Andrew McGrath (born 2 June 1998) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He was recruited by the Essendon Football Club with the first overall selection in the 2016 national draft.

Early life

McGrath was born in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at age 5 in 2003, with his family settling in the bayside suburbs. McGrath participated in the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian football to children aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective program. It has incre ...

program at Whyte Street in

Brighton, Victoria Brighton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Bayside Local government areas of Victo ...

and played junior football with the East Brighton Football Club in the South Metro Junior Football League. He was a talented junior track and field athlete winning the Australian national under-14 high jump competition in 2011, the Victorian state heptathlon and national 200m hurdles events at under-15 level in 2012 and the under-17 400m hurdles in 2014. He was named All-Australian and co-captain of the 2016 AFL Under 18 Championships playing for Vic Metro.

AFL career

McGrath was recruited by the

with the number one draft pick in the 2016 national draft. He made his debut in the 25 point win against in the opening round of the 2017 season at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, recording 22 disposals. He received an AFL Rising Star nomination for his performance in the sixty-five point loss against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

in round four, in which he garnered twenty-eight disposals and four tackles. He kicked his first AFL goal against

in round 6. McGrath had another notable performance against Adelaide in round 21, where he kept star forward Eddie Betts goalless and held him to only seven disposals, his lowest output of the season. He capped off an outstanding first season by winning the AFL Rising Star, receiving the Ron Evans Medal with 51 votes out of a possible 55, becoming the second Essendon player to win the award, after Dyson Heppell, as well as winning the AFLPA Best First Year Player award, and was named in the 22under22 team. McGrath was named to the 22under22 team again in 2018 and 2019, and was captain of the 22under22 team in 2020. He moved into Essendon's midfield full-time in 2020, and received the club's

Adam Ramanauskas Adam Ramanauskas (born 19 November 1980) is a former Australian rules footballer for the Essendon Football Club. Of Lithuanian descent, Ramanauskas was selected at no. 12 in the 1998 AFL Draft and was mainly a defender or midfielder. In 2000 ...

Most Courageous Player award in that year. On 11 October 2020 the Essendon Football Club announced that McGrath had re-signed until 2022. For the 2021 season, the Essendon Football Club appointed McGrath a joint vice-captain alongside Michael Hurley and Zach Merrett. He opened the season with 33 disposals, 11 tackles, and a goal in a one-point loss to Hawthorn in Round 1. Early in the first term of the Bombers' round 12 match against Richmond on 5 June 2021, McGrath was substituted out with what proved to be a grade two posterior cruciate ligament injury, which was expected to put him out of action for eight to 12 weeks. He made his return in Essendon's Round 22 match against the Gold Coast Suns, in which he had 13 disposals, three marks, and three tackles. McGrath played in his hundredth match on 1 May 2022. On 15 July 2022 the Essendon Football Club announced he had signed on to remain with the club through the 2024 season. McGrath was appointed as Essendon's vice-captain ahead of the 2023 season. McGrath captained the team in the 2023 Anzac Day match, in the absence of suspended captain, Zach Merrett. In 2024, McGrath signed a six year contract extension with the Bombers to keep him at the club until 2030.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2024 season'' , - ,

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, Andrew 1998 births Living people VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Australian people of Anglo-Indian descent Canadian people of Anglo-Indian descent Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Canadian players of Australian rules football Essendon Football Club players People educated at Brighton Grammar School Sandringham Dragons players Sportspeople from Mississauga Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) AFL Rising Star winners People from the City of Bayside Canadian expatriates in Australia 21st-century Australian sportsmen