AFL Player # 1: Andrew "Pidge" McGrath (Vice-Captain)

[Beerfish]

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

 

[jmoo wan]

he was brilliant today - played a perfect game and could not possibly improve any more.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Looked almost scared to tackle Pendlebury.

Possibly a better option than letting Pendlebury brush past which may have happened if McGrath was to try to tackle him

 

[fairbump_playon]

he was brilliant today - played a perfect game and could not possibly improve any more.

i thought he was better than that

 

[Howard Moon]

Hes good, but he hasn't really come on like Burton has - think they got that one wrong

 

[naraku]

What's his usual standard

Well Andy's usually a lot better.
Look at last year how he seemed to have time and made some very good decisions.His disposal was crisper and he seemed better defensively.

This year he has been up and down and I think his defensive game is near zilch.

Yesterday, he had a lot more of the ball and seemed a bit more confident.

 

[boncer34]

Well Andy's usually a lot better.
Look at last year how he seemed to have time and made some very good decisions.His disposal was crisper and he seemed better defensively.

This year he has been up and down and I think his defensive game is near zilch.

Yesterday, he had a lot more of the ball and seemed a bit more confident.

Fully agree that his defensive game was much better last year but I'm striking that down to him being a defender.

For me yesterday was Andy's standard as a midfielder, he hasn't delivered anything better at this stage. Which was why I was curious what you thought he normally did better as a midfielder. I'm potentially splitting hairs a little here

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Thought his performance tonight was very good and even across the 4 quarters.

 

[eDPS]

Averaging 24 touches the last month, starting to find his rhythm on the wing I think.

 

[Old Stuckup]

Got better as the game went on.

 

[FlyingV]

Hasn’t bulked up as much as I thought he would. Doesn’t look like a ‘powerful’ type yet... albeit in his second year. Would like him as our quarter back where he can use his pace and decision making similar to a Laird.

 

[Zach Package]

I want him kicking more than he is handballing but **** me he is a good handballer.

Had a good couple of weeks. Starting to sneak forward a little bit too

 

[JDavey]

Looks like hes working through second year blues. Hopefully he can finish out the year strong, have a great pre-season and hit 2019 with force.

 

[blitzer]

McGrath's form seems to be building nicely as the season is going on. Its a good sign that he's starting to have more impact up forward as well and I think its just a matter of time until we start to see him really impacting games in a big way on the wing.

We are already seeing more run and dash through the midfield and he's always had good composure and ability to hit targets. He's straight up getting more of the ball in recent weeks too. I expect he will quickly move up the ranks in our list during the rest of this season and into next year.

 

[SherbertLemon]

He’s looked all class.

Anybody complaining
- Scott Gumbleton

 

[calyam]

He has really stepped up since the bye. Some simple analysis:

Rd 15 - 17 (3 games): 24.3 possessions, 374 metres gained, 86.3 SC
Rd 1 - 14 (11 games): 19.9 possessions, 218 metres gained, 68.1 SC

Almost the entire increase in his disposals has come from kicking more. He's running more (2.7 bounces per game compared with 0.9). He is getting more contested and uncontested footy. He has even hit the scoreboard in each of his past three games (compared with 2 scoring shots in his 11 games). Putting the numbers together, and bearing in my that the sample is very small, he seems to be more comfortable at AFL level and that is leading to more aggressive play. Good to see.

 

[DA18]

Was relatively quiet last night. What position was he playing?

 

[eDPS]

Was relatively quiet last night. What position was he playing?

Wing and perhaps mostly down back, I wasn’t just that he wasn’t getting the ball I rarely saw him on the field.

 

[Old Stuckup]

Was relatively quiet last night. What position was he playing?

I think he and Guelfi spent more time down back to cover for McKenna.

 

[DA18]

I think he and Guelfi spent more time down back to cover for McKenna.

Yeah thought that might be the case. Interesting though he usually get plenty of the ball when back but guess it wasn’t down there much..

 

[Kakkle]

Yeah thought that might be the case. Interesting though he usually get plenty of the ball when back but guess it wasn’t down there much..

Nah, he just had a poor game. It happens.

 

[Blind Turn]

15.8 kms tonight. That’s enormous. Did a lot of closing space stuff and broke the lines when required. Liked his game without being an elite performance. It will come.

 

[AcuteWhistle]

15.8 kms tonight. That’s enormous. Did a lot of closing space stuff and broke the lines when required. Liked his game without being an elite performance. It will come.

Thought he was good, some comments in the game day thread had me thinking wtf,, dunno what game they were watching.

 

[blitzer]

15.8 kms tonight. That’s enormous. Did a lot of closing space stuff and broke the lines when required. Liked his game without being an elite performance. It will come.

Wow that's some tank for a 2nd year player. I actually think his game was better than his stats suggested, a couple of times he gave off handballs that lead directly to scoring chains or goals even though he'll only get credited with the handball. Some of the little moves he puts on when he has the ball makes him insanely hard to tackle with his lateral movement.

I think he'll just keep learning and learning and then one day we'll have a really complete player that is good at pretty much everything. Right now he hasn't put all the pieces together but it will come.

 

[Blind Turn]

Wow that's some tank for a 2nd year player. I actually think his game was better than his stats suggested, a couple of times he gave off handballs that lead directly to scoring chains or goals even though he'll only get credited with the handball. Some of the little moves he puts on when he has the ball makes him insanely hard to tackle with his lateral movement.

I think he'll just keep learning and learning and then one day we'll have a really complete player that is good at pretty much everything. Right now he hasn't put all the pieces together but it will come.

Seems to have a better instinctive feel for the intense pressure moments than blokes like Rayan Brurntone.

 

[TheGrizz]

Looks so impressive live.

His ability to weave through traffic is impressive. A bit handball happy which is unfortunate as he is so clean by foot but still really solid tonight