Adelaide Crows draftee Fischer McAsey stacks on the weight to be in the mix for Round One selection
Adelaide’s top draft pick Fischer McAsey has piled on 7kg of muscle after a pre-season spent “attacking the gym”. He’s hoping his hard work will be rewarded with a Round One debut against Sydney.
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Adelaide’s top draft pick Fischer McAsey has revealed he has stacked on 7kg of muscle since arriving at the club and is eyeing a Round One debut.
One of the few shining lights from the Crows’ surprise seven-point Marsh Community Series
loss to Gold Coast at Noarlunga on Friday, 196cm key defender McAsey now tips the scales at 95kg, enabling him to hold his ground against AFL key forwards.
“I’ve been attacking the gym and it’s paid dividends,’’ McAsey told The Advertiser after a strong first-up look at the AFL against the Suns.
“Luckily for me it’s been pretty natural and I haven’t had to force feed myself.’’
McAsey – the Crows’ highest-ever draft pick after being selected at No. 6 at last year’s national draft in November – said he had beefed up significantly while not losing any running power.
“It hasn’t been to the detriment of my running at all, so overall I think it will help my footy,’’ he said.
“I have certainly become stronger in one-on-one contests.’’
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Victorian McAsey, who turned 19 on Sunday, performed strongly on Suns key forwards Sam Day and Peter Wright.
Day booted one major, but Wright went goalless.
“They are pretty good key forwards and the Suns had a lot of options in attack, but the experienced defenders around me, Daniel Talia, Luke Brown and Rory Laird, helped me out,’’ McAsey said.
“They made sure I got to the right positions and helped keep me composed under pressure.’’
McAsey and his fellow defenders held firm under an avalanche of inside 50s, with Gold Coast winning the key statistic 66-45 after bursting out of the gates with a whopping 21-7 advantage in the opening term.
“Our defenders were pleased with our ability to win one-on-ones and halve contests, bring the ball to ground, when so much ball was coming in,’’ he said.
The Suns booted just nine goals from their forward 50 entries.
McAsey even managed to snag a goal himself after taking a strong mark on the wing and getting a 50-metre penalty, which took him to within scoring range.
He cooly converted the set shot from 45m.
Fischer McAsey kicks his first in Crows colours.#MarshSeries pic.twitter.com/uX2aJ8jSsE
— AFL (@AFL) March 6, 2020
“As a defender it’s a big bonus to get a shot at goal and it was nice to kick it straight,’’ he said.
McAsey finished with 12 disposals, a goal, three marks, three rebound-50s and seven spoils to earn high praise from coach Matthew Nicks.
“Fischer McAsey down back, I thought, stood out,” Nicks said.
“He looks like a player, he’s composed, he doesn’t make too many mistakes, (and is) solid as a backman.’’
McAsey paid tribute to dual All-Australian key defender Talia for taking him under his wing, saying he had helped him enormously in his first AFL pre-season.
“He’s helped me heaps, not only with on-field stuff but also off-field,’’ he said.
“He’ll take me to lunch and go through his routines, what’s helped him through his career.
“He passes that on to me and I think he really takes pride in helping me, which I’m grateful for.’’
Nicks indicated McAsey would be in his Round One line-up against Sydney at Adelaide Oval, but stopped short of guaranteeing him a debut.
“We’ve still got a couple of weeks to go,’’ he said after the Crows went winless in their two Marsh pre-season matches.
“We’ll have a reasonable week on the track leading into the weekend off before the season starts, so I don’t want to go that far ahead, but there’s no hiding from the fact that I think he plays the game really well.’’
McAsey believes he is ready to go.
“You’ve always got to be confident in yourself and your ability, but as Nicksy said there is still two weeks of training to go and there are other boys pushing for a key defensive spot alongside Talia – Jordon Butts, Kyle Hartigan and Tom Doedee when he's fit again – so we’ll see how we go,” he said.