AFL 2022: Jury still out on where young Adelaide Crows swingman Fischer McAsey fits in at West Lakes
Fischer McAsey hasn’t quite shown the potential that lured Adelaide into making him a top-10 pick, but his manager has urged patience.
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Running back with the flight of the ball and taking a courageous mark is the enduring image so far of Fischer McAsey’s young AFL career.
The moment happened in just his sixth game — against St Kilda in July 2020 — and was an encouraging early sign of what the future might hold for a player who had been Adelaide’s highest ever draft pick eight months earlier.
McAsey, now 21, took another eye-catching, contested grab on Wednesday.
It was during a match simulation at Crows training, where he was lining up with a B team.
McAsey has featured only four times at AFL level since that Saints game — all in 2020.
The 197cm Victorian has played 26 SANFL matches during the past two years.
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To try to unlock his best form, Adelaide earlier this season switched McAsey from defence, where he starred as a junior, winning Vic Metro’s Most Valuable Player at the 2019 national championships, to attack, the part of the ground he took that mark against the Saints.
Although the Crows are in rebuild mode and have used 36 players already this year, McAsey remains out of their AFL team, unable to force his way in at either end of the field.
It prompts questions: where is the third-year swingman at?
Will he become a quality player at West Lakes or does he need to change clubs?
Was selecting McAsey with pick 6 that year the right call?
Long-time recruiter Matt Rendell told SEN this month that when he was at Collingwood in 2019, he did not have McAsey that high due to doubts about his agility and competitiveness.
Adelaide is — at least publicly — buoyant about his progress.
So too is his manager, Robbie D’Orazio from Connors Sports, who says the full intention is for McAsey to be at the club next year and hopefully have a 10-year career there.
“The Crows have been really supportive,” D’Orazio told News Corp.
“I think he’s got a great opportunity.
“He’s working really hard on and off the field, and we’re seeing real improvement.
“Let’s not forget, these kids are young and not everybody’s going to make an impact straight away.
“Taller players, especially, take time.”
McAsey’s start to his career has been very challenging.
After that promising debut season, his dad, Chris, had a major health scare while McAsey was back home in Melbourne for the first time in months due to coronavirus travel limitations.
Understandably, it shook McAsey.
The situation was made harder by Covid border restrictions stopping him from spending more time with his close-knit family.
In some games early last year, McAsey looked uncompetitive and rumours circulated he would exit West Lakes at the end of 2021 when his contract expired.
But he never rang D’Orazio wanting to leave the club and head home.
He only held off from re-signing to work through personal matters, including Chris, who played one game for St Kilda in 1983, recovering.
“I wanted to make sure everything was right before I made a decision,” McAsey said when he inked a two-year extension in April 2021.
McAsey played 18 SANFL games last season and finished eighth in the Crows’ state-league best-and-fairest.
Then came another summer setback.
He sustained a stress fracture in his femur in December, sidelining him for six weeks.
McAsey returned in time for round 1 this year, but a month later, he was shifted forward.
His first showing was encouraging — two goals, nine disposals and six marks in an 11-point win over South Adelaide.
McAsey’s form since has been mixed — two majors and 21 touches combined in his next three games.
He suffered a lower leg injury in his most recent match against Norwood, ensuring a two-week lay-off.
Wednesday’s impressive moments at training showed he was not only over the issue, but gave the Crows further confidence his best form was not far away.
“He’s really come on leaps and bounds over the first half of the season,” Adelaide senior assistant Scott Burns said midweek.
“He’s gone forward, a bit of a new lease on life.
“Watching training, you would’ve seen signs today where you thought ‘that’s pretty impressive’.”
Senior coach Matthew Nicks said on Friday that McAsey was well ahead of where he was 12 months ago.
“He’s training well, playing well,” Nicks said.
McAsey’s next step is getting an AFL game.
Adelaide concedes it is still trying to identify what position best suits him.
It is understood his preference is to remain in one spot, rather than be moved around, until he plays consistently at the elite level.
His versatility could be a weapon down the track but sticking to a position for now could be best for his form.
While the Sandringham Dragons product spent most of his draft year and first two seasons on the list as a defender, he also played forward as a junior.
“A lot of these guys coming in as key-position players can find it’s challenging at times and mixing that up can be a good thing,” Nicks said.
“I like the way he attacks it as a forward, he’s got no fear when it comes to marking contests.
“We’re just trying to polish and refine that a little bit more now so it’s a bit more consistent.”
Off the field, McAsey has been working on his mindset and being more outspoken in the footy environment.
An introvert, he was initially a little uncomfortable with the tag of being the club’s highest ever draft pick until Riley Thilthorpe in 2020, before starting to tackle it head on.
He is said to have really improved his confidence and has a happy life balance, which is helping his football, particularly over the past six weeks.
McAsey and a mate have started a mindfulness business, Uplift Community, offering wellness education and tips, breathing courses and “community connection events”.
Weekly Instagram posts have been about building self-worth, anxiety relief and getting outside into nature to improve wellness.
“Our movement was created to make positive changes to human lives,” an Instagram post reads.
Being able to spend more time with his family this year due to borders reopening and having his parents come to Adelaide to watch him are also helping McAsey.
So with Adelaide sitting 15th with a 4-8 record and committing to picking the team on the future as much as the present from here this season, when will McAsey play AFL again?
Nicks and Burns say he is knocking on the door, along with several others, and form will still determine who is chosen.
“Unfortunately he missed last week … so he probably needs a couple of runs under his belt before we’re really confident taking him into an AFL game,” Burns said.
Like McAsey and those around him, Nicks is remaining patient.
“I can go back over the history of players who haven’t played for two years and have gone on to play 300 games,” he said.
The jury remains out and some critics have already written McAsey off as a draft bust.
But it is still early.
No AFL games between now and this time next year would probably concern Adelaide.
By then, the club and football world will get a much clearer picture of McAsey’s development, as he heads towards the end of his contract.
If he was keen for a change of clubs after this campaign, there would be suitors, but he planned to repay the Crows’ faith and make it there.
A full pre-season will be a big help.
At his best, McAsey has bucket hands.
Wednesday’s mark was just one passage of play in a single match simulation against teammates at a midweek training in June.
But for someone who has had a tough start to his career and is helping people find positives in their lives, those little moments will be important until he has his next Saints-like one on the big stage.
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