AFL Player 1: Andrew "Pidge" McGrath (c) - 42nd Captain of the Essendon Football Club

[Beerfish]

Contract Status: Unrestricted Free Agent 2030
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 13, Vindicater

 

[Mercurial89]

Is he choosing to not go at times or he just can't physically?

Feels like when I see him behind the play (often when he's been caught out of position) he gives a token push effort than just dials it back and jogs lazily thinking he can't impact.
Then you have guys who yes make the mistake, but give a 100% all out sprint to try and impact.

I'd rather have that mindset to try and rectify the mistake than the McGrath one who still makes the mistake then does absolutely nothing to even seem like he's trying to fix it.

I'll also add he's not alone in the senior group that does these half hearted chases expecting someone else to make the play.

Ridley did one, assumed the ball was going out, took the wrong angle and they scored a goal.

This type of thing is why I do argue youth and first gamers so often. You get that manic I want to make something happen energy and it pushes seniors to match it. The benefit being the younger guys go when they shouldn't and the senior guys are pushed to go but have the benefit of experience to know when not to go (ideally if your senior players are much chop).

But anyway, we will have to resign ourselves to the fact that these core guys are probably going to be sticking around, the contracts and how they are viewed probably dictate it.

 

[trollunderthehanger]

I don't like to take potshots at players, but this passage in the first annoyed me. Andy with the initial effort and pressure, followed by the usual jogging well behind DBJ. He then waits until DBJ gets the handball receive to actually run with pace, but is too far behind to influence the kick inside 50 by that point.

 

[quotemokc]

I don't like to take potshots at players, but this passage in the first annoyed me. Andy with the initial effort and pressure, followed by the usual jogging well behind DBJ. He then waits until DBJ gets the handball receive to actually run with pace, but is too far behind to influence the kick inside 50 by that point.

gif no work

 

[Maxabillions]

Adrian Dodoro as an AFL player?

 

[fairbump_playon]

Pidge needs a sport psychologist or an ayahuasca journey, or both.

I believe he is limited by his need to be a good boy.

His year one football was so neat and tidy. Decisive. Ironically in the same position as now but he is a shadow of that.

Something is wrong up in the control centre.

Not being VC might actually help free him from the crushing responsibility of living up to his potential and not disappointing anyone

He needs to personally bottom out and go to the spiritual draft. Come back with a moustache and a Kombi and a burning desire to selfishly take running bounces at all costs.

 

[ghostdog]

Pidge needs a sport psychologist or an ayahuasca journey, or both.

I believe he is limited by his need to be a good boy.

His year one football was so neat and tidy. Decisive. Ironically in the same position as now but he is a shadow of that.

Something is wrong up in the control centre.

Not being VC might actually help free him from the crushing responsibility of living up to his potential and not disappointing anyone

He needs to personally bottom out and go to the spiritual draft. Come back with a moustache and a Kombi and a burning desire to selfishly take running bounces at all costs.

Essendon malaise. He has resigned. It's the same old thing to him.
Moving to another club where he can feel reinvigorated could be the best thing for him.
Playing lots of the kids around him could be the best thing for us. It's VFL time for Andy IMO.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

I don't like to take potshots at players, but this passage in the first annoyed me. Andy with the initial effort and pressure, followed by the usual jogging well behind DBJ. He then waits until DBJ gets the handball receive to actually run with pace, but is too far behind to influence the kick inside 50 by that point.

yep

had he just ran with pace whole time DBJ doesn't get the handball at all.

can't just pick and choose when to put effort in.

 

[quotemokc]

I don't like to take potshots at players, but this passage in the first annoyed me. Andy with the initial effort and pressure, followed by the usual jogging well behind DBJ. He then waits until DBJ gets the handball receive to actually run with pace, but is too far behind to influence the kick inside 50 by that point.

I reckon he wanted McKay to hand off manning the mark

 

[crackers65]

yep

had he just ran with pace whole time DBJ doesn't get the handball at all.

can't just pick and choose when to put effort in.

Unfortunately he doesn’t put enough effort in for most of the game. That play alone should see the vc into the reserves to learn what effort is about. He is a terrible example to all players with effort like that.

 

[bombersim]

Yes. It was deemed he had sufficient time to dispose of the ball. The first Hawthorn player was 10 meters away when he took possession.

To me it’s dumb because he slips over and ends up on his knees - so basically all he can do is rush it through or handball for distance - which is dumb and unrealistic.
If he didn’t slip I’d be fine with it being penalised, but he did so no.

 

[NAB777]

I don't like to take potshots at players, but this passage in the first annoyed me. Andy with the initial effort and pressure, followed by the usual jogging well behind DBJ. He then waits until DBJ gets the handball receive to actually run with pace, but is too far behind to influence the kick inside 50 by that point.

I have no time for Ross Lyon as a human, but he would have done the right thing here - called McGrath into his office, asked him if he thinks he went hard enough, and the dropped him for as long as it took.

 

[andleanback]

Needs to strip even more weight imo
Probably why he looked so fast in his first year. Is just a genuine plodder now with no agility

 

[bombersim]

I have no time for Ross Lyon as a human, but he would have done the right thing here - called McGrath into his office, asked him if he thinks he went hard enough, and the dropped him for as long as it took.

I don’t know why our coaches don’t get this (very basic) idea - allow laziness and it festers (and the players do it more), or stop it now and it ends there.
Rutter in particular was scared of doing anything.
Problem is, if you don’t do it, the team plays poor and you get the arse anyway - so you have no choice but to do it.
So, just bloody do it thanks boys

 

[ant555]

I don’t know why our coaches don’t get this (very basic) idea - allow laziness and it festers (and the players do it more), or stop it now and it ends there.
Rutter in particular was scared of doing anything.
Problem is, if you don’t do it, the team plays poor and you get the arse anyway - so you have no choice but to do it.
So, just bloody do it thanks boys

How do you know they did not ?
Ross himself has not always dropped under performing leaders. The issue with McGrath has not consistently been lack of effort. It has been mainly the dumb blind kicks or playing on to spots on the ground where he has no options to go to.

 

[Old Campaigner]

You know where this shit started? When they gave him that crappy, unoriginal nickname

 

[jmoo wan]

You know where this shit started? When they gave him that crappy, unoriginal nickname

yep - named after an elephant killer. not great

 

[Old man fletch]

How do you know they did not ?
Ross himself has not always dropped under performing leaders. The issue with McGrath has not consistently been lack of effort. It has been mainly the dumb blind kicks or playing on to spots on the ground where he has no options to go to.

Don't know what the coaches are thinking, but its been an issue for McGrath for a long time. Maybe not his whole career, but he's been a one way runner for years now. I've watched him in frustration at games and on the TV for years not putting in the effort on transition d

 

[bombersim]

How do you know they did not ?
Ross himself has not always dropped under performing leaders. The issue with McGrath has not consistently been lack of effort. It has been mainly the dumb blind kicks or playing on to spots on the ground where he has no options to go to.

Nah. I literally can’t think of when McGrath had ever been dropped. Injured yes, dropped - nah.
You can’t seriously say you are happy with his effort. It’s regularly unacceptable for any player, let alone VC.

 

[ant555]

Nah. I literally can’t think of when McGrath had ever been dropped. Injured yes, dropped - nah.
You can’t seriously say you are happy with his effort. It’s regularly unacceptable for any player, let alone VC.

1. My comment about how do you know was in regards to you saying the coaches have not done anything. No I can not remember him being dropped but you can bet he has been in the coaches room during the week for some of his performances.

2. No I have not been impressed with some of his effort this year and have said so in the match review threads. It does not change my view that in general it is not lack of effort over his career which is why he has not been dropped. Yes he has had some poor games effort wise but in general his issue has been his turnovers from dumb decisions.

If you take last weeks game and watch it a few times he had a few lazy moments which is totally unacceptable but the defensive one on one side of things was pretty good. It is the mixed bag you get with him. He has also never had long stretches where his form has been totally horrible.

He would not be my VC. I think he is a B grade player with limitations.

 

[Vindicater]

Next season he needs the VC taken off him.

Merrett captain with Durham below being groomed.

 

[BomberManU]

He doesn't even get dropped, there's no way they'd strip him of VC.

 

[ghostdog]

I think Andy runs into trouble when he tries to provide an attacking rebound. He's okay to give and receive with a little bit of space, and he can cut some lovely angles by foot, short to medium distance, when he has that space. When pressure closes in he panics and turns it over or sells a team mate into trouble. Unfortunately, this is the highly visible stuff.

When he has to lock down on a player he's much better. It's very disappointing and frustrating because that's our number 1 draft pick - a lock down small defender.

His leadership ability is also suspect because he picks and chooses when to go, though we've all seen him go up a gear. He can play with more intensity but is so inconsistent. This alone shouldn't hold us back from dumping him out of the leadership group.

He is also the type of player whose ceiling we know; he's not going to lead our improvement as a senior player and therefore should be expendable if we're serious about rebuilding.

Said I was just about done with him a couple of weeks ago. I think now I am.

 

[bombersim]

1. My comment about how do you know was in regards to you saying the coaches have not done anything. No I can not remember him being dropped but you can bet he has been in the coaches room during the week for some of his performances.

2. No I have not been impressed with some of his effort this year and have said so in the match review threads. It does not change my view that in general it is not lack of effort over his career which is why he has not been dropped. Yes he has had some poor games effort wise but in general his issue has been his turnovers from dumb decisions.

If you take last weeks game and watch it a few times he had a few lazy moments which is totally unacceptable but the defensive one on one side of things was pretty good. It is the mixed bag you get with him. He has also never had long stretches where his form has been totally horrible.

He would not be my VC. I think he is a B grade player with limitations.

I get the distinction you’re making, and I agree people often conflate skill errors with effort. I believe he is lazy more often than you perceive it to be (which I think is our main point of disagreement), but part of the problem is that he is capable of defending manically when he wants to, and at other times absolutely coasts along.

He puts in a few shockers a game - which possibly makes it look worse than it is - but they should be the easy incidents to fix.

I tend to watch him pretty closely and see this stuff a fair bit, but one could make the argument he does it the least of the back six - but to me he couldn’t get away with it regularly from a top 6 team, certainly not top 4.

I’m glad they’ve brought him in to address it, but he does it often enough that I’d consider dropping him. Maybe not right now, but if it continues after they address it, dropping is really the only thing you can do.
Also, I think dropping senior players (at the right time - obviously we have injuries etc) would have benefited the team to set standards, and we seem to do it very reluctantly. Scott does it more than rutten and worsfold, but I don’t think they dropped anyone ever, so probably not a great measure.

Anyway, apologies for the TLDR, but I didn’t want it to be brief and it read as dismissive.

 

[bombersim]

I think Andy runs into trouble when he tries to provide an attacking rebound. He's okay to give and receive with a little bit of space, and he can cut some lovely angles by foot, short to medium distance, when he has that space. When pressure closes in he panics and turns it over or sells a team mate into trouble. Unfortunately, this is the highly visible stuff.

When he has to lock down on a player he's much better. It's very disappointing and frustrating because that's our number 1 draft pick - a lock down small defender.

His leadership ability is also suspect because he picks and chooses when to go, though we've all seen him go up a gear. He can play with more intensity but is so inconsistent. This alone shouldn't hold us back from dumping him out of the leadership group.

He is also the type of player whose ceiling we know; he's not going to lead our improvement as a senior player and therefore should be expendable if we're serious about rebuilding.

Said I was just about done with him a couple of weeks ago. I think now I am.

Pretty much agree with everything.
It stings him being pick one, but we can’t do much about that part of it now.
Hopefully, someone threw that in the face of dodoro though as he walked out the door, but I doubt it!

I think the best course of action is play him purely as a lockdown small, with a few attacking plays interspersed.
If he does it consistently every game he can stay in the team. But yeah, the ‘run’ he provides is a frustrating experience.

I actually think that if he can get the defending consistently under control, and not vary his effort, once he does that it would create a more sound platform to occasionally do the attacking stuff - i.e., once he defends the ball, and wins possession, he can attack from there. But, only going on kamikaze runs to nowhere hurts the team and his confidence.

Ideally though, the VC is Caldwell or Durham, and we move on from the previous era of Essendon player in a leadership sense.

I’ve settled on the belief that the Heppell era had almost no good attributes, so I’d prefer an entire break from that period and back in the new.
Otherwise, they will keep passing down mediocrity and complacency.
Many will view this as harsh, but the club has been a perfect wave of incompetence for a long time, which comes about by everyone stuffing up everything, rather than one person doing it.

 

[ghostdog]

Pretty much agree with everything.
It stings him being pick one, but we can’t do much about that part of it now.
Hopefully, someone threw that in the face of dodoro though as he walked out the door, but I doubt it!

I think the best course of action is play him purely as a lockdown small, with a few attacking plays interspersed.
If he does it consistently every game he can stay in the team. But yeah, the ‘run’ he provides is a frustrating experience.

I actually think that if he can get the defending consistently under control, and not vary his effort, once he does that it would create a more sound platform to occasionally do the attacking stuff - i.e., once he defends the ball, and wins possession, he can attack from there. But, only going on kamikaze runs to nowhere hurts the team and his confidence.

Ideally though, the VC is Caldwell or Durham, and we move on from the previous era of Essendon player in a leadership sense.

I’ve settled on the belief that the Heppell era had almost no good attributes, so I’d prefer an entire break from that period and back in the new.
Otherwise, they will keep passing down mediocrity and complacency.
Many will view this as harsh, but the club has been a perfect wave of incompetence for a long time, which comes about by everyone stuffing up everything, rather than one person doing it.

Yep, same page.

I would rather the attacking forays be given to Redman, El Hawli, Roberts, Merrett when he rolls back. His primary focus should be to shut down the oppos best small forward. That's what he's best at.

When the time and space is there, maybe, otherwise just no.