Scott McKenna has well and truly earned his spot on the shortlist for the Nottingham Forest Fans' Footballer of the Year award.
The Scottish international is one of four men in contention for the gong - alongside Ryan Yates, Brennan Johnson and Joe Worrall - who were picked out by NottinghamshireLive's Matt Davies. Michael Temple gave the rundown on each player on the latest Garibaldi Red podcast.
His bonafides are clear after being named man of the match in the play-off final and the club's Player of the Season following promotion to the Premier League in the 2021/22 campaign. He played all but one game for the Reds last term, and has so far missed just one this season too.
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Any argument that he may not be up to the standard in the top flight was slapped down by Temple, who says McKenna makes up for his lack of speed by being utterly dependable in duels. And he predicts that there is "more to come" from the centre-back.
"Scott McKenna is good enough for the Premier League. He very rarely loses an aerial battle, very rarely gets caught on the wrong side of his man," he said.
"I know there's a couple of high profile examples of when Forest have been undone by a long, straight pass, but I think McKenna will tune in to that and read the game a bit better than he has.
"He's already ended that habit of giving free kicks away in and around the edge of the box. There's more to come from Scott McKenna but he's a very good player now.
"He's not blessed with pace, but that's not everything. We can put quicker defenders in that team but they won't be as dependable under the high ball. They won't be as dependable when marking physical centre-forwards, so I'm a big fan of Scotty Mac."
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