#18 Finlay Macrae

[LaurieHolden]

^I've watched enough of him in the reserves and in turn the seniors to suggest he doesn't possess the 5 gears required to be a top line performer; in particular the position of inside mid we require.
To me he's the equivalent of an automatic, so don't expect high performance. Unlike a car, it's much harder to drop the required parts into a player to get performance. After 4 years he'll need to show more otherwise he'll be the list equivalent of being put on the blocks in the front yard.

No-one in any of these posts has suggested his innate and unique properties that would suggest he's going to evolve into a top-line senior midfielder. Does he have elite hands, an elite kick, an elite turn of speed, endurance or head over the ball tenacity? It's been little more than the hyperbole of draft day hopes and dreams.

The only real insight that I found tangible was ~

The reason for the back story is that it highlights how a couple of more highly touted Vic midfielders than MacRae, have also struggled to find consistency in the seniors. The conclusion formed was the lack of footy for two years has hampered their development dramatically. If you think about it, they would have to be AT LEAST 12 months behind where they would normally be, had they played through.

We do put Horns or Halo's on players, Macrae has a Halo.

What do we hope he develops into? A run-with midfielder that can hurt you offensively in the style of say Hawthorns Finn Maginness?

Let's look at his draft year - https://www.draftguru.com.au/years/2020
We pretty much picked the eyes out of the draft outside of R1 selections in Beau McCreery with 63 games to date, there's daylight to 2nd most games with Freo's Brandon Walker at 46.
At 70 games, only the Swans academy selection Errol Gulden is ahead of him.

Reality is he hasn't come on or shown the signs that he can carry the load physically or mentally. That said, prove us wrong. I'd still play him and throw him up against the young Hawks mid-field this week, that's an audit in itself. Having had the vest put on against Brisbane, don't smash the remaining confidence he has. Start him and play Crisp as a sub again. Macrae gets another opportunity and Crispy's unbroken games record remains intact...

[RudeBoy]

....or play Crisp and Macrae and make Lipinski the sub.

There was a lot of hype pre-season about how Lipinski would rip the game apart this year. To my mind, however, he has been fairly ordinary in each game. Maybe he needs to be made the sub to remind him to play with more vigour and physicality.

[Johnno75]

I expect Lipinski given his tank and the fact that he goes untagged to run around and find the ball 25-30 times. Yet he fails to do that week in week out.

[BazBoy]

Has he got the ability to move from VFL to AFL that’s a question

Will Lachie Sullivan or at some stage Harry DeMattia -or even a McCreery take the position they expected Fin to take

[The Black and White Lion]

Gee Max Holmes was taken P18 by Geelong straight after we took Macrae

[Pies4shaw]

Not much point worrying about that. It was a difficult year to select anyone and project what they'd be in 4 years. Most draft picks for most clubs most years are busts. We actually did very well in 2020 - the first, 3rd and 4th players we took are all solid performers. Of course, the 2020 draft would look much better for us if the slug we took first hadn't slimed off to Geelong.

[Cam]

Gee Max Holmes was taken P18 by Geelong straight after we took Macrae

I should have married my second ex-wife's best friend.

[Said by Zed]

^

Hahaha

[piedys]

Thought Finlay Macrae was unlucky to be dropped.

He was okay against the Crows, and quite easliy could have been on the end of the handball chain that ultimately saw Daicos kick to JDG for the sealer.

I fear his papers have now been stamped as yet another Hine ballz-up, and will now get delisted by end of 2024.

[Johnno75]

Yeah I agree if he couldn’t keep his spot with all our injuries I feel he probably won’t play another senior game at the Pies.

[Pies2016]

Macrae is contracted till the end of 2025.

[stui magpie]

^

So he can still be traded.

[Pies2016]

^

So he can still be traded.

Yep. It was just in relation to the above possibility of him being delisted at the end of the 2024 season. That won’t happen.
I’m open minded about a trade possibility. We won’t get much but if we’re going to get busy in the off season, we’re going to need to gain some trade leverage from fringe players who are already on our list.

[Pies2016]

It is the silly season, so let’s ask the question.
Should Fin and Collingwood part ways during this off season. He is contracted for 2025 and obviously both parties would need to agree on any movement.

Once again, let’s start with what we know.
Collingwood is focussing on plug and play inside midfielders during this trade period. In the last round, Allan was preferred over Fin as an inside mid. Ned Long also seemed to be rated alongside MacRae in terms of the pecking order but Allan seemingly passed them both by the end of the season. I also think we can safely say both Pendlebury and Mitchell are very close to the end, so multiple midfield positions will have also opened up by 2026. Finally, the media have continually reported there are clubs who have an interest in MacRae.

If I’m Fin, I’m keeping a close eye on Collingwoods trade activity over the off season and his manager should continue to ask questions of those clubs who may have an interest in him.
Conversely, if I’m Collingwood and they do improve the midfield with a player or two ( and we don’t know that YET ) would they believe they still have a need to keep MacRae, given Allan’s improvement also.
It’s only a third rounder trade but it’s the accumulation of those third rounders that get you up the order in a quality draft.

Not sure how this one plays out but as a pure business transaction, there’s a potential to be a win, win for both parties.

[RudeBoy]

In the 3 or 4 yrs he's been with us I haven't seen anything to convince me he suits our needs. He's a good runner, but lacks a burst of speed, he's a reasonable but not great kick, can get some of the footy, but doesn't seem to impact games at the AFL level. In the VFL, he is a stand out performer. If another club came calling I'd certainly consider trading him. Basically, if he couldn't secure a regular senior spot given all our injuries this year, then the writing is on the wall. I wish him well, but suspect his footy future lies elsewhere.