Ashley McGrath

Ashley McGrath

Ashley McGrath at a Brisbane Lions public training session
in 2008.
Personal information
Full nameAshley Vernon McGrath
Nickname(s)Boonj
Date of birth20 May 1983
Place of birthNortham, Western Australia, Australia
Original teamSouth Fremantle (WAFL)
Draft#13, 2000 National Draft, Brisbane Lions
Height/Weight183cm / 82kg
Position(s)Forward
Playing career1
YearsClubGames (Goals)
2001–2014Brisbane Lions214 (170)
Representative team honours
YearsTeamGames (Goals)
2009Indigenous All-Stars1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to end of Round 22, 2014 season.
Career highlights

Ashley Vernon McGrath (born 20 May 1983) is a retired indigenous Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

Selected in the 2000 AFL Draft with the thirteenth pick overall, the Brisbane Lions recruited the talented forward, where he made his AFL debut late in 2001. He continued to establish himself in the side and by 2003, was a regular member, being part of the Lions' third straight AFL premiership.

In 2005 he found more opportunities up forward with the retirement of other forwards Craig McRae and Alastair Lynch.

McGrath has two brothers who also played in the AFL, Toby and Cory.

During periods of the 2008 season, McGrath was trialed as a rebounding half back flanker with varying degrees of success.

McGrath's 2009 season was of two halves. His first half of the season was smeared with poor performances and ineffective disposals. But after the mid-season break, McGrath had a career-best game where he had 30 disposals against Geelong in Round 15. He then went on to play the remainder of the season averaging more than 20 disposals a game.

Ashley McGrath in 2009

McGrath is also a cousin with former AFL player Dion Woods.

In Round 13, of the 2013 AFL season, Ashley scored a goal after the siren to win the Lions the game against Geelong, 15.13 (103) to 14.14. (98) in his 200th AFL game, becoming only the 36th AFL player to do so.

McGrath was selected as the Australia international rules football team's goalkeeper for the 2013 International Rules Series in Ireland. Australia lost the series 2-0, with a 173-72 aggregate score. McGrath was the only Brisbane Lions player selected for the team.

McGrath announced his retirement on 21 August 2014; he retired as the last remaining player from any of the Brisbane Lions' triple premiership-winning sides.[1]

Statistics

[2]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team # Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
2001 Brisbane Lions 9 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0
2002 Brisbane Lions 9 9 0 0 41 12 53 17 18 0.0 0.0 4.6 1.3 5.9 1.9 2.0
2003 Brisbane Lions 9 22 13 9 150 51 201 62 39 0.6 0.4 6.8 2.3 9.1 2.8 1.8
2004 Brisbane Lions 9 19 12 14 130 50 180 50 46 0.6 0.7 6.8 2.6 9.5 2.6 2.4
2005 Brisbane Lions 9 21 35 15 123 58 181 43 48 1.7 0.7 5.9 2.8 8.6 2.0 2.3
2006 Brisbane Lions 9 11 14 9 64 27 91 23 24 1.3 0.8 5.8 2.5 8.3 2.1 2.2
2007 Brisbane Lions 9 15 22 17 83 41 124 36 23 1.5 1.1 5.5 2.7 8.3 2.4 1.5
2008 Brisbane Lions 9 15 3 6 104 78 182 45 35 0.2 0.4 6.9 5.2 12.1 3.0 2.3
2009 Brisbane Lions 9 24 7 5 255 148 403 140 53 0.3 0.2 10.6 6.2 16.8 5.8 2.2
2010 Brisbane Lions 9 18 3 4 192 111 303 86 52 0.2 0.2 10.7 6.2 16.8 4.8 2.9
2011 Brisbane Lions 9 21 26 12 188 91 279 69 75 1.2 0.6 9.0 4.3 13.3 3.3 3.6
2012 Brisbane Lions 9 12 11 8 113 69 182 49 32 0.9 0.7 9.4 5.8 15.2 4.1 2.7
2013 Brisbane Lions 9 20 19 11 129 65 194 44 45 1.0 0.6 6.5 3.3 9.7 2.2 2.3
2014 Brisbane Lions 9 5 4 5 21 9 30 10 10 0.8 1.0 4.2 1.8 6.0 2.0 2.0
Career 213 169 115 1594 810 2404 674 500 0.8 0.5 7.5 3.8 11.3 3.2 2.3

References

  1. ↑ Brisbane Lions' Ash McGrath Retiring From AFL, Triple M Melbourne, 21 August 2014
  2. ↑ Ashley McGrath's player profile at AFL Tables

External links