He’s the draftee.
Garrett, sounds like a Draftee’s dad’s name.
perhaps ‘Pop’ McDonagh is the nickname going forward
A strategy that has worked so well for us in the past two decades.
Strategy is based off Parish, Merrett, Stringer, Caldwell, McGrath, Laverde, Langford, Redman etc… adding on high end youth to that core. This group…Its been years in the works and the building of our midfield. We just have a decent coach now
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Well good on Garrett I say.
Imagine working your ■■■■ off after not making the cut previously and then being rewarded with a contract as a 25 yo at the club you follow. Dreams are made of that stuff.
I love all the talk about his boot and the ability to hit a target.
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Garrett “Purple Hoser” McDonagh
There are so many miserable people in this thread.
Well done G dog, welcome to the most successful VFL/AFL in history and looking forward to seeing the role you play over the next 5 years.
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I know nothing about the bloke as a player, but I’m bewildered by him as a list building decision.
In defence, you’d assume Heppell and Hind, are certainties if available. Same with Redman, or I’d be rather cranky. After that, there’s Cutler who did some useful service this year, but is clearly a step back in the pecking order. So now we bring in another TWO 25-ish medium defenders? I can see the logic in getting a proven AFL negator like Kelly given our weakness in that department, but recruiting him was going to make the backline plenty crowded as it was. And then another one as a rookie? How much mature-aged depth do we actually need in that position?
(I’m not even talking about Lord here, even though he’s another halfback. He’s a 3rd-round draftee and will expect to go around in the VFL for a bit, but you don’t draft a fkg 25yo unless you reasonably expect them to play seniors straight away. And Voss has played halfback too)
I don’t really like picking up blokes who’ve got half their footy lives behind them without a really good pressing reason. Sure, sometimes you find a diamond in the rough, but you end up with a badly unbalanced list fully of journeymen who are just ok and your list profile trends old, but inexperienced.
I don’t understand this pick from a demographic point of view. It’s not a rebuild pick, it looks much more like a top-up pick. And I’ve thought for some time that we need to take rebuilding seriously and stop looking for shortcuts, so that bothers me.
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Oh, I think you do understand it. We made finals, that means we’re tilting for a flag now.
My opinion @Humble_Minion is that we have a strategy of identifying and taking a mature age pick in the draft each year. We’d take a kid we liked if they slid through, but the mature ager is chosen otherwise.
I don’t mind the strategy as I do think there is some gold looking where others don’t.
The selection that doesn’t make sense for me is our rookie draft selection. For no other reason than we already have so many tall players that it’s becoming a list clogging issue. I thought it would be resolved this year, but it’s carrying forward into 2022. Which is not an opinion at all of the kid himself… just list management discussion.
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We saw Cutler play some pretty good footy toward the back end of last season. For me this pick is about consolidating that 7th defender - quarterback role - on the list if injuries were to happen. I get the age demographic argument but he’s 25, not 32.
For the record I don’t love this pick, but I don’t hate it either. But in all likelihood getting some production and ROI from pick 50 odd in year 1 isn’t the worst thing.
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Dodoro loves a non 18 yr old as a late pick… Brown, Hartley, guelfi, zerk, ham and now Garrett.
I think it’s a good strategy.
bbq chicken insurance policy…?
hind forward.
i dunno.
Maybe look at it this way.
List off the elite laser kicks in the team.
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How many plus 50 picks make it? Barely any, especially if their 18yo.
Going mature at that range is a good strategy. Guelfi, Hind are good examples.
Or we can take another Johnson, Cahill. I know which options I’d go for even if we only get 6 or 7 years out of them.
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gee Durham was a good get in Mid season draft
only 20, already added size, he will be like a new draftee too next year.
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Maybe there wasn’t a player left we wanted to give 2 years to? G Donga comes in on 1 and gets his chance.
People complaining about a decent mature age pick are missing the point in my opinion. McDonagh was not recruited to be the next NAB Rising Star. He was recruited to ensure we have exactly the right amount of depth to sustain a tilt at a Premiership over the next 3 years. We have a fantastic Best 22 brimming with potential. Now we have that plus 2 depth players for every position who can step in and perform a role. I am much more comfortable with a mature bodied McDonagh stepping in for an injured Heppell or Hind in a crunch game than some skinny, 78kgs 18 year old draftee taken with pick 56.
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Yeah, I know. The club always has a reason. That’s fine. But I was suggesting that the club isn’t a good judge of when we are doing well and thus should be cautious of going on the charge (when we are in a window).
I guess we will see…
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AFTER missing out on being drafted in 2014, followed by short stints at the Northern Blues and Coburg, Garrett McDonagh returned to West Preston-Lakeside thinking his AFL dream had passed him by.
But after two premierships with the Northern league Roosters, he decided to give it one more crack, and after a breakout season for Richmond’s VFL team this year, McDonagh was on Thursday night donning a different-coloured sash after being taken by Essendon – the team he has supported all his life – at pick 50 in the NAB AFL National Draft.
McDonagh, 25, was the only VFL senior-listed player selected in the draft, with delisted Geelong star Charlie Constable taken by Gold Coast at pick 63.
Six young players who lined up in at least one VFL match were also picked up – Josh Goater (played for Essendon, drafted by North Melbourne at 22); Tyler Sonsie (Box Hill Hawks, Richmond, 28); Jake Soligo (Richmond, Adelaide, 36); Josh Fahey (promoted from GWS Academy, 42); Zac Taylor (Essendon, Adelaide, 44) and Jackson Archer (North Melbourne father-son, 59).
The 183cm, 75kg McDonagh played nine of the Tigers’ 10 VFL games, averaging 20.7 disposals at 71 per cent efficiency, 4.9 marks, 2.8 tackles, three inside-50s, five rebound-50s and almost one clearance per game – a season which saw him finish sixth in the club’s Guinane Medal for the best-and-fairest.
A young Garrett McDonagh at the 2014 NAB AFL Draft Combine. Picture: AFL Photos
It was a marked improvement on his returns in five games for the Blues (11.4 disposals) in 2015 and two matches for Coburg (11.0) the following year, while he also added scoreboard pressure to his game with 4.4 this season after just 1.0 across those seven games at 19 and 20.
The left-footer known for his long, accurate kicking and decision making put in his best performance against Collingwood in round 13, when he had 30 disposals, nine marks and a goal, while he also impressed against GWS in round five (27, eight, one) and Brisbane Lions in round six (21, two goals).
He is the second VFL Tiger to find his way to Windy Hill this year after Sam Durham was taken by the Bombers in the NAB Mid-Season Rookie Draft in June, going on to play the last seven AFL games, including the elimination final loss to the Western Bulldogs.
Bombers general manager of list and recruiting Adrian Dodoro said McDonagh could make an impact at AFL level immediately.
“Garrett is player who deserves an opportunity,” Dodoro told the club’s website.
"We felt he was one of the better ready-made players in the pool this year. Even though he’s 25 years of age, we think he’s got a lot of football left in him.
“He’s an elite left-foot kick and has fantastic endurance. We’re looking forward to him playing a lot of senior football for us.”
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