#1 Andy McGrath loves finals football (Part 1)

His hand balling and quick hand balling is unreal!

His kicking wasnā€™t all that damaging in the 5 or 6 games I saw him play last year. As he develops he needs to work on kicking with more penetration and to increase his reliability by foot in general. I think he was aware of this and I often saw him chip it short or sideways as if he was playing within his limitations. I think he does lack a bit of confidence in it to be honest, especially when forced to kick to a target say 40m +.

Iā€™m not sure what others like HM who watched a lot of TAC cup and the National Champs games think of his kicking? Tell me Iā€™m tripping if you think otherwise.

His hands are super sharp and his footy IQ looks tremendous. Canā€™t wait till he tucks the ball under the arm and goes on a few dashes through the middle of the G which he showcased so well in the last qtr of the Metro vs Country match.

Looked a pretty good package today.

Looks good. I would select him for round 1.

McG & Parish & Zerret oh my......

YES!

And just imagine if we could have had them PLUS the four players Dodoro would have picked if the farking AFL had not stripped us of picks because they are Rsoles.

I have doubts on him for Round 1, but there is a lot to love about what he has shown. His handballing is sublime.

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Handballs like a pinball machine shoots its ball.

Deadly hands

Agree on the kicking, looks to be taking safe options. But thatā€™s probably fairly reasonable for an 18 year old with the country watching his every possession.

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 a fkn gun. I didn't watch hrs of him pre-draft but I'm hoping as he gets more confidence that the kick on the end of his 2 and 3 touch runs is good to very good to elite. If it is... this kid will be special.

McGrathā€™s career is officially over,.

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.

Heā€™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 weā€™re seeing.

Those clean hands, ability to fire off a bullet handball and burst of pace are going to be a treat once he becomes a full time midfielder around the stoppages.

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.

Heā€™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 weā€™re seeing.

Totally agree, Brodie played exactly like he did in the TAC cup GF, except he kicked the goals this time.
So good watching how they just continue what they done as youngsters.

Heā€™s one of those rare types of players, that when he gets the ball, you instantly know heā€™s going to make the right decision.
Unlike Long for example, who almost every time he gets the ball, you just never know whatā€™s going to happen or where it will end up.

Iā€™m severely over understanding blitz blather on McGrath.

If there is ever a case of being over/underrated, then this kid is it.

This is one of the most underrated overrated posts Iā€™ve ever seen.

I think youā€™re severely under rating and over rating his post

If there is ever a case of being over/underrated, then this kid is it.

This is one of the most underrated overrated posts Iā€™ve ever seen.

Our midfields been ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  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 ā– ā– ā– ā–  midfield forwards never get a chance. Defenders are over encumbered. and its just ā– ā– ā– ā–  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.

Iā€™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 weā€™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 ivā€™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 ā– ā– ā– ā–  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 weā€™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 canā€™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 weā€™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 weā€™ve ever drafted which is a start. But most of our other midfielders didnā€™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. weā€™ve addressed the small forwards but weā€™re still have some bizarre notions about midfield drafting that is utterly bizarre.

Iā€™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 couldā€™ve been anything, 2nd pick Jackson Merrett
2012 we didnā€™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 itā€™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 Iā€™m sure we have drafted him to play on it.

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

IDC what shaw says private school footy isnā€™t the closest thing to afl that juniors can play.


Sorry, but that just ignores reality at U18 level. Which is that players play multiple positions. Heppell, Zerrett, McGrath, Myers, Begley were clearly midfield options when drafted. The fact Kav had some risks is besides the point. And it is likely the club saw both Laverde and Langford (and Redman, a 2015 2nd round pick) all pushing through the midfield like an Ablett/SJ/Chapman/Mercuri/Long did. Hell, Dodoro on draft night was already saying Ridley and Begley were picked as midfielders. And in JLT2 Ridley across the middle.

We havenā€™t been taking flankers and turning them into midfielders. Weā€™ve been drafting strong midfield prospects. The fact many of them didnā€™t play exclusively midfield at U18 level is unimportant. Next Iā€™ll hear Logue, Pears, Rance werenā€™t/arenā€™t good defensive prospects since all the best KP players at U18 level play forwardā€¦

If there is ever a case of being over/underrated, then this kid is it.