It is a trait that assistant coach Mark Harvey is pleased to see. “I look for small things and even in the last quarter when the game was over and Brad Johnson got a kick he was filthy. He threw his mouthguard and was just very annoyed by the fact he had let him get a kick,” Harvey said. “That is the way he went about his job all day. Whenever Brad got the ball he was tackling him and throwing him to the ground -–he was really in his face.”
Harvey said the form of McVeigh has been crucial to the team in recent weeks. “He has been very solid all year and done a lot of unsung jobs for the team. And by him doing that he has enabled Mark Johnson to play in the midfield so that point-of-view there have been two sides to his form. He has played well in defence and occasionally in the midfield and has freed up Mark Johnson,” Harvey said.
McVeigh has performed well on some quality players this season. He has done excellent jobs on Western Australian pair Paul Medhurst and Ashley Sampi. He did very well on Lenny Hayes of St Kilda and can now add Brad Johnson to his list of scalps.
“He is very high up in the tackles. He is doing a lot of jobs similar to that of Brett Kirk at Sydney but the media probably haven’t sung his praises as much,” Harvey said. “He has really adapted well to going back into defence when he has basically been a forward all his life. He has coped with it quite well. He is also playing on blokes who like to run away from the contest and he is the sort of player that likes to get in and under so he has had to temper that a little bit.”
McVeigh’s continued good form will be very important if the bombers are to continue their push for a finals’ berth.
