Well I must admit I completely missed the Rd10 Rookie draft haha. Carry on
Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce Mark Baguley and Jake Long have extended their contracts with the Bombers for an additional year.
The new deals will see the duo Don the Sash until at least the end of 2019.
Since arriving at the Club in 2012, Baguley has played 124 games in the red and black. The 31-year-old was recruited by Essendon as a mature-age rookie with pick 47 in the 2012 AFL Rookie Draft.
Baguley said he was thrilled to extend his contract with the Bombers.
“I’m extremely excited for next season, we are a young group that are hungry for success,” Baguley said.
“I look forward to another big preseason and seeing what we can achieve as a team in 2019.”
GM List and Recruiting Adrian Dodoro said the versatile utility will continue to play a significant role in the Bombers’ line-up in 2019.
“Mark had a terrific 2018 season, his form as a pressure forward was outstanding,” Dodoro said.
“He added another string to his bow, he has been known as being a defender but went forward this year and made a huge difference to our forward-line pressure.
“We felt that he deserved to be rewarded with another contract and we are thrilled that he will be continuing on next year.”
Jake Long arrived at the Club with pick 47 in the 2015 AFL Rookie Draft. The young wingman, who has played five senior games since making his debut at the end of the 2016 season, will be eyeing off more exposure at a senior level in 2019.
Dodoro said Long has shown promising signs this season in the VFL side and will continue to develop his skills with another pre-season under his belt.
“Jake is a player that the Club has invested a lot of time and development into,” Dodoro said.
“He came to the Club with raw but natural talent and we knew that would take some time to develop. But we’re confident that he has the potential to be a regular player in the senior side next season, so we look forward to seeing what Jake can produce on the training track this pre-season.”
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With Bags and Long signing on for 2019, that’s only Matty Dea (of the senior listed players) who doesn’t have a contract for next season. Given the plethora of half-back types at the club his prospects of staying on would be relatively remote you would think.
PS; Happy that Bags is staying. Re-cast in that FP role he did a great job.
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Really happy he got another year.
Really happy to see Bags given another year. His season post round 9 was VERY good. What he lacks in X Factor he more than makes up with competitive spirit. The moment in the game against Geelong where he beat two opponents and then taps the ball to Walla is a snapshot of what he brought to the forward line.
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Do defensive forwards generally have x factor? Luckily orazio has enough for two.
Love this. Retire with a premiership haha
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I had a stupid grin every time he kicked a goal
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Happy he got another contract. Showed heaps last year.
Re-watched our GWS game last night. He deserves a new contract on that game alone.
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There were a number of times this year where he had far more impact on games than you’d expect from:
- A defensive forward, or
- Mark Baguley
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Fantastic that he has signed on again. One of our best players. We’re lucky to have him.
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People say he doesn’t have x-factor but he still manages to regularly kick multiple goals and I can’t remember him missing many shots on goal.
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I seem to remember him kicking plenty of his goals either early in the game or when the game was on the line. Just a competitor. I recall last year he was always staying back at training with the goal kicking group.
He’s always done that though
I think he plays an important role but also think he really lifts his team mates.
Signing him up again was justified on his form but also what he brings for the morale of the team. Often sparks them up with his attitude and hard work on the field. I think Stringer said as much after the GWS game.
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Hope he finishes with a flag this year!
Classic example of somebody that has given more to the game than has taken from it.
I love him.
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i don’t care for x-factor if he’s a hard ■■■■, tackling machine.
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Some photos popping up on Instagram of Bags getting married.
Congrats Mark.
Great Essendon person.
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I thought there was another injury.
Much better news.
Congrats Bags
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