The co-captain played every game, and averaged more than 23 possessions, four tackles and three inside-50s per match this season.
But despite finishing in the top-five in this year’s Skilton Medal count, McVeigh did not rate his 2014 season highly compared to previous years.
Speaking to SwansTV, McVeigh, who made no secret of his bitter disappointment following the Grand Final loss to Hawthorn, said he felt he lacked on-field influence this year, and would strive to improve all areas of his game heading into 2015.
It’s been a pretty tough time around the club. How do you feel looking back on the Grand Final?
We’re still obviously very embarrassed in the way the team performed and we let a lot of people down. The unfortunate thing is that there’s no next week to try and get through the pain, so it’s going to sit with us for a long time, but we can’t let it ruin us. We’re still going to be a good team and we’ve still got a lot of good years ahead.
Is it too early to think about what the group has learnt from the experience?
We’ve learnt a lot of things and we’ll watch the game thoroughly and review it and have those hard conversations with each other as to why things happened. Once we get through that we can start looking forward to next year and building a really good group together. We’ve got a lot of young kids coming through and over the next few years we’re going to be a really good team.
There were a lot of positives this year, particularly during the regular season. How did you see the Swans’ performance in those home and away rounds?
I think the way the boys fought back well from a poor start to the year was unbelievable. We went on a run of 12 wins and were playing some really good footy and some exciting footy and the fans were loving that. We finished on top of the ladder, which was fantastic, but the disappointment of the Grand Final is still overriding that at the moment. It’s going to hurt a lot of us for a long time, but we’re not going to let it define who we are.
You mentioned some young talent stepping up. Who have been the players who have really impressed you this year?
Luke Parker is probably the biggest standout. He had an unbelievable year and probably should have been All-Australian. His finals series was fantastic, so hopefully he can go to another level next year and he can keep working on those leadership qualities, which we know he’s got.
Gary Rohan was one who came back and played in defence. He started off the season not in a great way but was able to come back and play a really good block of footy and played his best game against North Melbourne in the prelim, which was great for him.
How about your season? How did you rate it?
I wasn’t too happy with my year this year. I didn’t think I had the influence on games that I would have liked. I think it was pretty consistent, but there were no outstanding games and there may have been a few really bad ones, but it was not too bad. I’ll be looking to have a big year next year and I’ll be putting my best foot forward.
What do you think you need to work on to achieve that?
I think just my ball work and the contested side of my game. I just want to try and improve those areas, so that’s what I’ll try and work on.
We’re into the off-season. What are your plans?
We’re heading to Bali for Benny McGlynn’s wedding with a few of the guys, so that should be good. Then I’ll be off to Hawaii for a few weeks, so it will be nice to relax.
