\n The developing Eagle has settled into life at the club and is thriving through his first full AFL pre season\n <\/p>\n
\n By westcoasteagles.com.au\n <\/p>\n
Gun mid-season recruit Tom McCarthy says he is feeling settled, confident and ready to tackle the next phase of pre-season training as he looks to build on a head-turning start to his AFL career.<\/p>\n
The 25\u2011year\u2011old joined West Coast only eight months ago and debuted within three weeks, setting a club record with 31 disposals in his first game against Carlton in round 14.<\/p>\n
McCarthy was a shining light for the Eagles in the second half of last season, averaging 23.6 touches from ten games, but admitted the pace of AFL life initially took him by surprise before things slowed down at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
Now, after a refreshing break back home, he says he is feeling firmly established in Western Australia and at the club.<\/p>\n
McCarthy readily admits that stepping up from the Richmond VFL program to a full AFL pre\u2011season was a shock to the system, but he\u2019s learned to handle significantly increased training loads.<\/p>\n
With the help of West Coast\u2019s high\u2011performance staff, he has focused heavily on nutrition, recovery and load management.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about recovery in the AFL world,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m getting through sessions a lot better now than I used to.\u201d<\/p>\n
With pre-season training in full swing, McCarthy says he feels bigger and fitter than when he arrived.<\/p>\n
His rapid development last year saw him perform strongly across half-back before showcasing his on-ball potential late in the season, and that midfield role is now firmly in focus.<\/p>\n
McCarthy has been training predominantly through the middle this summer, working closely with Luke Shuey and Tim Kelly on body craft, positioning and contest skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning off two of the greats is pretty special. I feel privileged to learn from them,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
Although technically a second-year Eagle, McCarthy jokes about being one of the older players among the club\u2019s young core.<\/p>\n
Surrounded by teammates several years his junior, he has found himself in a unique role both learning the AFL environment from them and offering life experience in return.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit strange at times,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re all picking things up from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the next generation pushing for opportunities, McCarthy highlighted draftee Josh Lindsay for his penetrating left foot, second-year player Hamish Davis for his strength and fitness, and new draft arrivals Willem Duursma and Cooper Duff\u2011Tytler for their impressive early signs.<\/p>\n
McCarthy also noted his excitement about the prospect of playing alongside Elliot Yeo for the first time, with the veteran midfielder building steadily through his monitored pre-season schedule.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHis experience will help us so much,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re praying he can get back, help out the younger players and be a good mentor for us through the midfield.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite a challenging first season in the AFL system McCarthy remains fiercely motivated.<\/p>\n
The drive to experience that long-awaited first victory continues to push him through the grind of pre-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thinking about what our first win looks like, and I reckon it\u2019ll come pretty early with the group we\u2019ve got,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coaches are pushing us hard and setting great standards. We\u2019ll challenge teams a lot more than we did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The developing Eagle has settled into life at the club and is thriving through his first full AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-412056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412056","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=412056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}