Channel 7 commentator Kane Cornes has placed North Melbourne's Colby McKercher on notice after the young star recorded a concerning statistic during Sunday's clash against Geelong.
McKercher's alarming stat
McKercher, selected with pick No.2 in the 2023 AFL draft, has quickly established himself as an elite player for the Kangaroos, having played 47 games. Typically deployed in a half-back role, the 21-year-old has impressed with his penetrating left foot but has recently been utilised further up the field.
Against the Cats on Saturday, McKercher finished with 23 disposals, two goals, and 10 score involvements, making him one of his side's best performers. However, he was also the only player on the ground to finish without a single contested possession.
Across the season, McKercher has managed just 24 contested possessions from eight games. While known as an outside player, Cornes believes he must improve his contested work to take the next step in his development.
Cornes' warning
"The next one I want to identify, who I think is getting into bad habits, is no contest Colby," Cornes said on The Agenda Setters. "So Colby McKercher is a player who I rate highly, so much talent ... he did not have a contested possession against a side like Geelong in Geelong."
"You have to win your own ball. He's the only player on the ground that didn't have a contested possession from 24."
Host Craig Hutchison interjected, noting McKercher's role is to receive the ball as the team's best user. Cornes acknowledged that but pointed to other elite distributors who still engage in contests.
"Yep, no doubt about that. That is his role. He is their best user. But does Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera go into the contest? Does Nick Dacos go into the contest? Does Harry Sheezel go into the contest? Yes, they do. They're also there as the distributor and the weapon," Cornes continued.
"So just don't get into bad habits. Get those habits out of you. We can accept it now at this stage of your career but you don't want to be seeing this in two, three years' time where he's taking kick-outs, getting handball receives, uncontested marks and when the ball is there or a tackle is there to be laid, he does not want to go and seek any form of contact whatsoever. So no contest Colby is on watch and I hope he can get that out of his game quickly."
Role of coaching staff
Cornes also stressed the responsibility of the coaching staff to improve McKercher's contested work during training sessions. "So to actually get in the contest at training so that when you're in that situation, you feel comfortable to accept some contact because right now I don't feel like he's comfortable in the contest."
The Port Adelaide champion also praised Harry Sheezel and coach Alastair Clarkson for adjusting Sheezel's game style to become more dangerous moving forward. "So I think that's a credit to Alastair Clarkson and also Harry Sheezel, which is exactly what I was calling for last year," he said.
"So to have that respect from Chris Scott to say, 'jeez, you've changed your game, that's where you're getting your disposals, we're going to deploy a tag on you now because we're worried about your ball use' is excellent. Credit to the club and Harry for the work that he's put in."
