Retired #39: Ross McQuillan - Calls time on his AFL career - 3/1

[Lore]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2021 (Category B Rookie, Irish Player)
Last Game Played: n/a
Injury Status: n/a

 

[TheGrizz]

McGrath
McKernan
McDonald-Tipungwuti
McKenna
McQuillan

I might need to look back on any draft prospect this year starting with Mc

We draft for Mc's
We trade for S's

Dodoros recruiting strategy confirmed

 

[TheGrizz]

20m split times of 2.77 sec is stupidly fast.

Will need to bulk up, but Im keen to see what comes of him, although at 20 he is 2 years older then Connor if im not mistaken. Plenty to work with though

 

[Arctic fox]

What if he's a protestant?

He can protest as much as he wants. McKenna's a good team mate to have.

 

[blitzer]

Sounds exciting and we are in the unique position of having an Irish player who is firmly in our best 22 and in my opinion is the best Irishman in the league. Hopefully we can leverage that to lure some other talented rookie types.

 

[bjisgod9]

The kid is a Ranga, could end up my favourite player, already is.

 

[fairbump_playon]

The kid is a Ranga, could end up my favourite player, already is.

That escalated quickly

 

[eth-dog]

Not unless we've still got some of El Danko's special sauce sitting around somewhere

Fairly sure Gleeson went from 185-ish to 190 in one pre-season?

Welcome Ross! Hope you do well in the VFL next year.

 

[Beerfish]

Hope you do well in the VFL next year.

Nah straight into the ones for mine. Conor can teach him how to do kick ins.

 

[rusman]

Any clips?

This was the bloke a few were after a month or two ago iirc.

I’m a fan of these free hits.

 

[Beerfish]

Any clips?

 

[citizen-erased]

McGrath
McKernan
McDonald-Tipungwuti
McKenna
McQuillan

I might need to look back on any draft prospect this year starting with Mc

Mcasey is a kpf prospect i believe

 

[eDPS]

Mcasey is a kpf prospect i believe

Don’t worry he will be a forward for us haha

 

[Old Campaigner]

Any clips?

 

[rusman]

Looks quick

 

[ant555]

Good skills on both sides from what I hear.

 

[rusman]

Good skills on both sides from what I hear.

Can you confirm there is truth in the whispers that he is better then Dangerfield?

 

[ant555]

Can you confirm there is truth in the whispers that he is better then Dangerfield?

I can confirm he is from Northern Ireland.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Welcome Ross.

Never had a given name of Ross since my support of the Dons started.

 

[BrunoV]

Massive coup to sign these guys.

You get this weird blank canvas.

Has every physical attribute required to excel. Played a game with a stack of transferrable skills and game sense but you still get to mould the player you want because it's a new game.

Probably takes 12 months to get a AFL plaayer. We started McKenna forward, which showed definite potential, and then switched him to defence either late in 2015 or in 2016.

 

[Tippa43]

Im excited to see where start position wise. That 20 metre sprint test is so quick.

 

[DapperJong]

Massive coup to sign these guys.

You get this weird blank canvas.

Has every physical attribute required to excel. Played a game with a stack of transferrable skills and game sense but you still get to mould the player you want because it's a new game.

Probably takes 12 months to get a AFL plaayer. We started McKenna forward, which showed definite potential, and then switched him to defence either late in 2015 or in 2016.

I think people have to remember that McKenna took a while to get the level he is at. This guy seems a better prospect than him, however.

 

[Duckworth]

Massive coup to sign these guys.

You get this weird blank canvas.

So rather than just turn HBFers into midfielders, we can add an extra step. Gaelic Football to HFB then midfielder.... then ruckman!

 

[Lore]

With his height he's probably that big bodied mid everyone keeps crying out for.

 

[Darealrath]

Massive coup to sign these guys.

You get this weird blank canvas.

Has every physical attribute required to excel. Played a game with a stack of transferrable skills and game sense but you still get to mould the player you want because it's a new game.

Probably takes 12 months to get a AFL plaayer. We started McKenna forward, which showed definite potential, and then switched him to defence either late in 2015 or in 2016.

Homesickness and being able to handle the extra physicality of aussie rules, given the different tackling rules, are the only genuine barriers for the top prospects from Ireland IMO. Talent is no issue.

 

[blitzer]

Whilst I haven't seen him play I always think that when you get great athletes that haven't played a lot of AFL they are nearly always better suited to defense. His attributes practically spell out half back flanker. Not really true for the ruck sized blokes but for everyone else it holds true far more often than not. Playing forward takes footy smarts compared to playing backline which takes more discipline and athletic advantages can make up for inexperience or lack of smarts.

So I'd develop him in the backline to start with and when and if he makes an impact then you could consider slowly giving him a go in other roles.

I know McKenna did play mostly in the forward line in VFL level to start with and he was genuinely good there but it wasn't until he was settled down as a backline player at AFL level and had a season or 2 at that level that he really showed that he was worth it from an AFL perspective. Maybe next year we might get a bit more experimental with McKenna but we can't forget the rather lengthy development period as a backman even if he does turn out to be a good forward/winger.