McBean has some good skills but at AFL level he looked to be a bit of a one trick pony. He was getting the 3rd or 4th defender. Yes he's good at ground level, yes he's very agile for his size, but for the most part he was a lead up forward and little else. Did show a bit tho
A tall athletic defender wouldn't have much trouble keeping him quiet. not a skinny defender, think someone in the Jack Hombch/Alex Rance/James Frawley mould. All very good 1v1 and of similar athletic capablities as Bean
I'm not sure Hawthorn would play Frawley on McBean or we would play Rance on a player like McBean. 2 AA players and Hombch is up and coming.
I'd think Hawthorn would play Birchell or Stratton on McBean and I think both guys could be shown up by his height in marking contests and even McBean on a lead.
MeBean IMO is a player who just knows where the ball is going, it's nothing a stat sheet can tell you or nothing you can really put your finger on. He is what people would class as a natural footballer.
I cannot ever see him getting 20 kicks a game but I can see him getting 10 kicks a game and kicking 5 goals. I don't think he will ever put on enough weight to be the number one forward but I can see him playing close to goal and hurting teams with his smarts and his unique size and agility.
The best thing about him is he is a great kick at goal. If you arnt going to get it much you need to make the most of every opportunity.
I think he should model his game on Jack Gunston. McBean isn't as good in the air as Jack but I could see him playing the floating roll in our forward 50. He really needs to get extremely fit to be able to outrun the Birchells or Strattons of the AFL.