#1 Andy McGrath loves finals football (Part 1)

I don’t really want to perpetuate non-McGrath talk but hey…

List balance is a bit of an ongoing rotation thing. You can’t throw the house at every hole all at the same time.

Imagine how short we would be in Talls if Ambrose / Brown / Hartley hadn’t come off for us. Even the best recruiters wouldn’t have dreamt a haul like that was possible using the picks we did.

Imagine how completely screwed we would be for rucks if Leuenberger hadn’t stood up as he has.

Remember how rooted our small forwards were 12 months ago. And we had one very young giraffe like tall forward?

So admittedly we had a lot of HBF’ers… and ironically I’m not certain we’ve got 2 very good ones on our list at the moment (although we obviously hold high hopes).

We’ve managed to potentially fix a lot of those holes, and still draft a lot of good high quality mids each year, as well as rotate through a bunch of potentials. We’re doing alright, but those ridiculous draft sanctions killed, and we all knew it at the time.

... Re Parrish, he is too small to play anywhere else, and his fast hands and nippyness are very useful as is his willingness to draw heat to release others. ....

What does this mean? It reads like you’re saying Parish is too small to play anywhere besides the midfield.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Completely agree, essendon drafting forwards and defenders and trying to turn them into mids is one of the reasons we’ve seen little success in my opinion. I think you draft mids, if they aren;t good enough, then they go play in an easier position, like half back flank. Of course 90% of the best young kids are thrown into the middle in their junior days, thats why iv’e found our philosophy of drafting flankers to turn them to mids the wrong way around.

Eagles were the perfect example of how a great midfield can make the rest of the ■■■■ around it look good. Hopefully woosha brings that to essendon.

Our first pick was a back pocket/HBF, 2nd was a utility, 3rd was a forward, 4th midfield, 5th midfielder

but we’re using our low picks on midfielders, which usually means the players have glaring flaws that need to be worked on (clarke disposal/ mutch speed) Most of the time these weaknesses can’t be improved.

Now I think McG will be a good player at the worst case. Ridley looks promising, but its targeting a need 4 years from now. Fridge has just exploded into cult status in a pre-season game and theres talk of him becoming a midfielder? are we really gonna be the club that takes a promising 3rd tall who kicked 4 goals in his first real hit out to the midfield?. Mutch looks like quite the player (except this make 1 side elite bullshit), and clarke could just be an absolute bull. But we’ve been able to do brutes in the past, we need those that can win the odd contested ball as well as then drill it 40metres to a target.

Parish is the most midfieldiest player we’ve ever drafted which is a start. But most of our other midfielders didn’t start in the midfield and its showing when the overall quality of our midfield will be found lacking. (Yes zach and heppell are exceptions more than the rule, both being hff/hbf respectively)

Essendon has had 2 glaring weaknesses for the last decade, midfield and small forwards. we’ve addressed the small forwards but we’re still have some bizarre notions about midfield drafting that is utterly bizarre.

I’ll probably drop the subject in this thread for now, just wanted to get up on my soapbox.

2010 our first pick Dyson Heppel
2011 our first pick Elliot Kavanagh, 2nd pick Jackson Merrett
2012 we didn’t pick a mid till the preseason draft Will Hams
2013 our first pick Zac Merrett
2014 our first pick Kyle Langford
2015 our first pick Darcy Parish
2016 our first pick Andrew McGrath

We have invested heavily in mids over the last 7 drafts. I also think it’s also very important to draft flexible players, able to play on the ball and add value in other positions. Heppel, Merrett, Langford have all shown they can play in different positions, McGrath can obviously play behind the ball but I’m sure we have drafted him to play on it.

This is more true then ever the game is changing and evolving, with the limit on rotations its important to be able to play multiple positions.

Watching him play on the weekend he looked really good, did few clever things, good peripheral vision. I think they picked the best player. It seems normal to start mids in defense, and I think a good idea
firstly it teaches them to be accountable defensively. It is also easier to read the play - heppel had luxury of hbf often without opponent - and build confidence.
It also teaches them about how unmarked opp mids can slaughter the best defense, so from learning perspective hbf is really good, plus also playing on the sneakiest and most clever of opponents is good teaching.
Re Parrish, he is too small to play anywhere else, and his fast hands and nippyness are very useful as is his willingness to draw heat to release others.
Reality is that there is not much much to split picks 1-4 usually.
I think our mid depth is very good, with some star power there as well now, Hep, Jobe, Zerret are A graders with Hocking Zacka etc solid and a few newbies like langford showing good signs.
We had the best spine for a couple of years but asada then wada ruined that. Our list pre wada was very good, and remember prior to wada we were looking good.

back to McGrath, I think he will be good, how good is unknown, but certainly a 10 year player, with potential to win brownlow and captain club. That is tops, obviously. Oozes class. Compared to the Suns first picks he maybe off pace, but different role and also size. Hard to compare, but am happy to have him on board

Must play midfield.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Completely agree, essendon drafting forwards and defenders and trying to turn them into mids is one of the reasons we’ve seen little success in my opinion. I think you draft mids, if they aren;t good enough, then they go play in an easier position, like half back flank. Of course 90% of the best young kids are thrown into the middle in their junior days, thats why iv’e found our philosophy of drafting flankers to turn them to mids the wrong way around.

Eagles were the perfect example of how a great midfield can make the rest of the ■■■■ around it look good. Hopefully woosha brings that to essendon.

Our first pick was a back pocket/HBF, 2nd was a utility, 3rd was a forward, 4th midfield, 5th midfielder

but we’re using our low picks on midfielders, which usually means the players have glaring flaws that need to be worked on (clarke disposal/ mutch speed) Most of the time these weaknesses can’t be improved.

Now I think McG will be a good player at the worst case. Ridley looks promising, but its targeting a need 4 years from now. Fridge has just exploded into cult status in a pre-season game and theres talk of him becoming a midfielder? are we really gonna be the club that takes a promising 3rd tall who kicked 4 goals in his first real hit out to the midfield?. Mutch looks like quite the player (except this make 1 side elite bullshit), and clarke could just be an absolute bull. But we’ve been able to do brutes in the past, we need those that can win the odd contested ball as well as then drill it 40metres to a target.

Parish is the most midfieldiest player we’ve ever drafted which is a start. But most of our other midfielders didn’t start in the midfield and its showing when the overall quality of our midfield will be found lacking. (Yes zach and heppell are exceptions more than the rule, both being hff/hbf respectively)

Essendon has had 2 glaring weaknesses for the last decade, midfield and small forwards. we’ve addressed the small forwards but we’re still have some bizarre notions about midfield drafting that is utterly bizarre.

I’ll probably drop the subject in this thread for now, just wanted to get up on my soapbox.

2010 our first pick Dyson Heppel (mid/HBF)
2011 our first pick Elliot KavanaghRisk pick that could’ve been anything, 2nd pick Jackson Merrett
2012 we didn’t pick a mid till the preseason draft Will Hams
2013 our first pick Zac Merrett HFF who spent some time in the midfield
2014 our first pick Kyle Langford HFF/Utility
2015 our first pick Darcy Parish (MID)
2016 our first pick Andrew McGrath Backpocket/HBF

We have invested heavily in mids over the last 7 drafts. I also think it’s also very important to be a flexible player considering the amount of guys you need to play through their you need a few strings to your bow. Heppel, Merrett, Langford have all shown they can play in different positions, McGrath can obviously play behind the ball but I’m sure we have drafted him to play on it.

IDC what shaw says private school footy isn’t the closest thing to afl that juniors can play.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Completely agree, essendon drafting forwards and defenders and trying to turn them into mids is one of the reasons we’ve seen little success in my opinion. I think you draft mids, if they aren;t good enough, then they go play in an easier position, like half back flank. Of course 90% of the best young kids are thrown into the middle in their junior days, thats why iv’e found our philosophy of drafting flankers to turn them to mids the wrong way around.

Eagles were the perfect example of how a great midfield can make the rest of the ■■■■ around it look good. Hopefully woosha brings that to essendon.

Our first pick was a back pocket/HBF, 2nd was a utility, 3rd was a forward, 4th midfield, 5th midfielder

but we’re using our low picks on midfielders, which usually means the players have glaring flaws that need to be worked on (clarke disposal/ mutch speed) Most of the time these weaknesses can’t be improved.

Now I think McG will be a good player at the worst case. Ridley looks promising, but its targeting a need 4 years from now. Fridge has just exploded into cult status in a pre-season game and theres talk of him becoming a midfielder? are we really gonna be the club that takes a promising 3rd tall who kicked 4 goals in his first real hit out to the midfield?. Mutch looks like quite the player (except this make 1 side elite bullshit), and clarke could just be an absolute bull. But we’ve been able to do brutes in the past, we need those that can win the odd contested ball as well as then drill it 40metres to a target.

Parish is the most midfieldiest player we’ve ever drafted which is a start. But most of our other midfielders didn’t start in the midfield and its showing when the overall quality of our midfield will be found lacking. (Yes zach and heppell are exceptions more than the rule, both being hff/hbf respectively)

Essendon has had 2 glaring weaknesses for the last decade, midfield and small forwards. we’ve addressed the small forwards but we’re still have some bizarre notions about midfield drafting that is utterly bizarre.

I’ll probably drop the subject in this thread for now, just wanted to get up on my soapbox.

2010 our first pick Dyson Heppel
2011 our first pick Elliot Kavanagh, 2nd pick Jackson Merrett
2012 we didn’t pick a mid till the preseason draft Will Hams
2013 our first pick Zac Merrett
2014 our first pick Kyle Langford
2015 our first pick Darcy Parish
2016 our first pick Andrew McGrath

We have invested heavily in mids over the last 7 drafts. I also think it’s also very important to draft flexible players, able to play on the ball and add value in other positions. Heppel, Merrett, Langford have all shown they can play in different positions, McGrath can obviously play behind the ball but I’m sure we have drafted him to play on it.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Fair enough and I know most agree with you but, I still disagree.

Yeah, I disagree also.
It takes a total team to succeed, obviously.
Therefore, logically, the most important elements are the ones hardest to acquire.

Its all relative thought isn’t it?

Our midfield isn’t exactly deep.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Fair enough and I know most agree with you but, I still disagree.

Yeah, I disagree also.
It takes a total team to succeed, obviously.
Therefore, logically, the most important elements are the ones hardest to acquire.

everyone is midfield effing crazy on here. If he can lock down the best small fwd, then dominate setting up attacks and goals, who the fark cares about playing on the ball. In saying that he will be able to play there to without a problem, but perhaps we will add more value where they are playing him. who knows.

And therein lies the problem. He can’t. His rebound is great, but he has very little aerial ability, and is a quite mediocre one one one. Which is the reason he is up forward. My guess is his next step will be (tank permitting) wing/mid.

He is up fwd? didn’t lock down Ainsworth. Has no areil ability? are we even talking about the same player.

Sorry, I deleted the post. Too many tabs open. Posted in the wrong thread.

Out of all the threads that deserved a FFS! You go and picked the one that didn’t.

It’s a gift.

everyone is midfield effing crazy on here. If he can lock down the best small fwd, then dominate setting up attacks and goals, who the fark cares about playing on the ball. In saying that he will be able to play there to without a problem, but perhaps we will add more value where they are playing him. who knows.

And therein lies the problem. He can’t. His rebound is great, but he has very little aerial ability, and is a quite mediocre one one one. Which is the reason he is up forward. My guess is his next step will be (tank permitting) wing/mid.

He is up fwd? didn’t lock down Ainsworth. Has no areil ability? are we even talking about the same player.

Sorry, I deleted the post. Too many tabs open. Posted in the wrong thread.

Out of all the threads that deserved a FFS! You go and picked the one that didn’t.

Good players can play anywhere. Just because McG can play in defense and the midfield does not make him any less valuable then a pure midfielder, in fact id argue the opposite, its a mentality around here that I strongly disagree with. I will leave it at that.

I think people are excited to see McGrath go through the midfield as his best was 44 possessions and 19 tackles at TAC Cup level, on top of that he also had a 38 poss 36, 32, 32, 29, 29 and a 27 poss game, he only played 9 games. Midfield is where he belongs.

I think some of those games were from down back

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Completely agree, essendon drafting forwards and defenders and trying to turn them into mids is one of the reasons we’ve seen little success in my opinion. I think you draft mids, if they aren;t good enough, then they go play in an easier position, like half back flank. Of course 90% of the best young kids are thrown into the middle in their junior days, thats why iv’e found our philosophy of drafting flankers to turn them to mids the wrong way around.

Eagles were the perfect example of how a great midfield can make the rest of the ■■■■ around it look good. Hopefully woosha brings that to essendon.

Our first pick was a back pocket/HBF, 2nd was a utility, 3rd was a forward, 4th midfield, 5th midfielder

but we’re using our low picks on midfielders, which usually means the players have glaring flaws that need to be worked on (clarke disposal/ mutch speed) Most of the time these weaknesses can’t be improved.

Now I think McG will be a good player at the worst case. Ridley looks promising, but its targeting a need 4 years from now. Fridge has just exploded into cult status in a pre-season game and theres talk of him becoming a midfielder? are we really gonna be the club that takes a promising 3rd tall who kicked 4 goals in his first real hit out to the midfield?. Mutch looks like quite the player (except this make 1 side elite bullshit), and clarke could just be an absolute bull. But we’ve been able to do brutes in the past, we need those that can win the odd contested ball as well as then drill it 40metres to a target.

Parish is the most midfieldiest player we’ve ever drafted which is a start. But most of our other midfielders didn’t start in the midfield and its showing when the overall quality of our midfield will be found lacking. (Yes zach and heppell are exceptions more than the rule, both being hff/hbf respectively)

Essendon has had 2 glaring weaknesses for the last decade, midfield and small forwards. we’ve addressed the small forwards but we’re still have some bizarre notions about midfield drafting that is utterly bizarre.

I’ll probably drop the subject in this thread for now, just wanted to get up on my soapbox.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Completely agree, essendon drafting forwards and defenders and trying to turn them into mids is one of the reasons we’ve seen little success in my opinion. I think you draft mids, if they aren;t good enough, then they go play in an easier position, like half back flank. Of course 90% of the best young kids are thrown into the middle in their junior days, thats why iv’e found our philosophy of drafting flankers to turn them to mids the wrong way around.

Eagles were the perfect example of how a great midfield can make the rest of the ■■■■ around it look good. Hopefully woosha brings that to essendon.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Fair enough and I know most agree with you but, I still disagree.

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

I’m refuting that its less important. in the modern game the midfield is the most important part of the ground.

Round one lock

Our midfields been ■■■■■ since the early 00s, of course we're midfield fkg crazy. Which flag winning side had a horrible midfield in the last decade?

which flag winning side has had a horrible team in the last decade? It took them more then the mids to get them there. Its just the mids get all the recognition.

How does the ball get into the forward line? through the midfield.
How do you stop the ball bombarding into our defenders? through the midfield. It is the most important collective position on the field. Win centre clearances and get it forward is the most efficient way to score. Class midfielders are capable of impacting the scoreboard.

If you have a ■■■■ midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ■■■■ viewing.

Never said the midfield was not important, just that it is no more or less important then other parts of the ground. Most the great players can play anywhere. I think McG will be one of these.

Just want to confirm that nobody here thinks this kid is doing anything other than exactly what his coaches are telling him? And doing it with aplomb. Rnd 1 on Cyril/Puopolo, lock him the fark in.

He’s doing what he did through his entire juinior career.

The eyecatching runs out of defence were what made it onto the highlight reels, but they were never the core of his game. His game was accumulation, lightning-fast flicking it around by hand, and shutdown defence on small forwards.

Which is pretty much exactly what we’re seeing.

Exactly.