Cawdwel stays for mine. The team is better when he plays. He actually bothers to defend …properly… not just going through the montions half looking like defending like others.
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25 in Feb, I’m expecting a Brodie level breakout.
Guess it depends how you define likely.
He’s top 25 or 26 ish for mine.
And given how many of our list are very very young, he’s going to get opportunities. If he’s good enough, he’ll hold them.
Play every game and not crack top 10 in the B&F?
27 Disposals and 5 Tackles a game, yea I would take that.
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Honestly I was legit surprised Brodie didn’t make the top 10 given what I’d heard and the stats I’d seen. I don’t think I watched any Freo games until the finals. What was the knock?
He must have been close to the top 10. I dont think there was anything he did wrong, maybe just others were good too or they might be rewarding leadership/organisation etc that isnt reflected in stats/visible to fans.
B & F Voting can work in mysterious ways, look at Redman for us
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I agree. However if Caldwell is pushed out of the side for team balance, it will mean we have no injuries. It will also mean we now have our best midfield since at least 2000. I honestly think Caldwell will play every game next year, unless injured.
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Caldwell did one thing that pleased me last season and that is he played every game. His injury history with his hammies was a worry but we got a full season out of him. Now he needs to take his game to another level.
As for Setters, if he ends up being anything more than a solid foot soldier who is in the bottom 4-5 of our best 22 then I’ll be thrilled. If he can bring some two-way running, defensive pressure and be a battering ram in the middle, maybe play some run-with roles Heath Hocking style, then you’ve got a very worthwhile player.
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He missed 2 games.
Setter field will be more than a foot soldier, will be Shredding up the opposition midfields.
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Setterfield will surpass James Hird as the best player to have graced this club. He will also probably only play 20 games before being delisted. He might even kick more goals than Jay Neagle if he is lucky. He will coach the team to a premiership.
Cool story bro.
I will be proven correct, just you wait.
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Could end up owning a suburb running that number
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Why even bother to write up that crap ?
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Because work is boring and it’s fun seeing you get your knickers in a twist.
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Found an archived version…
Will Setterfield on trade from Carlton to Essendon and Adrian Dodoro …
6–7 minutes
Adrian Dodoro never took his eyes off Will Setterfield. The Bombers have finally landed the big-bodied midfielder after some twists and turns, writes DANIEL CHERNY.
When you are a three-club AFL player before the age of 25, it’s probably not that shocking that there have been at least a couple of sliding doors moments along the way.
Carlton and Collingwood’s round 23 epic clearly had major ramifications for both the Blues and the Magpies, with the Pies’ last-quarter comeback booking them a top four spot and heartbreakingly bumping their arch rivals out of the top eight, where they had been all season.
But indirectly there might have been repercussions for Essendon too.
Having been in and out of Carlton’s side for most of his four years at the club, Will Setterfield had strung together five matches in a row. He’d taken on a greater midfield role in the absence of Matthew Kennedy and George Hewett, finishing the season with 26 disposals against Melbourne and 24 against the Pies.
Had the Blues won either of those games and secured their finals spot, Setterfield would have had further opportunity to press his case and become a key figure.
Setterfield strung five matches in a row at Carlton in 2022. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
However the one-point loss meant Carlton’s season was over, albeit Setterfield kept going in the VFL finals, including a 40-disposal and two goal showing against Collingwood’s reserves.
He was still out-of-contract though, and the Blues wouldn’t yet commit to him, especially as Paddy Dow’s future hung in the balance. Setterfield wasn’t prepared to hold out until the end of the trade period to find out if he had a future at Carlton.
Enter Adrian Dodoro. The veteran Bombers list boss and threatened to bid on Setterfield at pick No.1 in 2016, the year he was eventually taken as an academy player by Greater Western Sydney at pick No.5.
In 2018, Dodoro had again been on the case when Setterfield – having played just two senior matches at the Giants following a knee reconstruction – weighed up whether to join the Blues or Bombers. It had been a close call, but Carlton won the day.
Dodoro wasn’t going to miss the boat again. He offered a two-year deal to Setterfield, who gladly accepted, traded alongside pick 68 for a future fourth-rounder. In effect, for nothing.
Finally a Bomber, Setterfield agrees that things could well have turned out differently had he ended up playing in the AFL finals with the Blues.
“It was a crazy game. It was obviously just shattering, but I’m not looking too much back now,” Setterfield says.
“It probably is a sliding doors moment. If we did make finals and I kept playing in the team you never know what would have happened. I guess that’s just a big ‘if’ and I’m happy with the way things have panned out.”
Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro has had his eye on Setterfield for a long time. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
The biggest selling point for Setterfield was the chance to get a clear run at playing regularly as an inside midfielder in the AFL. At Carlton such opportunities came only sparingly, with Setterfield needing to contend with Patrick Cripps, Hewett, Adam Cerra, Sam Walsh and Kennedy among others. He finished with 55 senior games at Carlton, often shunted to a wing or a flank.
The Dons have been crying out for a big-bodied inside midfielder for years, and at 192 centimetres, Setterfield fits the bill.
“I always wanted to play as an inside mid, and Essendon provided a really good opportunity for me. I spoke to [new coach] Brad Scott, just kind of weighed it up with family and management and came to the decision to take the opportunity,” Setterfield adds.
“I probably didn’t get as much opportunity in the last few years as I would have liked. I still feel like I could be flexible. I played a lot of wing, so I’m not just locked down to playing inside mid.
“But getting more exposure to that was something I was keen on doing.
“I’m really excited about that and just excited to try to cement my spot in the team and just compete every week.”
Setterfield had been in the US with a group of Carlton teammates during the trade period. The trade going through made for a big night of sporting action it turned out.
Setterfield, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Ben Hobbs and Andrew McGrath during a wrestling drill at Bombers training. Picture: Michael Klein
“I was in LA. I’d just been at an NFL game. So I just came out of that and my phone was blowing up. It had all gone through. It was the Rams versus Dallas.
“It was hard from the sense that I had a lot of good relationships at the Blues. I had a lot of strong friendships there, but at the same time I’m keen to build up my career and I was just looking for a real positive opportunity.”
There were already a couple of familiar faces at Essendon, with Setterfield playing alongside Dylan Shiel at the Giants, and with Andy McGrath as a junior.
And in a professional sense he is fitting in well too, keen to build a strong midfield group.
“It’s been good. I’ve loved working with Zachy Merrett and [Darcy] Parish, [Dyson] Heppell, those kind of boys, it’s been really good to get to work with them.”
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