{"id":346233,"date":"2023-11-13T21:22:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T22:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=346233"},"modified":"2023-11-14T00:02:33","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T00:02:33","slug":"no-6-draft-pick-grieving-after-afl-dream-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=346233","title":{"rendered":"No.6 draft pick 'grieving' after AFL 'dream' ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former top 10 draft pick Fischer McAsey has opened up on his decision to retire from the AFL<\/a> after just three seasons.<\/p>\n

McAsey was drafted out of the Sandringham Dragons, selected by the Adelaide Crows<\/a> with pick No.6 in the 2019 national draft.<\/p>\n

He debuted in the opening round of the 2020 season and played 10 AFL games in his first campaign.<\/p>\n

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However, the promising defender did not feature at the senior level during the 2021 or 2022 seasons before announcing his retirement in January 2023, citing personal reasons.<\/p>\n

\"Fischer<\/p>\n

Speaking to SEN's The Run Home,<\/em> McAsey said that he lost his passion to play and perform at the elite level.<\/p>\n

He admitted that while he was disappointed to have bailed out of the AFL, he stood by his decision to take a step back.<\/p>\n

"[It is] a little bit [disappointing], yeah," McAsey said.<\/p>\n

"I've done a bit of grieving this year of that childhood dream and how it went those three years in the system.<\/p>\n

"It is slightly disappointing in that regard, but at the same time, I don't feel like I would have necessarily done much differently. I was trying a lot of things and it just didn't feel like it was working.<\/p>\n

"It was almost just a gut feeling to step away so I really trusted my gut."<\/p>\n

Required to move from Melbourne to Adelaide to play for the Crows, \ufeffMcAsey acknowledged that with hindsight he was not prepared to move interstate and be independent from his family.<\/p>\n

\"Fischer<\/p>\n

"There was probably some mixed emotions on draft night to be completely honest," he said.<\/p>\n

"You have your family there, my sister was a bit emotional. But at the same time, it was exciting for a new chapter and a new experience to go somewhere new. Definitely mixed emotions.<\/p>\n

"It's a completely different life when you move interstate especially.<\/p>\n

"Looking back on it, I probably wasn't prepared to have that independent adult lifestyle just yet. COVID sort of compounded that a little bit."<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges he endured, the 22-year-old does not regret his time in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

"It's so mixed because I had so many good memories and good times at the Crows," he said.<\/p>\n

"Even playing in the SANFL last year, I really enjoyed that. We had a deep run into the finals and I enjoyed playing there.<\/p>\n

"There was a lot of hardship as well I'd say. I did struggle quite a bit sometimes with the day-to-day and getting into the club. I just wasn't enjoying it fully and that's ultimately what led to my decision.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/p>\n

"But at the same time, I met so many great people and experienced a different part of myself and grew as a person a lot, so definitely mixed [feelings]."<\/p>\n

After departing the Crows, McAsey removed himself from footy completely and didn't play at any level this year.<\/p>\n

"This year I've taken some space to remove myself from it a little bit," he said.<\/p>\n

"I haven't played. I've still watched some footy here and there, but I've just given myself some room, and if that spark comes back then that's great.<\/p>\n

"I think time will tell, but definitely I don't have that same full spark I did when I was younger."<\/p>\n

While \ufeffMcAsey is not entertaining a return to the AFL anytime soon, he believes he will play football at some level in 2024.<\/p>\n

"It remains to be seen [whether I'll ever return to the AFL]," he said.<\/p>\n

"At the moment I don't have those aspirations in my current frame of mind.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cu8_JpnRy7d\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

"But I'm still 22, so I've still got a lot of time in front of me. If I do play footy next year, which I think I probably will, then that spark could return and those motivations could come back.<\/p>\n

"At the moment I'm focusing on some other things."<\/p>\n

McAsey was placed on Adelaide's inactive list for the 2023 season. His contract was due to expire at the end of next season.<\/p>\n

There were trade whispers that McAsey would request a move back home to Victoria, and he was linked to a move to Carlton late in 2022 but nothing eventuated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former top 10 draft pick Fischer McAsey has opened up on his decision to retire from the AFL after just three seasons. McAsey was drafted […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346233"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346245,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346233\/revisions\/346245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/346237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}