Return of the (James) McGarry

martinb

Nelfoos

That's ridiculously harsh

What part? 
It’s mostly factual. LKH wasn’t trusted at LB the majority of last season, after a promising debut in his first season. He certainly didn’t seem to grow in his game or challenge Sutton for the position he’d previously kept him out of. 

Pretending that a player is ready to take sole responsibility at A league level when they clearly aren’t was a problem, as was underwhelming solutions to gaps in the squad. 

 he wasn't keeping Sutton out as Sutts was injured for the start of 2023/24 season.

imanixsupporter

I'd just like to hear the reasoning from them about if they had any interest in signing him, why or why not, and if they did, why were they not successful in signing him. 

Just because you may want him here dosnt mean the club owe any sort of explanation why they may or may not have wanted him.

Bullion

martinb

Nelfoos

That's ridiculously harsh

What part? 
It’s mostly factual. LKH wasn’t trusted at LB the majority of last season, after a promising debut in his first season. He certainly didn’t seem to grow in his game or challenge Sutton for the position he’d previously kept him out of. 

Pretending that a player is ready to take sole responsibility at A league level when they clearly aren’t was a problem, as was underwhelming solutions to gaps in the squad. 

 he wasn't keeping Sutton out as Sutts was injured for the start of 2023/24 season.

I had memories of him holding his place for a reasonable while even after Sutts was available? 

Roux v McGarry preseason matchup. Roar hosting the Mariners on the Sunshine Coast.

Crowd apparently 7,000!

Proving an A League club maybe possible one day on the Sunny Coast

image.jpeg 2.73 MB

Baze got his selections spot on.

McGarry with some clever work in tight spaces and then scores Roar’s 2nd late on, cutting in off the left and pinging it under the reserve Mariners keeper with his right. He was dangerous all game cutting in like that. Admittedly little to do on defence 

Roux busier overall but pretty slow and poor. One bad giveaway almost leading to a Brisbane goal

Roar up 2-0 when I left at 85 mins with two bored 6 yr olds. Bit of niggle with 2-3 melees sparked. Roar coach Valkanis more than once entering the field of play

Official crowd 6,800 in the sun. That’s double some of the Suncorp crowds last season. Had been raining most of the week so apparently heavy pre sales yesterday when the weather fined up. Might encourge the Roar to bring some actual ALM games, one hour north

Lots of families with an early 1.30pm KO. Is a great sized stadium that will get extra grandstands for the 2032 Olympics and also a new train station. 

Hopefully Sunshine Coast gets a spot in the OFC Pro League as a possible taster to one day an A League bid. Big popn growth catchment

But it might be Sth Melbourne who gets to be Aussies’s entrant, if a Melb hub is planned. They were apparently the only 2 bids, to be the Australian team, and not sure a hub would work on the Coast. Maybe a wider SE QLD hub would work, with a few Fijian, PNG expat communities between Gold Coast-Brisbane-Sunny Coast

Jimmy Mac post goal congrats

https://x.com/brisbaneroar/status/2064142935227294024

https://x.com/brisbaneroar/status/2064142935227294024

https://x.com/WgtnPhoenixFC/status/2064210885346800074

https://x.com/WgtnPhoenixFC/status/2064210885346800074

Fun Fact about McGarry and his Phoenix stints. He has played 40 times for the Nix but only played once in Wellington. His only other ALM appearance in Wellington was for the Roar last season.

That is a bonkers stat. 

What's he like as a player? Predates when I started watching the nix and I shamefully haven't noticed him with the Roar until now

Good going forward, not the best defender. The defence was part of the reason why the Jets were fine with letting him go to CCM.

CCM was able to hide his flaws on defence & that got him his Scottish move.

At the Roar, he wasn't as bad defending & in the signing announcement talks about how he has improved at it.

His father (Michael McGarry) was one of the best players produced by New Zealand IMHO. Never reached the heights he could have, partially though his own choices about what he wanted from his life. Fair play. 
James has, at times, demonstrates a similar level of sublime skill ... but it also occasionally gets him into trouble by trying the wrong things in the wrong places. He should have a positive effect on 'watchability', but risks contributing to classic Phoenix "D'Oh" moments. Overall, a real positive in my view.
Welcome back James.

When he played with the younger group he played as a winger. When he played at CCM Montgomery never had him play a full game iirc, but often played him further forward, as a WB with an attacking role 
to get into the box late or shoot from distance.
He has quite a powerful distance shot. He got 3 goals in 14 games. 

For us Uffie played him as a FB and consensus is he was a bit suspect defensively and behind Sutton. He never got established. 

At Brisbane he seems to have established himself as a FB, in a team with a strong defensive record. 

He’s been good for the AWs recently and also had two spells overseas, in Holland and Scotland, where he also didn’t play a lot of minutes.

Greenie must know him.

Also in the early days of my relationship we had a great road trip to Hamilton, where we got to sit next to one of his aunts and have a chat during a curtain raiser on a rainy day. Was playing winger then.
 Also met Logan Rogerson’s dad and one of Logan’s ex- AW coaches that day. Can’t remember if it was Peverley or Aaron Scott or someone else (my brain’s gone to mush)-but I knew who they were at the time! 

A lot of football knowledge and experience, hopefully for a player who is hitting his straps as a professional and is ready to play a leadership role in a strong all Kiwis backline. 

Could be the making of a good combo. McGarry for 60 mins hopefully to gain a lead and then LKH on for 30 to shore up the defence.

Or vice versa going into a game where you think you'll be defending more start with LKH and bring on McGarry if your chasing a goal.