#45 Conor McKenna - the first six years

Good on him for moving out here and having a crack at it, and good on him for making it to the elite level, I hope he makes it. ButI just don’t see anything with this guy. I’m invested so heavily in players who might not be good enough, I don’t know if I have anything left for another project player to break my heart.

Conor was not a defender as a junior. More mid/forward. He kicked 4 goals playing that role as a junior and that made him the target of quite a few clubs.
Getting to my point. I’m not sure if being a defender is his best position. I don’t think it is but I guess those at the club know better than me. I do know that he has not played much football in that role and it will take time.

He’s clearly only getting games for his pace and generally solid foot skills. Everyone wants another Johannisen, preferably one that can actually kick it as opposed to that over rated look at me ■■■■■■. But unfortunately McKenna doesn’t really offer anything else. He doesn’t read the play well and he aint great one on one. His would be a very specialised role in a good side. If we weren’t conceding 10000000 I50’s every game he’d be under less pressure and could probably prove more weapon than weakness.

Too me he looks like a natural born midfielder - powerful torso, low centre of gravity, very competitive, great burst of speed & quite fearless. Just lacks some game awareness (unsurprising) and probably tries kicking options that are low% at times simply because he can do kicks others can’t.

Was a way, way better player than 80% of the team on Sunday. He & McGrath played like they really wanted to give their all…unlike a few more senior teammates.

7 Likes

His contested possession ratio suggest he is very good one on one.

1 Like

Setting aside that contested possession stats can be misleading sometimes as they include anything that isn’t an uncontested mark or handball receive, but I didn’t suggest at any stage that he’s soft. Just that he’s a defensive liability in a backline that’s under genuine and regular pressure. But that doesn’t mean we wont be able to find a damaging role for him, just yet to find it IMO.
And make no mistake, every side has defensive liabilities, it’s how you cover for them in your structure that’s important. Hawthorn, for years have had a whole raft of them, but they also had the best structure to prevent their liabilities from being exposed.

Disagree on not being able to read the play well.

One of our very last goals against the Demons came about because McKenna read a long kick from our HF flank and he ran a good 50m + at top speed to hit the crumb on the side of the goal square and pushed the ball forward so Tippa/Hooker had a simple kick off the ground for goal.

He read both the direction, weight of the kick and fall of the ball off the pack to near perfection.

Dom Tyson - a former high GWS draft pick - was his opponent in Q4 and got nowhere near it. McKenna had the better of him in Q4 by some margin. On a wing, Tyson’s lack of leg speed was exposed.

Sitting up on L2 in the forward pocket at the Fletcher end does afford you the luxury of seeing the game unfold and watching which players are running hard and which aren’t. Believe me, the two hardest runners wearing Essendon colours on Sunday were McKenna & McGrath. They busted a gut regardless of the scoreboard.

10 Likes

And those structures to years to evolve.

This year and most likely next year I think its safe to say we aren’t going to win the flag.

Why not poor our resources into players that we know offer some real upside and can help us win a flag.

Players that have his skillset and athletic attributes can be the difference between a good team and a very good team!

1 Like

IMO, there’s a big difference between reading the play and running forward and reading the play as a defender to prevent your side from scoring… but I do understand your point. And that instructive as to the sort of role he should be used in… one where he can use his obvious weapons to our benefit, not where he can be exposed due to his weaknesses. Part of that is also about the players around him obviously and it’s still very much a work in progress.

100% agree. Rome wasn’t built in a day, gonna take time.

1 Like

lol?

1 Like

Kicked a goal with his first kick in AFL IIRC

1 Like

idk what ww is getting at but his first ever game he kicked 4 goals and was BOG against the best young players we had to offer.

1 Like

Has all the skills, and traits except for the most important ones. He has no footy smarts and no awareness of whats going on around him. He is a good kick when under no pressure there is no doubt about that. But because he has no awareness of the pressure around him or footy smarts, it doesn’t matter how good a kick he is.

These are all things he will learn by simply playing more footy in general. Should not be at AFL level at this stage either it doesn’t need to be. I am far from thinking he is a lost cause and as long as he keeps improving this year, he is worth keeping on. He has a lot of upside.

1 Like

Our play their entire lives types were pretty ■■■■■■■ garbage. I don’t think they should build themselves up on the afl too.

1 Like

Q4

14.05 presents and stretches for mark at half back quickly centres ball by foot, no drama
13.30 wins contested ball at full back, tackled but disposes effectively. They force ball up.
10.45 good spoil at fb starts transition which ends in goal
9.10 cuts out a kick destined for a dee in the goal square
8.25 at a contest at full back where Hurley takes the intercept. Spreads well to the back flank and Hurley finds him. Picks out bj in the corridor with a low spearing kick. Bj turns it over.
6.51 stretches and receives from Hurley and gives his man on the mark a cheeky elbow. Plays on with good kick to chf/ green who chips over the top for tippa goal
5.30 beats Oliver on the wing for a contested ball, works give and go with tippa and draws lucky free . goes long to full fwd, rush behind
2.23 wins a crumb going flat out at full forward, breaks a tackle and shovels it over to hooker for a goal.

Much cleaner quarter from conor, the pressure and pace is certainly off the game though. Still, no turnovers some good defending and contested ball work and set up the game nicely by foot. Involved in most if not all of our during opportunities for the quarter.

6 Likes

Sorry I missed this

Kelly
Mcneice
Zerrett
Goddard
tippa
Joedan
Heppell
Langford
Fantasia
colyer

Are all better field kicks than McKenna imo. I’ve seen Conor make some pretty nice passes at times but the problem is, it’s only about 2 or 3 pretty good kicks followed by 7 poor ones

1 Like

Hepp is floater city, sells teammates into trouble on occasion, hardly goes for risky kicks.
if langford decides to kick yeh hes good
colyer still rushes himself on occasion.
Joe, well read his thread.

i’d have conor about 5th on that list.

1 Like

You love Conor as much as I loved mark alvey, I know the feeling

1 Like

As long as Peeto doesn’t climb on board that way, … he just might get there …

1 Like