Player Watch #2 Hayden McLean - re-signed end 2027

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Hayden McLean

Player Profile
Pre-season supplementary list rules allowed the Sydney Swans to sign Hayden McLean in March 2019, and while injury ruled out the key-position player for seven of the first 10 NEAFL games of the season, he’d respond in commanding fashion. The former Sandringham Dragons skipper made his AFL debut as Sydney met Fremantle in Round 18, 2019, which saw him battle imposing ruck trio Aaron Sandilands, Sean Darcy and Rory Lobb, as well as a parochial Optus Stadium crowd. Coach John Longmire praised McLean’s debut performance and he finished the season with four AFL games beside his name. The 197-centimetre, 93-kilogram giant is chasing consistent AFL selection in 2020. Draft history: 2019 pre-season supplementary rookie selection

Hayden McLean

DOB:20 January 1999
DRAFT:2018
RECRUITED FROM: Beaumaris (Vic)/St Bede's Coll (Vic)/ Sand U18/Sand (VFL)


www.sydneyswans.com.au

Hayden McLean | AFL

Follow Hayden McLean's progress through AFL
www.sydneyswans.com.au www.sydneyswans.com.au
 
Last edited:
Dan87 said:
I like him but you guys are putting a forward that kicked 21 goals in a year at less than a goal a game on a hell of a pedastool
Click to expand...

Actually he averaged exactly one goal a game, whilst playing time in the ruck, also averages 5.1 score involvements a game, disposal efficiency of nearly 74% (rated elite), 1.5 contested marks a game (rated elite), nearly 5 marks a game all whilst being above average for one percenters and tackles.

Is he a top 10% superstar forward of the competition, no he isn't but he is a damn great foil who would walk into any side.
 
Bonz said:
Actually he averaged exactly one goal a game, whilst playing time in the ruck, also averages 5.1 score involvements a game, disposal efficiency of nearly 74% (rated elite), 1.5 contested marks a game (rated elite), nearly 5 marks a game all whilst being above average for one percenters and tackles.

Is he a top 10% superstar forward of the competition, no he isn't but he is a damn great foil who would walk into any side.
Click to expand...

Put up similar numbers to Levi Casboult 🤷‍♂️
 

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Dan87 said:
I like him but you guys are putting a forward that kicked 21 goals in a year at less than a goal a game on a hell of a pedastool

Put up similar numbers to Levi Casboult
Click to expand...
A helluva better footballer in every way than Casboult. Numbers schmumbers. Second efforts, all the little things, the awareness, the desire to improve. He will probably not be more prolific than 40 goals a season but he will bring more than just that and stats alone won't tell the whole story.
Not on a pedestal at all but definitely a worthwhile Swan.
 
He's a leader. On & off the field. Put in extra efforts in the off-season during numerous years to reap the rewards this year. That's called professionalism & hunger to be the best version of yourself. One off-season was endurance, next was speed work, coupled with likely extra skills sessions. Fabulous.

Hopefully inspiring a few blokes in our squad, this type of work ethic is infectious. You just need enough individuals to catch on with it. I think Gulden & Warner are similar with their ultra competitiveness & confidence. Maybe the latter is an area where we've been lacking...
 
Nuggetz said:
He's a leader. On & off the field. Put in extra efforts in the off-season during numerous years to reap the rewards this year. That's called professionalism & hunger to be the best version of yourself. One off-season was endurance, next was speed work, coupled with likely extra skills sessions. Fabulous.

Hopefully inspiring a few blokes in our squad, this type of work ethic is infectious. You just need enough individuals to catch on with it. I think Gulden & Warner are similar with their ultra competitiveness & confidence. Maybe the latter is an area where we've been lacking...
Click to expand...
I don't know about the "lacking" but for certain the three you mention never shirk the "extras" and it shows. Certainly doing everything possible to get the most out of themselves.
 
Watching the way Carlton and GWS' defences have operated in the second half of this year, it is bloody impressive that this guy put up performances of 12 marks against the former and 4 goals against the latter. Was also great against Collingwood earlier this year at the G when they were really flying.

Very good sign that he's getting it done against quality opposition.
 
I have always been a fan of Fox.. not because he was an elite talent, more-so he was/is an elite worker. Fox's onfield performance declined this year.
I put McLean in the same boat.. An elite worker rather than an elite talent.
Have always been a fan, but wouldn't be surprised if his trajectory isn't always up. could be wrong - hope Im wrong. Just not getting too far ahead in my expectations.
 
i'm quite surprised at the number of "slows" still on mclean
he's a big, so was always going to take a bit longer, but he'll be barely 25 when the new season starts
he's had clearly his best season, after showing good signs last year too
importantly, he seems to have got himself fitter ... he was certainly covering a lot of ground in games this season
and he's turning out a handy back-up ruck, with improvement still to come there
overall, he's still on a very positive trajectory, he's grown into his role and is maturing as a leader (that aspect really stands out to me)
he might just be a very good footballer with a much higher "ceiling" than he's being given credit for
his finish to the season was more than encouraging, for the team and mclean as a player
 

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From my perspective, he isn't going to get shorter or weaker. He's already shown that his physical size, combined with his ability to read the play and get into the right positions to take a mark, allows him to impact matches - whether it's kicking a goal or taking a mark up field. He's also shown that he's able to adapt his game (e.g. being able to play in the ruck).

Apart from not being able to outrun a more mobile opponent, or side-step a defender and snap a goal, he does all the other things really really well.

Opponents will look at his footage and will implement tactics to try to take away his strengths, but I can only see McLean's trajectory heading in one direction. His attributes will continue to serve him well even into his thirties, so as he continues to develop his craft he's only going to get better.

My 2c
 
the hypnotoad said:
i'm quite surprised at the number of "slows" still on mclean
he's a big, so was always going to take a bit longer, but he'll be barely 25 when the new season starts
he's had clearly his best season, after showing good signs last year too
importantly, he seems to have got himself fitter ... he was certainly covering a lot of ground in games this season
and he's turning out a handy back-up ruck, with improvement still to come there
overall, he's still on a very positive trajectory, he's grown into his role and is maturing as a leader (that aspect really stands out to me)
he might just be a very good footballer with a much higher "ceiling" than he's being given credit for
his finish to the season was more than encouraging, for the team and mclean as a player
Click to expand...
IIRC wasn't he captain of his school team? Takes his football very seriously.
 
Kiama Chris said:
IIRC wasn't he captain of his school team? Takes his football very seriously.
Click to expand...
I'd be stoked if McLean made the leadership squad next year or at least in the next couple of years. I've always admired his professionalism since I got to a game really early one time. He was out there by himself, well ahead of everyone else and just going about his routine to prepare for the match.
 
My first off-season deep-dive is Hayden McLean.

Why McLean? Well he was the story of the season for me. Not because he was our best player – not by a long shot – but he was the biggest take away from the season. “What? Not Errol Gulden?” I hear you say. I'd argue we already knew that Gulden was very good, and could probably be great. But we had no idea what McLean could be. The general consensus seemed to be that he was anywhere between an average player who could do a role and a depth player who wasn’t up to standard. (I personally was in the former camp.) I think the overwhelming majority would’ve considered McLean a success if he was able to just come in and play his role when required without being a complete list-clogger.

Then late in the season, he pleasantly surprised us by teasing the possibility that he could be more than that, and that we may just have another quality tall on the list whose name isn’t Logan McDonald.

But should it have been such a surprise?

If an autobiography based on McLean’s career to date was written, it’s title would be ‘Not Buddy’. He’d always been handy to have on the list – a powerful presence in the VFL side, a serviceable player in the AFL side. He just wasn’t Buddy. It was easy to be comfortable with the idea that McLean would be a decent inclusion if we needed to bring him in, or no loss if we needed to drop him.

It’s hard to expect a player to flourish when he’s on a cycle of being close to last one in, first one out for most of his stint at the club.

What that cycle didn’t allow for was the potential for him to actually grow and get much better as a player. To gain confidence in his ability, to feel backed in by his coaches, to know he could make a spot in the team his own. It’s no one’s fault, as it’s just the reality of being a forward on the list at the same time as one of the greatest forwards of all time. But it wasn’t ideal circumstances for a forward to be developing in.

I don’t know that there are narratives to be found in aussie rules footy, but McLean kicking four goals – against an elite defence in the wet, mind you – in his first outing post-Buddy (ie. freed from those circumstances above) felt like an Andy Dufresne crawling through five hundred yards of sh.t-smelling foulness moment. Like he could now just focus on being Hayden McLean, his own player, rather than the best placeholder he could be.

In his last five games, he didn’t just look the part – he was very good. Sure, we could dismiss it on the notion of it only being a block of five games.

But that’s one more game than Angus Sheldrick played in the midfield this year, and some believe he’s the midfield’s Messiah.

It’s two more games than it took for Chad Warner to go from quality youngster to a holy-s**t-we-need-to-tag-this-guy player in 2022.

It’s three more games than Nick Blakey played in defence in the VFL as part of an experiment that led him to the 40-man AA squad two years later.

If we can take excitement and optimism out of these other player’s cases, then there’s no reason we can’t take the same excitement and optimism out of McLean’s. And it’s not like those five games were isolated, either. He’s had plenty of other quality games throughout his career, just never consistently, and never of a quantity to justify automatic selection.

As for how McLean can achieve and maintain that consistency, and maybe even build from there, I think it’s quite simple for him. He’s not very good at many things but the things he's shown he can be very good at happen to be very important in footy and his role: marking, kicking, skills, work rate. There’s no bells and whistles with McLean, he’s just shown he can do all the basics really well at times. Since his bag of tricks is never going to be overly deep, and he’s never going to be blessed with much athleticism, he really just needs to keep at those strengths of his. Become the best mark he can be. Become as accurate a kick as he can be. Become as clean with his hands as he can be. Become as fit as he can be to work around the ground. Rinse and repeat.

If he nails those things, then the results will speak for themselves, and he can be a very good player over his career, just like he was in the back end of this year for us. If he doesn't, well... expect his next five years to be similar to his first five.

Over to you big fella.
 
caesar88 said:
My first off-season deep-dive is Hayden McLean.

Why McLean? Well he was the story of the season for me. Not because he was our best player – not by a long shot – but he was the biggest take away from the season. “What? Not Errol Gulden?” I hear you say. I'd argue we already knew that Gulden was very good, and could probably be great. But we had no idea what McLean could be. The general consensus seemed to be that he was anywhere between an average player who could do a role and a depth player who wasn’t up to standard. (I personally was in the former camp.) I think the overwhelming majority would’ve considered McLean a success if he was able to just come in and play his role when required without being a complete list-clogger.

Then late in the season, he pleasantly surprised us by teasing the possibility that he could be more than that, and that we may just have another quality tall on the list whose name isn’t Logan McDonald.

But should it have been such a surprise?

If an autobiography based on McLean’s career to date was written, it’s title would be ‘Not Buddy’. He’d always been handy to have on the list – a powerful presence in the VFL side, a serviceable player in the AFL side. He just wasn’t Buddy. It was easy to be comfortable with the idea that McLean would be a decent inclusion if we needed to bring him in, or no loss if we needed to drop him.

It’s hard to expect a player to flourish when he’s on a cycle of being close to last one in, first one out for most of his stint at the club.

What that cycle didn’t allow for was the potential for him to actually grow and get much better as a player. To gain confidence in his ability, to feel backed in by his coaches, to know he could make a spot in the team his own. It’s no one’s fault, as it’s just the reality of being a forward on the list at the same time as one of the greatest forwards of all time. But it wasn’t ideal circumstances for a forward to be developing in.

I don’t know that there are narratives to be found in aussie rules footy, but McLean kicking four goals – against an elite defence in the wet, mind you – in his first outing post-Buddy (ie. freed from those circumstances above) felt like an Andy Dufresne crawling through five hundred yards of sh.t-smelling foulness moment. Like he could now just focus on being Hayden McLean, his own player, rather than the best placeholder he could be.

In his last five games, he didn’t just look the part – he was very good. Sure, we could dismiss it on the notion of it only being a block of five games.

But that’s one more game than Angus Sheldrick played in the midfield this year, and some believe he’s the midfield’s Messiah.

It’s two more games than it took for Chad Warner to go from quality youngster to a holy-s**t-we-need-to-tag-this-guy player in 2022.

It’s three more games than Nick Blakey played in defence in the VFL as part of an experiment that led him to the 40-man AA squad two years later.

If we can take excitement and optimism out of these other player’s cases, then there’s no reason we can’t take the same excitement and optimism out of McLean’s. And it’s not like those five games were isolated, either. He’s had plenty of other quality games throughout his career, just never consistently, and never of a quantity to justify automatic selection.

As for how McLean can achieve and maintain that consistency, and maybe even build from there, I think it’s quite simple for him. He’s not very good at many things but the things he's shown he can be very good at happen to be very important in footy and his role: marking, kicking, skills, work rate. There’s no bells and whistles with McLean, he’s just shown he can do all the basics really well at times. Since his bag of tricks is never going to be overly deep, and he’s never going to be blessed with much athleticism, he really just needs to keep at those strengths of his. Become the best mark he can be. Become as accurate a kick as he can be. Become as clean with his hands as he can be. Become as fit as he can be to work around the ground. Rinse and repeat.

If he nails those things, then the results will speak for themselves, and he can be a very good player over his career, just like he was in the back end of this year for us. If he doesn't, well... expect his next five years to be similar to his first five.

Over to you big fella.
Click to expand...
Very well said. Picked him like a nose. Simple straight forward. He does. McLean has learned his role and delivers. He delivers every week.
 
caesar88 said:
My first off-season deep-dive is Hayden McLean.

Why McLean? Well he was the story of the season for me. Not because he was our best player – not by a long shot – but he was the biggest take away from the season. “What? Not Errol Gulden?” I hear you say. I'd argue we already knew that Gulden was very good, and could probably be great. But we had no idea what McLean could be. The general consensus seemed to be that he was anywhere between an average player who could do a role and a depth player who wasn’t up to standard. (I personally was in the former camp.) I think the overwhelming majority would’ve considered McLean a success if he was able to just come in and play his role when required without being a complete list-clogger.

Then late in the season, he pleasantly surprised us by teasing the possibility that he could be more than that, and that we may just have another quality tall on the list whose name isn’t Logan McDonald.

But should it have been such a surprise?

If an autobiography based on McLean’s career to date was written, it’s title would be ‘Not Buddy’. He’d always been handy to have on the list – a powerful presence in the VFL side, a serviceable player in the AFL side. He just wasn’t Buddy. It was easy to be comfortable with the idea that McLean would be a decent inclusion if we needed to bring him in, or no loss if we needed to drop him.

It’s hard to expect a player to flourish when he’s on a cycle of being close to last one in, first one out for most of his stint at the club.

What that cycle didn’t allow for was the potential for him to actually grow and get much better as a player. To gain confidence in his ability, to feel backed in by his coaches, to know he could make a spot in the team his own. It’s no one’s fault, as it’s just the reality of being a forward on the list at the same time as one of the greatest forwards of all time. But it wasn’t ideal circumstances for a forward to be developing in.

I don’t know that there are narratives to be found in aussie rules footy, but McLean kicking four goals – against an elite defence in the wet, mind you – in his first outing post-Buddy (ie. freed from those circumstances above) felt like an Andy Dufresne crawling through five hundred yards of sh.t-smelling foulness moment. Like he could now just focus on being Hayden McLean, his own player, rather than the best placeholder he could be.

In his last five games, he didn’t just look the part – he was very good. Sure, we could dismiss it on the notion of it only being a block of five games.

But that’s one more game than Angus Sheldrick played in the midfield this year, and some believe he’s the midfield’s Messiah.

It’s two more games than it took for Chad Warner to go from quality youngster to a holy-s**t-we-need-to-tag-this-guy player in 2022.

It’s three more games than Nick Blakey played in defence in the VFL as part of an experiment that led him to the 40-man AA squad two years later.

If we can take excitement and optimism out of these other player’s cases, then there’s no reason we can’t take the same excitement and optimism out of McLean’s. And it’s not like those five games were isolated, either. He’s had plenty of other quality games throughout his career, just never consistently, and never of a quantity to justify automatic selection.

As for how McLean can achieve and maintain that consistency, and maybe even build from there, I think it’s quite simple for him. He’s not very good at many things but the things he's shown he can be very good at happen to be very important in footy and his role: marking, kicking, skills, work rate. There’s no bells and whistles with McLean, he’s just shown he can do all the basics really well at times. Since his bag of tricks is never going to be overly deep, and he’s never going to be blessed with much athleticism, he really just needs to keep at those strengths of his. Become the best mark he can be. Become as accurate a kick as he can be. Become as clean with his hands as he can be. Become as fit as he can be to work around the ground. Rinse and repeat.

If he nails those things, then the results will speak for themselves, and he can be a very good player over his career, just like he was in the back end of this year for us. If he doesn't, well... expect his next five years to be similar to his first five.

Over to you big fella.
Click to expand...

Great post.

I was an unabashed admirer from the moment in his debut game when he competed at the first bounce against Sandilands. Sandi welcomed him to senior footy by putting his knee into Haydens chest and bowling him over. McLean got up, dusted himself off and got on with it. He was undersized and gassed by half time but he won some taps and clearances and competed hard.

In the years since he has put a huge amount of work into his aerobic capacity and other parts of his game. At one stage Longmire admiringly noted he and Gulden are the two who have to be called in from training. And it is his work ethic that has stood him in good stead. Of course he is unlikely to be an elite player but I am confident he will be the best Hayden McLean he can possibly be. His other asset beyond being a solid contested mark and decent kick is his smarts. He reads the play well and does things within his skill limits that suggest he has a decent footy brain.

While I never lost faith, even I was surprised at how well he played in the latter part of the season. That form and his new justly deserved contract will have given him a significant boost in confidence. I have no doubt he will build on it and continue to work damned hard.
 
Grand Uncle Horace said:
Great post.

I was an unabashed admirer from the moment in his debut game when he competed at the first bounce against Sandilands. Sandi welcomed him to senior footy by putting his knee into Haydens chest and bowling him over. McLean got up, dusted himself off and got on with it. He was undersized and gassed by half time but he won some taps and clearances and competed hard.

In the years since he has put a huge amount of work into his aerobic capacity and other parts of his game. At one stage Longmire admiringly noted he and Gulden are the two who have to be called in from training. And it is his work ethic that has stood him in good stead. Of course he is unlikely to be an elite player but I am confident he will be the best Hayden McLean he can possibly be. His other asset beyond being a solid contested mark and decent kick is his smarts. He reads the play well and does things within his skill limits that suggest he has a decent footy brain.

While I never lost faith, even I was surprised at how well he played in the latter part of the season. That form and his new justly deserved contract will have given him a significant boost in confidence. I have no doubt he will build on it and continue to work damned hard.
Click to expand...
Hard as a cat's head too. Immoveable. Enjoys congestion and contact. Revels in it. His focus is the ball always though. And comes up with the ball mostly. Love him.
 
Grand Uncle Horace said:
Great post.

I was an unabashed admirer from the moment in his debut game when he competed at the first bounce against Sandilands. Sandi welcomed him to senior footy by putting his knee into Haydens chest and bowling him over. McLean got up, dusted himself off and got on with it. He was undersized and gassed by half time but he won some taps and clearances and competed hard.

In the years since he has put a huge amount of work into his aerobic capacity and other parts of his game. At one stage Longmire admiringly noted he and Gulden are the two who have to be called in from training. And it is his work ethic that has stood him in good stead. Of course he is unlikely to be an elite player but I am confident he will be the best Hayden McLean he can possibly be. His other asset beyond being a solid contested mark and decent kick is his smarts. He reads the play well and does things within his skill limits that suggest he has a decent footy brain.

While I never lost faith, even I was surprised at how well he played in the latter part of the season. That form and his new justly deserved contract will have given him a significant boost in confidence. I have no doubt he will build on it and continue to work damned hard.
Click to expand...
My sentiments exactly Uncle. His first game he was as nervous as a long tail cat 🐈 in a room full of rocking chairs and dropped a sitter about 25 out in front. But he didn't panic! He paddled the ball into the path of a teammate who snagged the goal. Young Gulden IIRC.
I thought "this bloke isn't a dill and doesn't mind making his mates look good".
Been a fan ever since.
 
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