#45 Conor McKenna - the first six years

Deportation seems a bit heavy handed. Can’t we just stick him on Nauru until we work out if he can play?

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Not really the best player to use as an example?

McKenna played a different role this week to last week - played as a deep, small defender because McGrath and McNiece were both out.

Hence why the low possession count - kept his man quiet and his aerial work continues to improve. for whatever reason didn’t attack & rebound as much but there are probably two reasons for this:

  1. For the first time this year we played a spare defender - nominally Hurley - who distributed by foot and our plan was to move the ball up the ground by foot rather than run carry. From the little I saw it appeared Freo manned this spare up and this was a reason they got back in the game (not the main one).

  2. McKenna has not played that deeply in defence before - he normally plays off half back. It was a new role for him and I suspect he may have played more conservatively as a result.

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Get him on a wing/take Zaka or Stantons spot.

Are you saying we can get him cheaper on a 457 visa as essendon lacks skilled labour?

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And for mine that’s the role he should play every week, including in the VFL. We’re teaching the best U18 talent in the country how to defend first, and he’s got a pretty natural knack for it. I don’t see why we wouldn’t be trying to teach a speculative project player the same, particularly given his defensive attributes are clearly his biggest point of weakness. I thought he did some nice defensive things on Sunday, halved some contests in the air but also had a few very shakey moments. For mine the only way he’s going to make it is if he improves the defensive side of his game, hopefully this is a sign he’s beginning to do that.

I see your point with McGrath. He’s probably not a great comparison though because he played a lot of his junior years as a small defender so his education started quite a while ago.

McKenna started as a forward and only last year started playing in the back half.

He’s going to be a slow burn for now but the talent is certainly there.

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Au contraire. He’s the perfect comparison for the reason you’ve pointed out. He’s the elite jnr talent in the country with an already established defensive mindset, but we’ve still defaulted to teaching him to defend first. Of all kids he’d be the guy you’d think we wouldn’t need to teach to defend, but we are, so surely it stands to reason that the first thing you’d be teaching a kid who for all intents and purposes knows nothing about the game is how to defend. Maybe we got it wrong on McKenna when we started with him, maybe it should’ve been defence first…

Who said we are teaching McGrath to be a defender first?

He played as a defender in juniors and its obvious that he’s not going to start in midfield from his first game in his first season!

I would doubt even the most optimistic Essendon supporter would believe McGrath was going to start his career in midfield, and especially with the returning players!

McKenna only just turned 21 in March and has played 17 games. To me he’s tracking very well!

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The coaches upon him starting pre-season.

I think you’ll find we’re actually in agreement, all be it that we get there from slightly different directions.

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Not perpetually injured. Stays.

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Very clever.

I don’t know whether to “like” this or cry…

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I had a chuckle as I typed it. topical. please like, it’ll enhance my sense of smug self congratulation.

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I’ve just worked out / noticed, why Conor’s kicking stuffs up in the Seniors.

If you watch him when he kicks, compared to any other player almost,… he has a very long (by comparison) & deliberate look at the ball going to boot, obviously a legacy of learning to kick the new shaped ball, and also why he kicks so well, but when he kicks, it’s actually going to the exact spot he aimed for last time he checked, but so often, the target moves in that second or two.

He gets away with it at VFL level, because the game is a lot slower, & less intense.

I really think that’s it. I’m now wondering, if it will or can ever change, … get more natural, so it’s only a glance down as the ball hits the foot like most players.

I hope so.

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I just don’t think this kid will make it. He really does try, but makes me nervous anytime he’s near the ball.
Johanisson will end up taking his spot. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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McKenna has elite kicking skills

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Yep, didn’t have his best kicking night - below par for him at 69.2% disposal efficiency which was still higher than Daniher, Heppell, Parish, Fantasia, Tippa, Colyer & Hartley.

He is normally high 70’s or low 80s which is elite.

He more than made up for his below par disposal efficiency by defending both the air and the ground very well.

Interestingly, neither McGrath or Baguley had big stats last night either but, along, with Mckenna, they made sure the Cat small forwards didn’t get much of a look in.

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I can see why they are persisting with him.

He has all the tools to become a good AFL player; speed, aggression, decent in the air for his size, decent kick.

His decision making is letting him down at the moment though

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This. Starting to see why the like him. Plus his line breaking and tackling helped a lot last night. Let himself down a few times though with disposal.

There were similar doubts on Zach Tuohy when he was getting games at Carlton.
But his kicking would go from awesome to crap often and his consistency from game to game was poor.
Even the last two years he was an underrated player and as soon as he gets to Geelong in a good system with better players around him, he becomes one of the best rebounding defenders in the game.

I’m not sure Conor will be as good as Tuohy, but he can follow a similar path.
We need to show patience with Conor and drop him to the seconds when he isn’t performing.

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