Filling the shoes of Conrad Starr is no easy feat but Nick McCrohan did a stellar job taking over from his skipper in 2021.
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McCrohan played at No. 8 for most of the year in the absence of Starr and has now been named Pirates' first grade best and fairest player for the 2021 season.
The club held their presentation night on Saturday where McCrohan picked up the first grade award while Jack Shelton was named player's player, Andy Wynne was best forward and Andrew Moodie best back.
Earlier this year, Pirates co-coach Mick Squires said the forward was growing in confidence with each game and that showed with McCrohan's performances which Squires rated very highly.
"He was the best player in the zone this year," Squires said of McCrohan.
"He was just our best player on the field every week.
"He missed a couple games with injury late in the season and came back just before covid hit again. He was far and away our best and we thought we was the best in the zone as well."
Squires said McCrohan had a large array of weapons at his disposal that made him so hard to play against.
"Honestly, I think most other teams know he's good but still underrate him," Squires said.
"He's not the fastest player but he's got a big motor, he's hard to tackle, he gets a lot of metres post contact with guys hanging off him and he's got a really good skillset.
"He can offload, he can pass in general play and has good game awareness."
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Pirates will kick off pre-season in 2022 after the Tamworth Country Music Festival wraps up in late January.
Squires said most players will be doing their own thing to keep fit in the meantime and the late start was deliberate.
"We started pre-season November last year and I feel like it contributed to our injury woes," he said.
"We've just gone back to a traditional season start at the end of January and everyone will be ready to go."
Squires was looking forward to 2022 with Starr to return at No. 8 and McCrohan moving to flanker.
"We've got a fantastic team and will again next year but those two are pretty crucial," Squires said.
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Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
