing seven games in the 1996 AFL season.

Holmes had the misfortune of playing in five consecutive wooden spoon sides, with Sydney from 1992 to 1994 and then at Fitzroy in the next two seasons. Overall, of the 63 career games he played, he was on the victorious side just 10 times.[3][4]

Holmes was the man who tackled the piglet which had been set loose during a game against St Kilda at the Sydney Cricket Ground, to ridicule the weight of then-St Kilda full-forward Tony Lockett, in 1993.[5]

Holmes coached Yackandandah in the Tallangatta & District Football League between 2020 and 2024, culminating in the 2024 premiership.[6]

  1. ^ "1986 - Hume FL Grand Final Record Booklet: Thirds Best & Fairest" (PDF). NSW Football History. Hume FNL. 20 September 1986. p. 6.
  2. ^ "1988 - O&MFNL Grand Final Scores". O&MFNL. 1988. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b AFL Tables: Darren Holmes
  4. ^ McClure, Geoff. "Different club spoons — wood you believe it?". www.theage.com.au. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  5. ^ Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-920910-78-5.
  6. ^ "2024 - ROO-JOICE: Yackandandah snaps 24-year premiership drought in style". Border Mail. Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW). 15 September 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.