Cory McGrath (born 4 February 1979) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played with the Carlton and

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their ...

s in the Australian Football League (AFL), South Fremantle in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...

(WAFL), South Adelaide in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as th ...

(SANFL) and the

Northern Bullants The Preston Football Club, which trades and plays as the Northern Bullants, is a long-established Australian rules football club based in Preston that plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It plays its home games at the Preston City O ...

and

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

(VFL).

AFL career

He started his career after being elevated from the rookie list by Essendon in 2000, and made his AFL debut in 2001. The West Australian had been noted as an exciting midfielder and when he arrived at Carlton as part of the Blues' refill of recycled players in the 2003 draft/trade period, he made a good impression during 2004. He broke his way into the team from Carlton's , the

, midway through the year and played every game from then on. 2005 was another step up for McGrath, who played 19 games but was considered one of the better players in a dismal year for the Blues. He again played 19 games in 2006, generally playing a tagging role rotated through the midfield, where he is noted as a hard ball winner. Although less successful as a traditional defender, his tagging roles were often performed in the backline. Despite his good season, McGrath was delisted at the end of 2006, at the age of 27.

Post-AFL

McGrath played the 2007 season with the

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as th ...

. He then spent five seasons playing with the

Port Melbourne Football Club The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football Association/Le ...

in the VFL, where he was part of the Borough's unbeaten 2011 premiership team. McGrath retired from football at the end of 2011.

Personal life

McGrath has two brothers, who are both former AFL players,

Toby Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

, who played for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Footbal ...

and Essendon, and Ashley, who played for the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of t ...

. He has two kids Coen & Lani.

References

External links

*
Cory McGrath's profile on Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, Cory Essendon Football Club players 1979 births Living people Carlton Football Club players South Fremantle Football Club players South Adelaide Football Club players Indigenous Australians from Western Australia Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Preston Football Club (VFA) players Port Melbourne Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia People from Northam, Western Australia