Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.<\/a><\/p>\nThe veteran tapster played two VFL games in mid-June to prove to coach Chris Fagan, who said last month McInerney\u2019s absence was \u201cdefinitely not\u201d form-related, that he was ready for his inevitable senior call-up. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was good to get a blow in the lungs, to be honest,\u201d he told foxfooty.com.au after returning to Fagan\u2019s side in the Round 18 victory. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve definitely missed it. Always good to get a run out there; there\u2019s always a bit of speed at Marvel, but good to have a blow.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 37-point win over the Blues, McInerney, playing his ruck role in tandem with impressive stand-in Darcy Fort, totalled 28 hitouts and a couple of clearances from 71 per cent time on ground, having attended 63 per cent of centre bounces to Fort\u2019s 37 per cent. <\/p>\n
In late June, Fagan told Channel Seven that McInerney\u2019s burdensome back issue had been \u201ccausing him some problems\u201d, adding it was \u201ca degenerative sort of situation\u201d; one that\u2019s resolution was reliant on specific measures put in place by the club\u2019s medical experts. <\/p>\n
But the 160-gamer is staking his claim at a \u201creally exciting time of the year\u201d as the club pieces together its next premiership assault, sitting second on the ladder with six home-and-away games left. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys have been phenomenal all year, and even though I\u2019ve missed a little bit of footy, it\u2019s such a great environment to come into work every day and keep chipping away and try to get back to where you want to be,\u201d McInerney said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys have been doing a great job, and (last Thursday) was more evidence of that. We\u2019ll just keep chipping away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voss unsure on unrestricted trade period | 00:34<\/p>\n
Premiership ruckman Fort has filled McInerney\u2019s void admirably, and it\u2019s that form McInerney says will \u201cmake it hard\u201d to retain his newfound spot in the side amid the \u2018big boy\u2019 months. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Darcy\u2019s done in the past eight to 10 weeks has been super. He\u2019s really solidified himself as a quality ruckman of the AFL,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to make it hard to keep my spot, because he\u2019s done such a great job. And that\u2019s what you want; you want healthy competition. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing an unbelievable job. We\u2019ll keep fighting and see how we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
On whether he believes there\u2019s scope for them to play in the same team, McInerney said: \u201cYou ask any ruckman and we say we should play two or three rucks, so it\u2019s always going to be a biased answer, but that\u2019d be one you have to put to (the) match committee \u2026 we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Post-game last Thursday, Fagan said he\u2019d \u201cexperiment and see where we land\u201d with regards to the ongoing ruck dynamic at Springfield, with veteran Sam Day \u2014 who missed the Blues game following the sad passing of his grandfather \u2014 also in the mix as a pinch-hitter in the middle. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can see it (Fort and McInerney playing together) in certain games against certain teams,\u201d Fagan said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe not all the time. Sam Day\u2019s done a really good job so far \u2026 he\u2019s got an important role to play as well, so we\u2019re just going to experiment with that and see where we land, and it might be horses for courses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of Friday night\u2019s Gabba blockbuster against the Western Bulldogs, Fagan again named Fort and McInerney in the same line-up, with Fort poised to start in the middle. <\/p>\n
Dons slump to 7th straight loss vs GWS | 02:10<\/p>\n
McInerney was the heartbreak story of Brisbane\u2019s premiership triumph last September, missing the grand final win due to a dislocated shoulder. <\/p>\n
But quizzed on a potentially enhanced personal drive to get back to the top of the mountain, given he missed out in 2024, McInerney delivered a stark AFL reality check. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo different to any other year,\u201d McInerney reassured of his mindset coming into this season. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still 800 AFL players who want to win them (flags), so if you come back thinking you\u2019re any more special than anyone else, you\u2019re going to get slapped in the face pretty quickly. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo different to any other year, just get on the horse and get to work \u2014 that\u2019s the same mantra throughout the year \u2014 and hopefully we can keep going, but one week at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
McInerney also spoke glowingly of his relationship with Fagan and that of the club\u2019s leadership group, especially amid his difficulties this season. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Fages\u2019 is a true leader. We saw last year his calmness, able to steady the group when we went through a bit of difficulty, but this year again, just being able to have that really cool head and lead our boys really well,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with our leadership group \u2026 they just steer the ship so well and create an environment that we love to be in. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve really supported me over the past eight weeks. What a place to come and work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The road back to relevancy this season has been long and complex for Brisbane ruckman Oscar McInerney amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,3237,3239,3234,3244,3248,3256,3235,3253,3258,3249,2105,3230,1139,3246,3245,3259,3251,3231,3255,647,3257,677,3233,3252,3243,3240,3241,3232,3247,3250,3242,3236,85,1117,3254,3238,660,698],"class_list":["post-2138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-carlton-blues","tag-centre-bounces","tag-chris-fagan","tag-club-pieces","tag-disgusting-racist-comments","tag-dons-slump","tag-enhanced-personal-drive","tag-exclusive-interview","tag-flag-hunt","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-final-win","tag-greater-western-sydney-giants","tag-heartbreak-story","tag-home-and-away-games","tag-impressive-stand-in","tag-inevitable-senior-call-up","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-leadership-group","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-voss","tag-oceania","tag-oscar-mcinerney","tag-player-movement","tag-premiership-assault","tag-premiership-ruckman","tag-quality-ruckman","tag-reality-check","tag-robert-cianflone","tag-ruck-role","tag-sam-day","tag-senior-level","tag-sports","tag-tom-de-koning","tag-trade-saga","tag-veteran-tapster","tag-victoria","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}