Unfortunately, despite his many good qualities, he just doesn’t seem to have any instinctive feel for the game at all. He can kick, he can run, he can mark, he can tackle. He just doesn’t do the right one at the right time.
And all you do is run from thread to thread, holding the torch, defending every Tom, ■■■■ and Harry with this “every player who ever pulls on the sash is immune from criticism” tripe.
We need to continue to get games into him. If there were a bunch of youngsters knocking down the door in the twos, you could mount a strong argument for giving others a go, but all our promising young players are senior fixtures.
I’d rather get games in McKenna than the likes of Kelly, Zaka, Howlett, Hocking and Bird.
I suppose the real question is how did we get ourselves in this position. We have been so bad for so long! Every other team has their running half back flankers but ours slow or old
Gleeson got one more disposal, Bags got three more, and other defenders (Dea, Hartley) got about the same. I’m not sure why he would be singled out. Did some good stuff, did some poor. Should be persisted with. Much prefer him on a wing over Gleeson.
Conor gets more time. He’s coming from way back and has the skills and physique to be a real presence. He needs more games in the ones to develop an instinct for the flow of the game and learn the intricacies, and deserves some immunity from calls for his head.
I think it’s a gamble at this stage. If we pump games into him and he comes good the payoff will be huge. If not were just wasting a spot on him. At this stage I think we will keep rolling the dice a little longer