Darren Jolly

Darren Jolly (born 6 November 1981) is a former Australian rules football player. Jolly played for the Melbourne Football Club, the Sydney Swans and the Collingwood Football Club. He is best known as being the ruckman in Sydney's 2005 premiership and Collingwood's 2010 premiership.

Darren Jolly in action playing for Sydney

After completing his schooling at Damascus College Ballarat in 1996, and playing for the North Ballarat Rebels in the TAC Cup, Jolly spent a year playing for the North Ballarat Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) before being drafted by the Melbourne Football Club in the 2001 Rookie Draft.

He played 48 games over four seasons for Melbourne, mainly as an understudy to Jeff White.

Darren Jolly (red and white) taps the ball to Adam Goodes (37) after beating Patrick Ryder in the ruck duel

The Demons traded Jolly to Sydney in 2004 for pick 15 in that year's national draft. Along with Jason Ball, in 2005 he was an integral part of Sydney's ruck division and after the retirement of Ball, assumed the number one ruck role at Sydney.

During his time at the Swans Jolly only missed two games, stemming from a suspension following an incident against his old club Melbourne. This run was cut in early 2011 due to an injury suffered in 2011 playing for Collingwood.

In the early hours of 29 September – one day before the Swans played in the 2006 AFL Grand Final – Jolly's wife Deanne gave birth to the couple's first child, Scarlett, which brought relief to coach Paul Roos, as Jolly had said he would not play in the Grand Final if his wife was to give birth on the day of the game.

At the end of the 2009 season, Jolly requested a trade be done so he could return to his native Victoria with his family. Many clubs expressed initial interest in securing the senior ruckman, with Collingwood securing a trade in exchange for picks number 14 and 46 in the 2009 AFL Draft. Jolly immediately became Collingwood's number one ruckman, and in 2010 was named in the 40-man All-Australian team squad, but did not make the final team.

Jolly's first two seasons at Collingwood mirrored his first two seasons with the Swans: he was part of Collingwood's premiership team in 2010, then part of its losing Grand Final team in 2011. Jolly played his 200th AFL game in round 19, 2011.

On 9 September 2013, he was delisted by the Magpies.

Jolly and his wife Deanne have two daughters. After being delisted by the Magpies, he and wife competed in the ninth season of The Block, a reality television series that follows couples as they compete to renovate a house. They returned for the tenth season of The Block in 2015.and ultimately going on to win the 2015 series, with all teams exceeding all previous seasons prize money.