McGrath had a successful career in the VFL Under 19s when he won the Morrish Medal in 1988 as the best player in that competition. That same year under coach Denis Pagan, McGrath, along with future adversary, Wayne Carey, would play in North Melbourne’s Under 19s Premiership team.

In 2002, McGrath found it hard to fit into the Geelong senior team as Matthew Scarlett and Tom Harley assumed responsibility for Geelong’s backline. McGrath would captain Geelong’s VFL premiership team against Port Melbourne. He would finish second in the VFL team’s best and fairest award to former senior team mate, David Mensch.

After his retirement from AFL football at the end of the 2002 season, McGrath was one of 21 Geelong players that were in Bali at the time when the 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002. McGrath and his team mates were staying at a hotel only 400 metres away from the Sari Club, the scene of the bombings, and they had spent the entire week partying at the Sari Club, but on the night of the attacks, which was the final night of their trip, they decided to hang out at their hotel instead. McGrath stated afterwards that all the players were OK, but were upset about what had happened, and therefore did not wish to comment on the events that had occurred.