#45 Conor McKenna - the first six years

Not sure how Conor is tracking this pre-season. He has not been a "standout" in the intraclubs so far whereas Marty was superb in one , and good in another.. But He is one to watch tomorrow.

As a defender, Conor is more a man on man player, not an interceptor like say, Marty or Matty Dea, but Conor is far far more attacking than either of these players. Matty is a defensive interceptor and outlet player, same with Marty, and they are both good in their own right. But if you want a player to replace the run off half back of Hibbo , and the desire to attack and approaching elite disposal inside 50, that Tippa gave us last year. Conor is the go.

Pops Kelly probably has the other “half back flank” position locked in.

Really? The intra club i went to he was superb and i came away thinking he will be a gun this season. Haven’t previously rated him too highly.

Must have been the one I didnt see. On the day of the Blitz barbie, his car had been stolen, so I guess thats why he was quiet.

Smack played a blinder - must have been because his car was stolen
Conner was quiet - must have been because his car was stolen

Conor is legit the best kick in our team, isn’t soft and is gonna be a gun.

plays round 1, ■■■■ the rest.

Not sure how Conor is tracking this pre-season. He has not been a "standout" in the intraclubs so far whereas Marty was superb in one , and good in another.. But He is one to watch tomorrow.

As a defender, Conor is more a man on man player, not an interceptor like say, Marty or Matty Dea, but Conor is far far more attacking than either of these players. Matty is a defensive interceptor and outlet player, same with Marty, and they are both good in their own right. But if you want a player to replace the run off half back of Hibbo , and the desire to attack and approaching elite disposal inside 50, that Tippa gave us last year. Conor is the go.

Pops Kelly probably has the other “half back flank” position locked in.

Really? The intra club i went to he was superb and i came away thinking he will be a gun this season. Haven’t previously rated him too highly.

Agreed. And I think I even made note in a training report that the coaches seemed to be rapt with his defensive efforts too. Kid is a gun.

Conor is legit the best kick in our team, isn't soft and is gonna be a gun.

plays round 1, ■■■■ the rest.

Conor McKenna arguably won us the game off HB against the GCS late last year.

In a low scoring game won by only 6 points he kicked 2 goals off a HBF - whilst his opponent did little. He also set up Long to Daniher for a goal in Q2 with brilliant left foot pass out wide to Long in space. I think he had 20+ possessions that day to go with the 2 goals and I recall him starting off the bench in each of the 3 quarters so he probably only had about 70%-80% game time for those numbers. He is comfortably in the Top 3 kicks in the team (if not the best). And there is still a ton of upside as he learns the game more and becomes more experienced in what to do in certain situations.

Is absolutely Best 22 in my mind.

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Conor is legit the best kick in our team, isn't soft and is gonna be a gun.

plays round 1, ■■■■ the rest.

Ben McNiece is a better kick in my opinion and could surprise by becoming that running defender we need. He’s a better one-on-one player too, but Conor has him covered when it comes to athleticism.

Happy St Pats Day, Conor.

Hope you can have a Guinness to celebrate.

6 Likes

Hi diddle dedee! Great to see Conor brought back into the team. Will be great watching him take on the Crows with his dash and dare. Put him down for a goal.

Where are they going to play him though? In the BomberTV video Woosha is talking about him as a rebounding defender and then they show him in the forward pocket on the graphic!

Probably the best player at the Irish game I’d agree

Will add some much needed speed, foot skills and rebounding to our halfback line on Saturday.

Well done, Conor!

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Great he has been given another game to show what he can bring to the side.

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Blitzers have been down on his defensive efforts, which is where l expect the greatest improvement in his game to come from. Well done Connor, rip it up son.

This is what we want to see him doing in Adelaide.

Pic is from VFL game last week, taken from Karma Bomber’s instagram page.

During the 1st Qtr @conor.mckenna.75 became an attacking defender, taking advantage of the wind to bomb a long goal on the run. :+1:t3::red_circle::black_circle::heavy_check_mark: @essendonvfl #donthesash #kickingwiththewind

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Good kick, great speed… but just seems like he lacks feel of the game coming into it at such a later age.

Got to persist at least for a good number of games. Some of his more senior team mates have neither speed, nor kicking skills at the moment. We’re going to see some stuff ups but he has something very special to work on.

3 Likes

Just not seeing it.

Did pretty much exactly what most people expected. Got caught out defensively a few times and attacked well at other times.

I don’t think we learnt anything new about him tonight.

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IMO is a better option than Gleeson as he provides some pace and run off half back and is a good ball user by foot.
Makes a few horrible stuff ups, but so does Gleeson.

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Will he be suspended? Plays for us after all.

Will miss a few games with suspension.

It’s a lottery but imo that was insufficient force