Are we judging Peter Wright unfairly?
I'll preface this, Peter Wright was a real mixed bag in 2024. Played some good footy, and played some really poor footy. He certainly wasn't the player we saw win the Crichton Medal in 2022, nor was he at the level he returned at following shoulder surgery in 2023. But it wasn't all bad either and I have long felt we aren't judging him correctly. Let me expand.
Drafted at Pick 8 in 2014, Peter Wright played 66 games at Gold Coast across 6 seasons, kicking 85 goals, averaging a tick under 1.3 goals per game. He sung the song post match just 13 times in those 66 games, 1.3 goals per game, as a still young player was no easy feat but I think the footy world consensus was he hadn't got the best out of himself at the Suns.
Peter Wright came to Essendon following the 2020 season, having not played a game for the Suns that year, a 4th Round Pick was all it took to secure him, with Essendon needing a replacement for Joe Daniher, it was a solid deal for the Dons.
As of the end of the 2024 season, Peter Wright has played 1 more game than he did at the Suns. Despite a shoulder injury and suspension, as well as his omission last season, he's managed 67 games for Essendon in 4 seasons, averaging just a tick under 1.8 goals a game to take his career average to 1.5 goals a game.
After a solid return in his first season at Essendon in 2021, where he kicked 20 goals in 21 games, he would go on to kick 53 goals in 2022, winning himself the Crichton Medal along the way and become only the second player since Matthew Lloyd in 2008 to kick 50+ goals in a season for Essendon, the other being Joe Daniher in 2017 (Kyle Langford went on to achieve it in 2023).
11 players in the AFL kicked 50+ goals in 2022 (including Finals). That was down to 10 in 2023 and only 6 managed the same in 2024.
It's no mean feat, but it's my view that it also set expectations that we had found our next star key forward and that Peter Wright has become something of a victim of his own standards. Essendon fans wanting their next key forward superstar have by and large set that as a benchmark for Peter Wright instead of what I think he really is, a very capable, reliable 2nd or 3rd Tall Forward who can also help support in the Ruck at a very capable level. Let me expand.
Peter Wright's career goal average is 1.5 per game, as I said earlier. I think that's about where he is. He averaged 1.4 goals per game for Essendon in 2021 and 2024, 1.9 in his return from injury in 2023 and was up at 2.4 in his Best & Fairest winning season in 2022.
Let's look at those two seasons where he average 1.4 goals per game. They're the outliers for a particular reason. His ruck work. He averaged 23.9 ruck contests in 2021 and 16.8 in 2024. This was down at 5.8 in 2022 and 2023 where his goal average was higher, makes sense that if you're spending more time in the ruck, less time forward, you're going to get fewer shots at goal.
Peter Wright is a solid, (mostly) reliable role player. A 2nd/3rd Forward that Rucks and I think we should be assessing his output with that in mind. Unfortunately he's had to carry the burden of leading a forward line and that's not him. It could be Nate Caddy, and that is going to take some time, but it's my view that you don't cast aside or move on solid citizens because they don't become superstars, you hang onto them as you search for superstars.
I liken Peter Wright to Steve Alessio. Steve Alessio wasn't cast aside because he couldn't replace Paul Salmon when he went to Hawthorn, we recruited and developed Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas, Steve Alessio then went on to become a very reliable and consistent forward/ruck, who finished his career averaging more than a goal a game.
Wright averaged just 1.0 Contested Mark per game last season, we want that to be better. He was up at 1.6 in 2021, 1.9 in 2022. Although it is worth noting that 1.0 is more than any Brisbane Ruck or Forward averaged in 2024, and at the Swans, Hayden McLean with 1.1 was the only Ruck or Forward to do better. In our own backyard, Draper and McKay with 1.3 each per game, were the only two to do better.
In the ruck, Peter Wright won 50.6 of his ruck contests last season. Goldstein was next best for Essendon at 45.8%, Draper 41.1% and Bryan 38.8%. That win percentage is the second best of any second/part time ruck in the AFL in 2024, behind just Mason Cox at 51.1%. Peter Wright more than holds his own there.
It would be nice but I don't expect Peter Wright to return to his 2022 form. I think that was one out of the box. If he can give us some more marking prowess, continue to win 50% of his ruck contests and give us 1.5 goals a game over 23 Home & Away games, then we have a 34-35 goal a year contributor and it puts him in in the territory of Naughton, Amiss and McLean when it comes to 2nd Tall Forwards in the AFL. Behind only Harry McKay and he would provide an output that is as good as, if not better than any Key Forward/Ruck.
It will be interesting to see how he's used in 2025.
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