Andrew Mackie: What to make of thee?

With the 7th overall pick in the 2002 AFL draft, Geelong surprised everybody by selecting an Adelaide schoolboy footballer who had not played in the national under-18 competition, who had not been invited to the pre-draft camp, (where all hopefuls are tested, measured, interviewed and then stared at by Kevin Sheedy) and who was a virtual unknown to the general football public.

The then eighteen year old was selected largely on potential, with the club’s hierarchy telling us all about his football smarts, his athletic capacity and his key-position potential. I thought, ‘they must know what they’re doing, we might have a draft coup here’, but then I remembered this was the same group of people that traded for Brett Spinks. Now, 5 years on, Andrew Mackie is still an unknown commodity.

Indeed, in 5 years, Mackie has produced more questions than answers, with each unanswered question only yielding more questions. Here are but a few:

1. What position does he play? Half-forward most likely, yet at times he has played on a wing and off half-back. When originally drafted I was led to believe he would play deeper in attack. In the VFL he was also used in the midfield at times, perhaps he should be used there more often, the VFL that is, not the midfield.

2. What is he physically best suited to? He’s 6’ 3” but in 5 years of close AFL club supervision, no doubt including dieticians, weight-trainers and various other sports science experts, Mackie still appears ‘junkie’ thin. Perhaps he’s best suited to a catwalk career.

3. What is his skill set best suited to? He was drafted as a forward yet doesn’t seem to possess the timing, explosiveness or goal sense of any true forward. Is he a marking player, a leading player, a running player, a crumbing player, does he do anything well, or a number of things just ok? And, is that enough?

4. Is there really room for him in Geelong’s best 22? Think about the team’s structure, its forward balance and think about Mackie’s lack of development. In 2001 Geelong drafted the then known Jimmy Bartel with the 8th overall pick. In only one more season than Mackie, Bartel has gone on to establish himself as one of Geelong’s, and possibly the leagues, best ‘in-and-under’ midfielders, last season averaging 23 disposals a game and finishing runner-up in Geelong’s Best & Fairest. Can we keep carrying players like Mackie? Surely there’s no room for him on a team already featuring Chas Gardiner, ‘Bobo’ Kelly and Hank Playfair.

5. Has the club wasted a top 10 pick and 5 years? Someone at Geelong must have glimpsed something during a Glenelg schoolboy’s game, and I’m not making a Catholic priest joke here. There must have been some hunch, some spark of potential, to warrant his top ten draft position, his subsequent contract extension and his continual selection ahead other worthy players. Would you rather have Mackie or any of the following players all taken after Mackie in the ’02 draft; Melbourne defender Jared Rivers, running Carlton midfielder Kade Simpson, Port Adelaide goal-kicker and plastic surgery patient Brett Ebert, Kangaroo big man due-for-a-break-out-year Hamish McIntosh, hell, how about Troy or even Adam Selwood?

6. Do we give up on him now? You can’t keep hoping for someone to turn the corner, I mean, eventually he’s got to perform. On the other hand, there’s nothing worse than investing time and money in a player who seems destined to under perform then watch as he flourishes at another club. I call it the ‘I just needed a change of scenery’ law. (And while we’re on the subject a note to Melbourne News media: enough with the feature articles about the redemption of Nick Davis, we get it already.)

Watching him in last weekends intra-club match, and reading the subsequent reports afterwards, I take little heart from the fact he seemed one of the best on ground. And even during this seemingly impressive display he still managed to shank a kick near side after strolling into what seemed a certain goal.

So where does that leave us? Well, someone who is still at the club (I’m guessing Lips) was the person responsible for his drafting and thus will continue to play him in an effort to prove themselves right. One of two things needs to happen now; one, Mackie proves me wrong and has a break-out year, surpassing all expectations and causing Bomber Thompson to give the first ever post-game coaches conference with an erection, or, two, we need a repeat of his late night ‘title holder’ antics. This would guarantee a late night, drunken, violent debacle, otherwise known as ‘the Carlton Captaincy’. The GFC could then consciously cut all ties with him while still looking like good guys for taking the moral high road. A win-win situation. All we need is to get him out nite-clubbing, completely drunk and involved in violence… Of course! I knew there was a reason we kept Steve Johnson.