What sort of impact will Ben McKay have on Essendon in 2024?
The 25-year-old made his way to The Hangar from North Melbourne in the trade period and the acquisition has provided the Bombers with a much more sturdy defence, on paper at least.
The club had been crying out for an experienced and big-bodied key defender and they got their wish in the form of McKay.
But how will the 202-centimetre backman help Brad Scott’s team?
David King believes his presence as a one on one defender will allow Jordan Ridley to rediscover his 2020 best and fairest form.
King feels that McKay’s focus on the opposition’s key tall should provide Ridley with the opportunity to flourish in his intercepting role.
“Everyone has talked about getting Ben McKay into the lineup,” King said on SEN Afternoons.
“Now, he’s a very good AFL player, I’m not hear to talk him down at all, but in my opinion his best as a defender is back-shoulder defence.
“He’s not a guy who stands like James Sicily, Alex Rance or Matty Scarlett-like, 10 or 15 metres in front. He needs others to be that intercepting player.
“This is where I think they can make Jordan Ridley great again. How they make Ridley great again is the big challenge for me.
“In the 2020 and 2021 season, he was in the top 15 in the league for intercepts, he was top half dozen for contested intercept marks. They’re the ones, that’s what they need, him folding back on the other big bodies.
“It’s a big challenge to whether the Bombers can make that happen.”
Ridley was absolutely superb in taking out the Crichton Medal in 2020 before finishing fourth in 2021 and fifth in each of the next two seasons.
While his form has been solid, King is hoping he can return to the top stratosphere of intercept defenders now McKay has arrived.
Another element to the defensive setup is the development of Zach Reid.
Also standing at 202cm, the 21-year-old has managed just eight AFL games since being taken with Pick 10 in the 2020 draft, alongside Nik Cox (Pick 8) and Archie Perkins (Pick 9).
Reid’s 2023 season was derailed by a hamstring injury and subsequent surgery but if he can regain fitness and force his way into the senior side, it could bode very well for the Dons.
“I think everyone is itching to see Zach Reid at his best,” King added.
“It just makes a difference with those guys that are 200cm. He’s a monster, he’s just an instant fix for you at centre half-back.
“You need a couple of them these days. When you look at the power forwards in the competition, you come up against Carlton or Brisbane, they’ve got guys that are north of 200(cm) everywhere.
“Reid’s a big investment. He was Pick 10.
“That draft of Cox, Perkins and Reid, the importance of that and how critical they are to the surge forward back into the finals and winning finals.”
Essendon impressed in the first half of 2023 in Scott’s first season at the helm before fading to finish 11th.
They added McKay as well as Todd Goldstein, Jade Gresham and Xavier Duursma to bolster the list ahead of the 2024 season.
