Gisborne’s GDCA premiership defence boosted by big-name addition
Gisborne expects to have former Australia under-19 cricket captain and ex-AFL player Pat McKenna on board for the majority of the GDCA season, a big boost to the Dragons’ premiership defence.
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Gisborne’s GDCA premiership defence has received a massive boost with Pat McKenna officially signing on.
The former Australia Under-19 cricket captain and ex-GWS and Melbourne AFL player has been playing the pre-season friendly matches while making up his mind.
McKenna played one McIntyre Shield game last season and two in 2018-19 but has never fully committed, preferring to concentrate on his football.
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While his AFLW coaching commitments with Melbourne will see him miss games after Christmas, Gisborne coach Gavin McKay was thrilled to have a player and person of McKenna’s calibre around the club.
“We had a chat all through winter, I’m a bloke that you’ll die of a thousand cuts unless you tell me no,” McKay said.
“He knows Mick Allen too from their days at Melton playing Subbies together, so we had a chat late winter when they weren’t playing footy.
“He’s got AFLW commitments on Tuesday and Thursday nights, so he’s not going to be able to get to training much.
“There’ll be some games he’ll probably miss as well because of AFLW when it gets going but we’re hoping to have him most weeks.
“Because they’re one-dayers (this season) he can commit a bit more easily than last season when it was two-day games.”
McKenna has already proved he’ll be an asset to the Dragons this season.
He scored 41 not out against Bacchus Marsh and 44 not out at Romsey in Gisborne’s first two friendly matches before a surprise duck in Saturday’s clash against the Bulls.
McKay said adding McKenna to the club’s core would be a huge benefit to its youngsters.
“We’ve got four boys that are still 19 and under scattered through the batting order, so we’ve got Mick, Jase (Wilson), Patty and Clinton Young that will help guide the boys,” he said.
“I think they learn heaps batting with these blokes on a Saturday and talking through what stage they’re at in the game.
“It’s not all what you can do at training, I think mentoring and coaching while they’re batting is a great learning opportunity for our young players.”
Gisborne will face Woodend this Saturday in the final round of practice matches.
The Dragons then have the bye in Round 1 before kicking off their title defence against Woodend at Gilbert Gordon Oval.