Player Watch Fischer McAsey - Steps Away from Football, Not Returning

Do you think Fischer McAsey will be at the AFC in 2022?


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AFL pre-season news: Adelaide Crows young gun Fischer McAsey calls time​

The second-highest draft pick in Crows history, Fischer McAsey, has quit in a huge pre-season shock at West Lakes. But the club is adamant it did everything possible to retain him.

More than a year ago, Adelaide development boss Marco Bello called former Sandringham Dragons’ coach Josh Bourke about Fischer McAsey.
McAsey had played under Bourke in a Victorian primary schools state team then again at the Dragons in 2019, but after 10 games in a promising debut season at the Crows in 2020, the No. 6 draft pick’s progress had stalled.

“Marco knew he’d had a really good year when he was with us at the Dragons, (so asked) what were some things that helped and supported him,” Bourke told News Corp.

“They were trying to push and prod him to get the best out of him.

“It was about motivation, ‘how did you get him going?’

“Marco said the biggest thing is Fisch working out whether he wants to play footy or not.”

It turned out the answer was no.

As his teammates resumed pre-season training on Monday, McAsey quit the AFL, citing a lack of passion to make it at the elite level.

The 21-year-old swingman, who was granted personal leave from the Crows in November so he could be with his family in Melbourne, believed pursuing other interests was the best thing for his long-term future and wellbeing.

Bourke said McAsey was not a footy nut and never had been.

“He’s a different personality to a lot of the boys that go into the AFL where all they’re hellbent on doing is becoming an AFL player,” he said. “He’s a lovely bloke, a stand-up human and a great kid.

“There was no conflict, no issues, no one disliked him, he wasn’t a bad teammate or anything, but he wasn’t super close with a bunch of his teammates and you got a sense he viewed things a little bit differently.

“But how does the (AFL) system deal with players that function differently?”

Crows ruckman Reilly O’Brien could sense at times last season that McAsey’s passion for the game was waning.

He said McAsey’s decision to take personal leave before Christmas was a surprise but Monday’s call was not.

As a good friend, as well as a member of Adelaide’s leadership group, O’Brien questioned if the club had done all it could to support him.

He believed it had.

“Fisch has made it clear to us that the support he received was all he could’ve asked for and more,” O’Brien said.

“Our environment’s a really good spot but the AFL is not for everyone, it’s a pretty tough gig in terms of the training and expectation.
 

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O’Brien described McAsey as a quiet, deep-thinking intellectual with more in his life than football who got along with everyone in the team.

They were members of the Crows’ book club — “with six or seven of us that can read a book” — and chatted regularly outside of West Lakes.

Off the field, McAsey has started a mindfulness business, Uplift Community, offering wellness education and tips, breathing courses and “community connection events”.

O’Brien did not believe McAsey was a fish out of water in an AFL environment and said football had room for deep thinkers who were not obsessed with the game.

“There’s a lot of those guys around and a fair few at the club,” he said.

O’Brien said McAsey was in good spirits after making the decision.

“It’s probably a bit of a weight off his shoulders,” he said.
Bourke had some question marks about McAsey’s athletic traits at AFL level, thinking he was a great anticipator of the ball though not very quick.

But he would have been surprised in 2019 if someone told him his former charge would quit the AFL after just three seasons.

“He’s the type of kid that in their interviewing and psych testing might have come up as a future captain,” he said.

“He’s considered, he’s intelligent, he’s respectful … thoughtful and all those things you look for in leadership.”

McAsey is also very close with his family.

At the end of his debut season, he was understandably shaken after 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.

“He’s incredibly close to his dad and that would’ve absolutely rocked him with priorities,” Bourke said.

“In my eyes, (he might have thought) ‘does it really matter?’”
 

AFL pre-season news: Adelaide Crows young gun Fischer McAsey calls time​

The second-highest draft pick in Crows history, Fischer McAsey, has quit in a huge pre-season shock at West Lakes. But the club is adamant it did everything possible to retain him.
That is pretty much the opposite of what was said about him in his draft bio.
 

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Accordingly to other clubs he did. Just our recruiters were too big headed thinking the club could coerce him into staying.


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Think you might be getting him mixed up with his then Sandy Dragon teammate Josh Worrell hence him slipping a fair way below where he was expected to go.
 
No surprises here for me, clear he was a bust from early on, just didnt have the talent regardless of mental state, we need to trade our early picks while hamish is still in the job, just too many failures on this guys head, Pedlar is a big worry of being a flop aswell.
 
Yep a real blunder that one
McPherson is a typical AFC recruit. He came into the draft season with hopes of a high 1st round pick , but injuries took their toll. This was also the Gibbs year. We could not have stuffed that seasons recruiting and drafting any worse. Ballard would have been great.
 
McPherson is a typical AFC recruit. He came into the draft season with hopes of a high 1st round pick , but injuries took their toll. This was also the Gibbs year. We could not have stuffed that seasons recruiting and drafting any worse. Ballard would have been great.
Honestly, the McPherson and Ballard thing is a ridiculously small error to get triggered over.

McPherson was someone very highly rated who had an injury effected 18th year and they slid in the draft. There's nothing wrong with that selection.
 
After reading that HS clip (thanks Mutineer ) I'm firmly of the view that this **** up is on our recruiting team.

If you can't deduce a kids genuine love for the game in testing (or can and are arrogant enough to ignore it) then the process and people need a clean out.

This isn't a mental health issue, it's a motivation issue. **** me, we blew our highest pick at the time on a slow "KPD" who was still working out if he wanted to play the game.

Why did they not get this info from Sandringham before the draft?
 

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Player Watch Fischer McAsey - Steps Away from Football, Not Returning

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