{"id":721209,"date":"2026-06-07T14:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721209\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:54:12","slug":"solomons-big-cuddle-for-thwarted-young-gun-and-mckay-magnet-move-thats-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721209\/","title":{"rendered":"Solomon\u2019s \u2018big cuddle\u2019 for thwarted young gun… and McKay magnet move that\u2019s here to stay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon interim coach Dean Solomon has empathised with his emerging star forward Nate Caddy, who was left frustrated with the execution of his side coming inside forward 50 amid a five-point loss to Carlton on Sunday night.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 20-year-old, who had kicked 23 goals from 11 games heading into the King\u2019s Birthday Eve clash, found himself on the end of wayward kicking inside forward 50 for a second straight week, and in some instances not passed to at all \u2014 despite being in open space.<\/p>\n

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It saw Caddy have just two shots on goal from six disposals, and finish the night with a sole major.<\/p>\n

And while traditional defender Ben McKay flourished in his second straight week at full-forward, Solomon felt compelled to comfort his attacking teammate. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like giving him a big cuddle. I love him, he\u2019s got a massive heart. He loves this football club and gives everything he can for us,\u201d Solomon told journalists post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately the last two weeks, we just haven\u2019t helped him out. His patterns are good, but we\u2019ve got a fair bit of connection work to do centre-forward to make sure that we can maximise who he is, the player he is and the positions he gets into.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to work. He\u2019s a ripper, and it\u2019ll turn for him as we can deliver the ball better.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a night where Ben McKay thrived up forward in his brand new role up forward, Nate Caddy at times got the rough end of the stick when the ball came inside his forward half.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

McKay channelled the craft of twin brother and 2021 Coleman Medallist Harry McKay throughout the night, making his aerial presence felt as his midfield teammates looked to find him more often than not going forward.<\/p>\n

His final tally of 2.2 didn\u2019t quite showcase his total impact, in a magnet switch that Bombers fans can expect to continue next week and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good focal point, he gives us a contest. Our ball movement centre-forward, we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do there,\u201d Solomon continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s giving us a great target, he\u2019s got a nice set of hands and he\u2019s a steady set shot. We\u2019ll continue to persevere with that, and I\u2019m very confident that he can develop into a very handy player for us in the forward line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closer to McKay\u2019s traditional home in defence, former captain Zach Merrett was deployed off half back to finish the night with 33 disposals. <\/p>\n

While his drive and aggression with ball-in-hand was evident particularly before quarter time, the six-time Crichton Medal winner\u2019s impact was felt less as the game wore on. He finished the clash with -0.3 Rating Points \u2014 the second-lowest on the ground \u2014 despite his 33 disposals. <\/p>\n

Essendon\u2019s next shot at redemption comes against Melbourne on Saturday afternoon at the MCG, in what will be their last fixture before their mid-season bye in Round 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon interim coach Dean Solomon has empathised with his emerging star forward Nate Caddy, who was left frustrated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[233587,638,64,63,689,55,639,349536,29651,3239,349539,143664,112376,349541,102658,6086,349540,647,349537,14426,677,223870,668,85,349538,660,9020,25581],"class_list":["post-721209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-aerial-presence","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ball-movement-centre-forward","tag-ben-mckay","tag-carlton-blues","tag-connection-work","tag-dean-solomon","tag-final-tally","tag-five-point-loss","tag-games-heading","tag-interim-coach","tag-magnet-move","tag-melbourne","tag-midfield-teammates","tag-nate-caddy","tag-oceania","tag-open-space","tag-press-conference","tag-sports","tag-steady-set-shot","tag-victoria","tag-young-gun","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721209","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=721209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}