He has the frame to be a centreman. Merrett, Smith and Parish do not. He will also make those three play better.
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I like it
Just 2 or 3 possible changes depending on fitness :
Will Hurley, Hooker and TBC stand up
If not:
Good replacements in Phillips, BTZ to start with
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Langford & Zaka - we’re looking at you
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Does anyone know whether we can still add another player to
our list?
I can’t believe the excitement every where. It is like we picked up Selwood at his prime.
List clogger at best if you asked me. Sacked Bags and brought in this chap. Then pick him in the team and keep a youngster out…only to delist him soon.
Hasn’t played in midfield over 6 years and Dodo is selling him as someone who can play inside mid. We will never change.
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Nope. But many are excited that a deficiency is being addressed. We have long needed a big-bodied, combative enforcer to compliment our fleet of foot smallish mids.
Define list clogger. How about - A player brought in as a rookie to address a pressing need? Doesn’t sound like the best definition of a list clogger to me. You can’t clog a list if you have a 1-year deal and a pre-designated role.
I hope he does keep a youngster out unless that youngster deserves a game ahead of him. If that happens, he can spend some time in the VFL. Let’s not pretend players like Langford, LAV and Begley deserve games in the seniors just because they are young.
He absolutely has. In the VFL where he has killed it! Won a Liston and is in the best just about every game.
15 Likes
I like the pick up and like the drafting of Hibberd too. It has Truck and Caracella written all over it. They have a specific game plan they want to implement and are looking at certain people to fill those roles. I like that we are going after these types as it will hopefully force some of our players to fire up a bit. We have all been crying out for some mongrel and outside of Smith and Ambrose we haven’t had that.
People can say that they wont make our best 22, but who knows. Maybe they have been brought in as depth, maybe because the coaches see them doing the job better than those we already have or maybe it just means our list is ■■■■.
Regardless another premiership player in the club who can drive standards and a winning mentality is better than the “comfortable” group we watched on many occasions last season.
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I guess the chances are pretty high given 8 out of 10 people on the planet just love the Dons
(The other 20% wish they did)
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You mean guys like Langers, Hammy, Begley, Laverde. That shouldn’t be such a hard bridge to cross.
In any other jumper he’s a fringe player/list clogger, but at Essendon he’s exactly what we need. Classic Blitz. I know little about him, but logic tells me you can’t go packing your squad with fringe players from successful clubs and expect to compete with them.
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We need more balance in our midfield with the inside/outside combinations also how we setup our sweeper and defensive mid at ruck contests at ball ups and throw ins
Smith, stringer, parish, Townsend, Hibberd and Clarke all bring something slightly different and having depth in our squad to build around are engine of Merrett, shiel, Mcgrath, Heppell
One of two in the side from Cutler/Guelfi/langford/Gleeson on one wing and potentially Heppell/zaka/ham/fantasia on the other wing and our forward flankers playing as extra mids looking at all times to release Saad, McKenna and Redman to break lines.
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not a big fan of this one. Hoping to be, and happy to be, proven wrong.
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Perfect rotation for Smith in our forward line. List Clogger, give me a spell, from the best team in comp, premiership player, Liston winner and will oust our existing list Cloggers.
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Except he hasn’t played in that best side in the comp in 2 years and the year he won a premiership he played all of ~7-8 senior games. The bloke that deposed him in 2018 has since been delisted by Richmond and yet they still don’t want Townsend enough to play him in the seniors… He is a limited footballer, a 26y/o who’s played ~50 games, the very definition of a list clogger.
3 Likes
Not sure if he will play much but has some tools that we lack.
Seems the three new big bodies all have decent kicks on them. That’s something we need more of
He’s been picked up as a SSP. I expect that type of pick is a depth:needs player. We are not expected to build our side around him but he could give us that extra something that improves a key aspect in our game and makes more competitive. If he can do that then that’s a win.
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No, an SPP pickup is not a list clogger.
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Wasn’t Zac Clarke an SPP?
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How you get them is irrelevant to whether they clog your list on not. He’s spent 8 years on AFL lists for an average of 6 games a year… that is David Myers levels of clogging.
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Bit harsh, he’s been in a great team in the last few years and was young in a very talented young team prior to that.
Tom Mitchell was a list clogger at the Swans until he moved for opportunity and won a Brownlow.
Townsend will win a Brownlow. You just wait and see.
2 Likes