Mid-season rookie sensation Tom McCarthy believes he has ‘heaps of growth left’ amid a stunning start to his West Coast Eagles career.
McCarthy has been a revelation in eight matches since being taken with the No.1 pick in the May draft.
The 25-year-old played with class and composure in seven games across half-back, earning enough trust from coach Andrew McQualter to be shifted into the midfield against League-leaders Adelaide on Sunday.
Just as he did on debut – when McCarthy set a new record for disposals by a West Coast first-gamer (31) – the rangy right-footer quickly found the level.
Coming up against stars like Jordan Dawson and Izak Rankine, McCarthy gathered a game-high 29 touches and finished only behind Dawson for metres gained (627m).
Still learning the habits of professional football after a meteoric rise from community level via the VFL, McCarthy has already incorporated pre-game meditation and breathing exercises into his routine.
Next, he is looking to get stronger to combat hardened AFL players when he completes his first pre-season this summer.
“I’ve got heaps of growth left I think,” McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday.
“Where I’ve grown to now is so far from where I was two years ago.
“But I reckon I’ve got that much more left to learn both on the field but off the field with diet and gym.
“Even my footy, I know I’ve got lots to work on, so really excited to where I can grow.”
Despite falling nine points short of the Crows, the Eagles took plenty from pushing the flag fancies to the brink.
West Coast’s pressure rating was through the roof across four quarters, and the challenge is to back that effort up against the in-form Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.
“As a group, we knew we were pretty down on our defence the last two weeks,” McCarthy said.
“(We) took that as a challenge and made sure this was a week the week we really went after it and made that the standard moving forward.
“It wasn’t up to standard the week before. That’s probably why we got close to the Crows.”
The Eagles made a commitment to retiring champions Jeremy McGovern and Dom Sheed, plus co-captain Liam Duggan in his 200th game, to bring intensity and defensive effort, and they didn’t let them down.
“(McQualter) was so pumped for us because he made that a really big thing for us. We made a commitment to him and a commitment to ‘Gov’ (Jeremy McGovern) and Dom (Sheed), and Duggo, to make sure our intent was really strong,” McCarthy said.
“You saw in the video we sent out a few messages to the boys to show that our commitment’s strong, to wish them all the best and then we told them what we were going to go after on that day.
“Most of what we said was defensive intent so we went after that and we were pretty happy with how we went.”
McGovern addressed the players in their final moments before running out pre-game, helping to inspire a fighting performance.
“He just wanted to say he was so proud of us and the way we’ve pulled on the jumper through a tough time,” McCarthy said.
“Every one of us in that room in that moment has been through it, and he just wanted to really get around us and say, ‘no matter what happens today I’m proud of you all and the future is so bright so just go out there’ and he said just to ‘kill it’.
“It was a very simple message but very inspirational as well.”
McGovern is one of four leaders sidelined for the Eagles – alongside Duggan (suspension), co-captain Oscar Allen (Achilles/knee) and Jake Waterman (shoulder).
In their absences, gun recruit Liam Baker will step up to lead West Coast for the final two rounds, starting with his 150th career match this Sunday.
“It will be a big occasion for him and really happy for him,” McCarthy said.
“’Bakes’ has been awesome. Being in the backline myself playing with him my first four or five games at half-back with him, and his talk, his leadership, his experience is so valuable for our team.
“It’s no surprise that he’ll get the captaincy this week. He’s really growing himself as a leader and is a guy that we can all trust.”
