Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Dan McStay could sense it was coming. Again.
He’d been dropped for the finals last year for Mason Cox, and the early rounds this year were not going much better. Cox was gone, so too Brody Mihocek, but he was still struggling to find the footy. He could feel he was close to being dropped again.
McStay found himself sitting in Craig McRae’s office at the start of the year with both wondering what to do next.
“I was probably on the verge of getting dropped and wasn’t playing my best footy, and we just had really strong talks about what he expects of me, and what I can bring to the team, and what I need to do to get back to playing my best, and how the team can help me be my best as well,” McStay said.
“It was a really open and honest conversation, like ‘Fly’ [McRae] always is. He’s really good.
“I just wanted to figure out what or how I could be more of influential to the team, and vice versa.”
Two things happened: McRae backed him in and encouraged a few changes, and McStay booted four goals against his old side the Brisbane Lions in round four. The confidence started to swell.
The bigger shift for both McStay and the team came in a second heart-to-heart around the time of the bye. This time it was not a one-on-one with “Fly”– it was all the team’s leaders and the coaches, and it was a plea for change.
“I have always asked the club to be a little bit more attacking in the way we play our footy. We really hang our hat on being the No.1 defence in the league, and that’s great, but I feel like against the best sides you’ve still got to be able to score,” McStay said.
“Freo and Brisbane are such scoring powerhouses that you can’t just defend against them – you’ve got to be able to score. So, a few of the leaders this year spoke probably around the bye time about [how] we want to be more aggressive, we want to play more attacking football, and I feel like a lot of the forwards have really thrived since we had that that discussion.
“Every forward wants speed on the ball, you don’t want to be kicking into dense numbers inside 50. And I felt like, early on, that’s probably what we were doing. We’d get to the top of the 50 and probably go slow and try to figure out how we can defend behind it.”
A second problem that created was there was such a premium on every goal that every miss also carried with it a deflating funk for the forwards.
“Earlier in the year when we weren’t scoring a lot it felt like every time one of our forwards was having a shot late in the game it was worth three or four goals, because we were only kicking 60 points. Whereas now, we’re kicking over 100 and we can score really quickly. If you miss a shot it doesn’t feel like the weight of the world’s on your shoulders now.
“‘Shooter’ [Lachie Schultz] and I spoke about it earlier in the year. We played Fremantle and I missed a snap from not far out, [and] then he missed one as well, and it felt like the weight of the world was on us.”
McStay was effusive about the openness of the coaching staff to embrace change. Before their second bye (in round 14), Collingwood kicked 100 points or more once in a game, against the eventual wooden spooners Essendon on Anzac Day. Since they have kicked over 100 points four times.
“The coaching staff were amazing – they agreed we weren’t scoring enough. I think we were averaging low 60 points against, and we were only scoring maybe 60 or 70 points for us. So something had to change.
“I feel like the game’s definitely opened up across the league. Everyone’s scoring a lot more, and everyone’s trying to be the one to kick 100 points. That’s what it feels like.
“With ‘Skunk’ [Tim Membrey] and even ‘Shooter’ we’ve got multiple targets. Jamie Elliott was getting smashed in the first half of the year, he’d have loved playing in the second half of the season when we have speed on the ball.
“We know if we can get up high, [and] play a slingshot sort of game we’ve got such great runners and ball users in the Daicos boys, Jordy [De Goey], any of those guys getting the ball forward of centre with a bit of speed, it really opens up for our forwards.”
McStay has always been a strong contested mark, but that deserted him for periods. Now he is back to being a presence. He is in the top 10 (seventh) for contested marks this year, and attacking the contest with confidence and converting his kicks at goal.
His work with former NFL punter Nathan Chapman helped changed how he kicked for goal. He was a flat kicker before, kicking more of his toe, and with a low ball drop had to sweep his foot through quickly for contact. Chapman has him dropping the ball a little higher, making cleaner contact and timing the kick better.
“I feel like I’m striking the ball as well as I ever have, and I’ve got a lot of confidence that when I mark the ball or get a free kick or whatever from anywhere inside 50 [I’ll kick it]. Or even outside 50, I kicked one against Geelong, which I don’t think I’ve ever kicked a set shot from outside 50 in my career, I’ve always miss-kicked it, but some of the tricks that he’s giving me – I feel like I just hit the ball so much sweeter.”
His work as a second ruck has been something he looked like he was doing as many other key forwards do: through gritted teeth. He then realised this year he had to embrace the role and worked with ruck coach Greg Stafford to improve it.
“I’ve just bought into it this year and said, you know what? Whether I like it or not, I’ve got to do it,” McStay said.
“They want me to do it, and I’m a pretty selfless guy – whatever the club needs me to do, or the team needs from me, I’ll do it.
“So I thought you’ve just got to go in with the right attitude, and so I tried to change the way I went about it, and worked really closely with Greg Stafford, who has given me some really key cues on what I’m achieving for that five-minute period I’m in there, and how I can be as beneficial to and efficient to the team as I can.
“I feel like my pressure around the ball has gone to another level this year as well. And then when you get your confidence up by tackling or laying a hit, or getting a little handball, or a clearance in there, when you go up forward, I feel like you just hit the pack a little bit harder, or you hit the contest a little bit harder.”
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Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X or email.
