McGrath enjoyed a breakthrough 2005, playing a full season as a specialist small forward for the first time. And he has spent the summer working on ways to further increase his effectiveness inside the forward 50m.
"Hopefully I can do a bit better than what I did last year, kick a few more goals and get my accuracy up," McGrath explained before the Lions' Wednesday evening training session.
"I think I kicked 35.26 last year, so I'd like to get it up past the 40-mark and become a specialist forward who can kick three or four a week.
"I've been working on my kicking technique, just plenty of practice both at set shots and snaps. But mainly snaps because that's where I'm going to get it - I'm not going to take too many marks.
"My kicking around my body has been off during the pre-season, so tonight I'll probably go out there and do my 10 or 12 and see how I go."
Like so many of the Lions, McGrath is reaping the physical benefits of the Lions' early finish to the last campaign, along with the post-season expedition to the Kokoda Track.
"It's probably the fittest I've ever been. My beep test was the best I've ever done and I've done a full pre-season for probably the first time since I've been here," he said.
"I feel pretty fit and the boys look pretty fit as a group. I was knocked down by tonsillitis for a while there (last month) so I had a two-week setback, but I've been able to get back and kick a few goals and try and kickstart my year off."
The Lions' solid fitness base was shown last Saturday night when they came from three goals down at quarter-time to defeat Collingwood by 17 points in an NAB Challenge match - their last game of the pre-season.
"It was pretty good to get back and have a win and get our starting points back, because we got smashed against Port Adelaide (the week before). To get a win under our belt going into Round 1 should put us in good stead," McGrath said.
"Our run came through in the end. It's been a strong point in the past and probably dropped off last year but the boys finished off the game well and we got our set-ups in the middle and our run right. In the last quarter we got it out (of the middle) and straight to our forwards, which is the easiest way to do it."
McGrath's opponent for the Collingwood game, somewhat unexpectedly, was Magpies skipper and 2003 Brownlow Medallist Nathan Buckley. The 22-year-old South Fremantle product is well known for the defensive pressure he applies in the forward line but had had to be especially on guard opposed to Buckley.
"It was a bit of a surprise and a bit of a learning experience too, just with the way I had to position myself and not let him position me," McGrath said.
"As everyone knows, he's a champion player and can read the play a lot better than I can at this point in time. To get two quick goals on him was a bit of a feather in my cap and just to have him playing on me was great.
"I just had to make sure that I found where he was because he'll probably go down as the best kick in the AFL. If he got the footy, he was going to spot up a free target in the middle and off they'd go. As soon as the ball got turned over I had to make sure I was right on his tail so that he didn't get it."
