Skip to content
Back to Players

Darcy Gardiner#27

Age: 30 years
Career Games: 192
Debut: 2014
Height: 194cm
Weight: 85kg
59High Risk

Quick Stats

192
Career Games
Total AFL matches played
9
Season Games
2026 AFL season
8
Career Injuries
Recorded injury incidents
7
Games Missed
2026 season · injury-related

Currently injured — out since 2 July 2026 (14d) · Hamstring injury — clutched at his hamstring in the fourth quarter of the Round 17 win over Geelong at GMHBA Stadium (2026-07-02) after quelling Jeremy Cameron all night. Chris Fagan: expects a decent hamstring injury; scans to confirm the grade.

Current Status

Injured

Hamstring Strain

Est. return: Round 22 (8 Aug)

Road to Recovery

Clinical progress for this injury — fitness tests, setbacks, and reassessments as they were recorded.

Hamstring StrainView full detail
  1. R172 July

    Occurred

    Hamstring injury — clutched at his hamstring in the fourth quarter of the Round 17 win over Geelong at GMHBA Stadium (2026-07-02) after quelling Jeremy Cameron all night. Chris Fagan: expects a decent hamstring injury; scans to confirm the grade.

  2. 7 July

    Progress update

    Reassessment

    AFL R18 Medical Room and the Brisbane Qscan report put the hamstring at 4-6 weeks — record previously had no expected return while scans were pending. Darcy Gardiner | Hamstring | 4-6 weeks

    Return now expected 8 Aug

    AFL.com.au

Risk Profile

4 factors identified
Injury severity load

Severity-weighted total across 7 recorded injuries — more severe injuries weigh more; those older than 24 months count half.

Injury volume

7 injuries in the scoring window — frequent injuries compound risk.

Recent injury

Carrying an ongoing injury from the last month — the most recent setbacks weigh heaviest.

Age

Age 30 — injury risk rises ~1 point per year past 28 (capped at +10).

Note:Risk factors are derived from a heuristic (injury history, age, workload, recurrence) — a placeholder while the ML model is pending. Bars show each driver's relative contribution, not an exact running total.

Career Durability

51
Injury-prone
Rank: 531 (34th percentile)

2026 Season (Active)↘️

Games Played9 / 23
Goals0

On pace for 11.5 games (below career avg)

Status: Active

Component Scores

Games Consistency68/100
Age Factor75/100

Recent Form (Last 3 Seasons)

Weighted Average11.9 games
Recent TierInjury-prone

Down 2.7 games/season from career average

Career: 12 seasons, 183 games (15.3 avg)

Career Timeline (Completed Seasons)

Above average
Below average
Games played per completed season
SeasonGames played
201417
20158
201618
201719
201820
201924
202018
20219
202221
20234
20247
202518
Durability calculated from 12 seasons of data (v2.2-availability-weighted)
Last updated: 13 July 2026

Injury Patterns

Body regions injured more than once — the multi-season recurrence view.

Plus 2 body regions with a single recorded injury.

Grouped by OSIICS body region. OSIICS © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.

Injury Profile

8
Total Injuries
46
Games Missed
3
Soft Tissue
4
Structural
1
Contact (impact)

Injury Categories

Structural4 (50%)

31 games missed · Last: May 2025

Soft Tissue3 (38%)

14 games missed · Last: July 2026

Contact/Concussion1 (13%)

1 games missed · Last: Apr 2025

Durability Impact

Soft Tissue Penalty-15 pts
Injury Frequency Score87/100

3 soft tissue injuries × 5 points = -15 penalty

⚠️3 injuries in the past 12 months
OSIICS © John Orchard — Free to use with acknowledgment.

Travel Burden

5.33k km
Total km
Interstate flights this season
4
Trips
Out of 9 games played
592
km / game
Average per appearance

Interstate flights only. Same-state and home-venue games count as 0 travel. Excludes games the player did not feature in.

Season Availability

Every round of the season — played, missed to injury, and what's ahead.

2026: played 7 · missed 7 to injury · 3 rounds at risk

R0
R1
R2
R3
R10
R15
R16
R17
R18
R19
R20
R21
R22
R23
R24
playedmissed (injury)injured in gameat riskprojected returnV/S/W affiliate returnbye / did not playupcoming

Injury History

8 injuries recorded
Injury history
DateInjurySeverityStatus
2 July 2026R171× · 1.44k km
MTMJ
Minor (7)
Injured
28 Mar 2026R31× · 1.37k km
STAC
Moderate (7)
Returned
31 Dec 2025
Moderate
Returned
17 May 2025
Severe (13)
Returned
20 Apr 2025
Minor (1)
Returned
13 Apr 2024
Long-term (18)
Returned
15 Oct 2022
Severe (0)
Returned
10 Oct 2020
Minor (0)
Returned