Jack Darling admits he is lucky his dropped mark in the dying stages of the grand final didn’t cost West Coast dearly.

The Eagles were leading by four points when Luke Shuey found Darling on his own just outside goal square with just over a minute remaining.

Instead of icing the game, Darling fumbled the ball, leaving the door open for Collingwood to surge the ball up the other end and win the game.

But West Coast held on and it mattered not after the game for the man who has had to live with his poor 2015 grand final performance for the past three years.

“I was thinking about what I was going to do with the footy next, that was bad by me but I’m glad it didn’t cost us,” Darling said. “I followed up and gave a handpass to Crippa (Jamie Cripps). Lucky it didn’t cost us.

“I played my role, I didn’t have my best game of the year and I didn’t in 15 as well but I’m just glad the result is different.

“It’s amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like it and we’ll be celebrating it. It was very tense. I can’t believe how close that game was, to be able to win it so good.”

It was a day of highs and lows for Darling. A quiet first half in which he had three disposals was followed by a monster third quarter in which he hauled in six marks — four of them contested — and booted a huge goal.

“I just kept focusing on what I was focusing on in that first half,” Darling said. “I was that one step or two steps away from launching at a few marks but I just couldn’t get there. I read the play a bit better in that second half and just went for my grabs.

“The message at quarter-time, half-time, it didn’t really change too much. We were doing pretty good, we just didn’t really get bang for buck. We just stuck to what we’ve been doing all year, stuck to playing your role and the process. It held us in good stead.”

Darling believes the current forward line is as talented as any. Dual Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy was the key target with three goals, but there were key contributions from Cripps, Willie Rioli and Liam Ryan.

“JK was amazing and all the small forwards,” Darling said.

“Everyone was playing their role. We are always trying to be a threat to the opposition. They’ve been great all year and thankfully we were good enough.”