AFL Player # 1: Andrew "Pidge" McGrath (VC)

[Beerfish]

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

 

[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.

 

[bombersim]

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.

Agreed with your post and the end gave me a ‘knowing’ chuckle lol.
The McGrath experience

 

[P Money]

This guy is fast becoming the worst player in our 22-23. On one hand that's VERY disappointing for a number 1 pick, on the other hand the other guys battling for that title are lifting above him.

 

[ghostdog]

I'm going to need to watch the game again to be sure, but I don't recall Andy trying to run and carry last night and burning his delivery as a result. I could be wrong. Thought he played a better defender's game this week.

 

[threeleggedgoat]

I don't recall any failed run and carry attempts resulting in turnovers, but I do recall several stationary hacked dump kicks and shanks resulting in turnovers

I'm finding myself increasingly angry every week that we're stuck with this butcher in our backline and probably will be for many more years

 

[P Money]

He is the man without a plan. Is good at positioning himself and getting on the move to provide an option, but has clearly not thought out what he'll do if/when he gets it. That though process starts far too late and he looks completely lost when he has the ball, and either runs himself into trouble, dump kicks to no-one or turns around and kicks it backwards to a safe option that halts the forward momentum.

I guess given we're clearly stuck with him, the only saving grace is if he is our worst player on the ground he's not so abysmal that we can't at least carry him if he is willing to park his ego and operate as a limited defensive role player.

 

[naraku]

It won't happen, he DOES need a spell.

 

[NAB777]

Just watched the replay. His mission statement seems to be "Make it someone else's problem ".

 

[SpeckieMcVeigh]

Just watched the replay. His mission statement seems to be "Make it someone else's problem ".

It's like that Simpsons episode, "can't someone else do it?"

 

[Beerfish]

Somebody once said the dump kick and pray is his 1 wood. They were spot on.

 

[crackers65]

I'm going to need to watch the game again to be sure, but I don't recall Andy trying to run and carry last night and burning his delivery as a result. I could be wrong. Thought he played a better defender's game this week.

Yeh, I didn’t think he was too bad. I still cringe when he’s got the ball, and he did get a bit of it yesterday.

 

[MightyDon]

He tried harder this week but skills and decision making are just horrible

 

[Beerfish]

He tried harder this week

Not having a crack but how do you even tell? He got the ball (and shat himself) more?

 

[ant555]

Not having a crack but how do you even tell? He got the ball (and shat himself) more?

Must have been using one of these