AFL Player #20: Peter Wright

[Lore]

Contract Status: Free Agent (?) 2027
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 21, TheGrizz

 

[ghostdog]

Congrats 2MP!
I'm sure you got so much to tell Jack about how the coach brought out your best!

In fairness, is it Gia?

 

[carnthedons]

Great stuff from the competer, 7 seater. Getting him for a future 4th that they didn’t even use is ludicrous value for this bloke and he’ll only get better as we (hopefully, not confidently) do

 

[Albertross]

Great stuff from the competer, 7 seater. Getting him for a future 4th that they didn’t even use is ludicrous value for this bloke and he’ll only get better as we (hopefully, not confidently) do

With a more experienced wing man and better F50 delivery, he can only get better.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

King is literally the most one dimensional key forward in the game.

I think he is more than just a straight line, I've seen photos of him that suggest he is at the very least an image of a person, but you could be right.

 

[Squeaky]

Well done Litre...
Well deserved!
Just makes the most of his opportunities.
If he can even get better again we'll be laughing as a club.

 

[dank420_]

I think he is more than just a straight line, I've seen photos of him that suggest he is at the very least an image of a person, but you could be right.

Nah Ethan is correct this time

 

[Lore]

 

[Lore]

 

[I Remember Bluey]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-2023-peter-wright-looking-ahead-after-bombers-bf-despite-guilt-at-rutten-sacking/news-story/b8777ba0fadba63c97b290ddb60a7b02

Essendon’s senior players couldn’t save Ben Rutten as they met president David Barham in the heated midweek confrontation days after the media executive took over the club.

But as those players arrived for their first week of official training in early December the fruits of the club’s review — and Barham’s commitment to them — were impossible to ignore.

As Crichton medallist Peter Wright said this week, there is still some guilt and heartache at the losses that led to Rutten being sacked for new coach Brad Scott.

And yet across the training track in those early sessions the flood of coaches that greeted them were as clear a sign of Essendon’s changes as Scott’s presence.
Barham had promised the young list he would beef-up the development team and properly resource the footy department.

Bombers best and fairest Peter Wright still has some lingering guilt and heartache at his coach Ben Rutten being sacked. Photo by Michael Klein

And the six full-timers now on staff – up from just two full-timers and a part-timer — were proof of that commitment.
For Wright one of those new faces could help take his game to even greater heights given his expertise and status as one of his boyhood heroes in Travis Cloke.

“One of the pleasing things is it’s not just Brad (Scott) who has come on board. It’s a number of other coaches too. Ben Jacobs, Brent Stanton has come on full time. Travis Cloke. Dan McPherson in football. So it’s more of a well-resourced football department,” Wright said.
“It felt at times last year we had a number of people doing quite a few different jobs and David Barham said he wanted to put resources into the footy department and he’s been able to do that. Brad is the leader of that but it’s also the access we have to coaches.

“Just to have coaches for watching vision and individual edits but also at the end of training if you want to work on something individually there are plenty around. At times last year we did a lot of stuff in bigger groups so the coaches could service it. They did a hell of a job last year but they were outnumbered. So as a young group it’s pretty important and we will get some great growth out of that.”

Peter Wright won Essendon’s B&F in 2022 Picture: Facebook/Essendon FC

Wright had a career best season. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Cloke will be Essendon’s VFLW coach but also a specialist coach to fast-track the key position players.
How could high-marking Wright not benefit from his input by spending Tuesdays with Trav?

“He is doing a lot of craft stuff with us on Tuesdays. I am really looking forward to getting to know him better. Obviously I grew up a Collingwood supporter and I used to love watching Clokey go about his business. He was as good as there was for a few years,” Wright said.
“Especially with the contested marking side of the game. I want to pick his brain about how he goes about it. A lot of the technical side of things I have worked on for a number of years. I feel there is still a lot of growth there and I am looking forward to working with Clokey on that.”

New coach Scott is determined to back the strengths of individual players and not pigeonhole them into specific positions based on their previous history.
Essendon needed to change, but Wright will never forget what Rutten did for him when he was traded as a Gold Coast forward seemingly on the scrap-heap after an early Suns salary dump.

“Truck’ was huge for me, I have a lot of respect for the way he tried to coach me,” he said
“And I know I wouldn’t be where I am without him giving me opportunity.
“There were a few key moments throughout my first year at club, where he backed me in and was really clear with direction on where he saw my footy going.

“(His sacking) was obviously a tough few weeks for everyone involved with the footy club.
“We felt like we weren’t playing our best footy. We were working really hard through the week to play the way we wanted to play and we felt like we let ‘Truck’ down at times in the year with how we went out there and didn’t perform.

Brad Scott, new Bombers coach. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“So towards the back end of the year (it) was a bit stressful for a number of players and members of the coaching staff and it was a really disappointing end to the year.
“Footy is a pretty brutal industry and you have to move on pretty quickly, so I am enjoying having Brad on board.”
Essendon’s review made clear the players needed to be fitter and the club’s exit interview warning to the list was stark — we won’t be wasting pre-season getting fit.

It meant the players returned in elite shape ready to back up repeat sessions, even if Wright has never shirked the hard work.
He is proud to have rolled up his sleeves and worked even harder on his craft in his final season at Gold Coast and in a debut season at Essendon where he laid the groundwork for his Crichton Medal-winning year.

Peter Wright has put some difficult years at the Gold Coast behind him. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

That award was the culmination of three years’ work and a childhood dream.
“First and foremost it was hard work. Everyone thinks it happened over a year. I felt like I was making a lot of strong gains last year and to be honest the year before that at Gold Coast,” Wright said.

“I was able to make some good growth technically with my bodywork. As the year progressed the boys had more and more confidence in me kicking the ball. So it was hard work and opportunity and confidence but also the support from coaches.
“The (best-and-fairest) was an amazing night. I think somewhere that I always dreamt of being able to be in that position.
“At times while I always believed I could do it, it didn’t look like it would eventuate. Having seen the ups and downs of footy to get there, I accepted it with a lot of gratitude.

“ I can honestly say I wouldn’t have changed it. The hard years at Gold Coast, the 12-18 months I had there to help shape the way I am as a footballer and person.”
In the weeks that followed that achievement the players were criticised for heading overseas on a European footy trip, but Wright found the narrative confusing.

“You can’t just spend time together in the four walls of a footy club. That is not always the most fun at times so to get out and get to know each other out of that environment is really important and getting overseas is a part of that,” he said.

“It’s about experiencing things together. That shared experience is a good way to connect. I feel like a lot of negative media is what drives traffic through websites. It’s easy to criticise but I don’t think there was anything untoward with going overseas and enjoying some time together with our allocated time off.”

Peter Wright with Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti at Bombers training. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Essendon will soon ramp up talks with his manager Anthony McConville on a new deal past 2023 amid hopes he can be the long-term forward the club has sought for so long.
“Absolutely (I want to stay). I am very grateful for the club for the opportunity they have given me and excited for the future of the club,” he said.
And as for the long game?
The ambition is all about team gains and achieving them consistently like those great Essendon sides that have gone before the current incarnation.
“We are obviously chasing the ultimate success and hopefully that’s still ahead of us,” he said.

“I have played one final and hopefully we can chase a few more. I think you want to set your sights higher than just (breaking the finals-winning drought).
“I think that is more of an external thing spoken about than internally. We want to be a club that doesn’t just get to the finals and win a final, we want to play consistent quality football in finals and win consistently. The end goal isn’t to have a year where we win a final, it’s to be consistently pushing and winning premierships.”

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

2MP is all class.

 

[Hamez]

Calf injury…

 

[Haychh]

 

[andleanback]

Yaaaaahooo another soft tissue

 

[Beerfish]

Every time I see a player thread bumped at this time of year I hold my breath.

 

[Milanista28]

Our most important player, Spain without the s.

 

[VelvetSledge]

4-6 weeks.

Piss.

 

[Don Won]

4-6 weeks.

Piss.

Jay Clarke who was at training said that club said it is minor, back next week… (unless I have been trolled)

 

[yodellinhank]

Jay Clarke who was at training said that club said it is minor, back next week… (unless I have been trolled)

A minor calf this week and his back next week. We haven't fixed our strength and conditioning problems since the review, but we've got really efficient with the updates.

 

[DonsRule]

 

[Beerfish]

Tightness or awareness?

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Tightness or awareness?

Awareness of calf tightness.

 

[ant555]

Yaaaaahooo another soft tissue

The issue will be how they manage the "tightness". Not like it is a full blown calf strain.

 

[faible]

The issue will be how they manage the "tightness". Not like it is a full blown calf strain.

From the post on blitz I read it sounded like he might have copped a knock to it during a marking contest.

 

[Zach Package]

Twitter made it sound like he was being carried from the battlefield like the end of Saving Private Ryan

 

[ant555]

From the post on blitz I read it sounded like he might have copped a knock to it during a marking contest.

Have been told similar but lets not wait for facts. Soft tissue. Sack the fitness staff.