Andrew McGrath: “I feel like I’m a connector of people. I love my teammates. I want them to feel really safe and valued by me.” Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Andrew McGrath should play his 200th AFL game later this season. There’s been three finals, and a score of blockbuster Anzac Day and Dreatime games. But there probably hasn’t been a more important one for him than Essendon’s Friday night clash against Hawthorn.

That may sound like hyperbole from a team perspective. But individually? Not so much. For Essendon’s new captain has a sizeable point to prove. To the football world, to his club, perhaps even to himself.

It’s been a tough road since the pleasant-natured kid from Brighton Grammar was the No.1 pick of the 2016 national draft. The Bombers have been at best mediocre nearly that whole time. Nor has McGrath become the superstar player the world assumes first draft picks must be.

But maybe he’s about to prove his worth at a different level altogether.

It’s been three months since McGrath took the reins as Essendon captain. Publicly, he’s spent the vast bulk of that time talking about his predecessor in the role Zach Merrett, and the logistics and ramifications of the handover of the job from one to the other. But now, it finally really is about him.

And when he leads the Bombers down the MCG race on Friday night, McGrath will do so having already won the unqualified and enthusiastic support of his players, not to mention the coaching staff, not his club’s supporters, who have been universally glowing in praise for what they’ve been hearing and seeing.

That hasn’t always been the case for the leadership tier at The Hangar, particularly in the last couple of seasons. But the intelligent and articulate 27-year-old has made a big impression quickly.

So, now that the shadow boxing has finished and the real stuff begins, what sort of captain will we see out there? “The bottom line is you can’t fake it, you have to be authentic, so I’ll bring my authentic self to the role,” McGrath tells ESPN.

“I feel like I’m a connector of people. I love my teammates. I want them to feel really safe and valued by me. And that’ll never change throughout my captaincy tenure. I think when you feel a sense of belonging, you feel valued in your workplace, you tend to give more effort, you tend to give more energy to the people around you. And that can build a really strong energy around our footy club.

“They are a few of the things that I’d love to hone in on. But again, mainly just being myself and being authentic to who I am.”

Those connection skills might come in particularly handy given how many on this Essendon list (officially the AFL’s second youngest and second least experienced in 2026) are still feeling their way.

No fewer than 25 senior Essendon players will start this season with less than 30 games under their belt. That’s a lot of raw football talent. One positive, however, will be the relatively clean slate of offers coach Brad Scott in terms of moulding a preferred line-up. And his new captain in terms of shaping their behaviours. That’s exciting, McGrath nods.

“Even off the back of our practice games, a lot of guys have put their hand up,” he says. “All but one of our players played AFL last year, and all of them have come into pre-season with the attitude that they’re in our best 22.

“They know it’s going to be harder with full availability, but yeah, there’s going to be selection headaches. There’s going to be really unlucky guys that probably deserve to play, but you need that competition. The best teams in the comp have that.

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“We haven’t been lucky enough to have that in the last few years, so yeah, I’m really excited about having all those positions up to grabs. It’ll only drive high performance around the track, high performance on the field, and inevitably a high-performing culture. It’s exciting times.”

Who can emerge from the pack to make a big difference to the Bombers this year? While it’s tempting to single out the newly-drafted talent, it’s the more likely suspects whose continued improvement can take the Dons further than the lower third of the ladder for which most pundits have them pencilled in.

“Brad’s big on needing everyone to improve a certain percentage to get where we want to get to,” says McGrath. “Obviously, the younger players have more scope for that than our senior players.

“But I think of guys like Zach Reid, who’s a more mature head for us, but has only just turned 24. He’s been unlucky with injury, but the talent he possesses is second to none. He’s a unique player. And guys like Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako (both 20), I think we forget how young they are. A lot of our forward ball movement goes through those guy, and hopefully they can play for another 10 or 15 years for us.

And the even newer kids? “The world’s an oyster for them. Like Jacob Farrow, who’s my new locker buddy, he’s a silky mover. He always compares himself to Jordan Dawson, who has been his idol, and I can see the comparison live in terms of temperament, the way he moves, the way he uses the ball.

“I could go on and on, but I think we just want them all to feel really valued, really comfortable in where they sit, and encourage them to shoot for the moon and we’ll help fast track their development.”

And that will help the likes of McGrath and Merrett keep going for a fair while longer yet. At 251 games, six-time best and fairest winner Merrett, 30, is easily Essendon’s most experienced hand. McGrath, on 180 games, is second. But it goes without saying there hasn’t been too may licks of the ice cream.

“In a weird way, though, I wouldn’t change it” he says. I think you’re dealt certain hands for a reason, and I think we’re building both a team and a culture that’s going to stack up and going to be there for a sustained period of time.

“We know with a young group it may take time, but I’m super passionate. I live and breathe red and black. I love the footy club. I love my teammates and will do absolutely everything in my power to lift that cup up at some point in my journey. Whether it’s me or the next captain, who knows, but I want to be a part of that, and that’s what drives me every day.”

McGrath’s AFL debut came in this same clash, an MCG season-opener against the Hawks, just on nine years ago. It produced an impressive Bomber victory, the start of a campaign which saw Essendon get to finals.

Some 180 games later, that will still be the aim of the game on Friday night for McGrath, but this time it will be him doing the mentoring and instructing of a whole clutch of the sort of talented kids he once was.

Already, it feels like a role he was born to do. And in time, this debut Mk II for McGrath might seem even more important than the real one was.

This article first appeared at ESPN.