Who should we delist at the end of the season?
For me it goes; Kommer, McKernan, Ashby, Dempsey, Gwilt, Edwards, Hams.
What do you guys think?
With Dempsey now gone I hope they promote McKenna to the senior list.
Some will go, some will stay and others not yet named will also go. You forgot Cooney, Hibberd and probably Pears as well.
Thanks for opening this thread Brad Scott.
Delist/Retire:
Kommer
Ashby
Dempsey
Cooney
Edwards
Pears
Gwilt
Smack (only if we have a back-up ruckman from either another club or state league i.e. Darcy Cameron lined up)
Trade:
Hibberd
Keep Hams. Upgrade Tippa.
Gwilt, Mckernan, Dempsey, Pears, Kommer, Edwards, Ashby, Hibberd and Cooney
Basically if you struggled to get a game this year with all our outs than you’re in trouble, with the exception to the younger boys who aren’t ready yet.
It should be very simple who goes this year
I estimate that we will need to delist eight players assuming Watson comes back and Pears and Hibberd are gone.
One rookie upgtrade. - Tippa (two needed if you want McKenna upgraded.)
Four picks for young players (assuming we get a second rounder for Hibberd.)
Two later picks for Dea and Kelly.
One pick saved for PSD.
I want three upgrades for Tippa, Conor and Jake Long.
We don’t need picks for Dea and/or Kelly, do we? Just list spots.
Keep in mind we are running with 5 normal rookies this year as well. We can gain a senior list spot by reducing the rookie list down to 4.
I want three upgrades for Tippa, Conor and Jake Long.We don’t need picks for Dea and/or Kelly, do we? Just list spots.
Agree.
I want three upgrades for Tippa, Conor and Jake Long.We don’t need picks for Dea and/or Kelly, do we? Just list spots.
Correct, we don’t need to draft them.
For me:
Delist the same 7 that Houli Dooley’ mentions.
Lose Pears.
Trade out Hibberd.
Upgrade Long
Upgrade Connor
Upgrade Tippa.
Sign Dea
Draft 5 kids.
I wouldn’t be averse to upgrading Hams too. Cycle the rookies and draft more. Use it as a breeding ground. In which case we would draft 4. But that’s probably not enough given we’ll have 1, 19, 37 and a pick in the 20s for Hibberd. Pick 55 is probably too valuable to be throwing away but it depends who we like. Again Hams has displayed ability at senior level. It’s that old dilemma… Hams to me is a more valuable prospect on the senior list than a NOB/Luke Davis type. Yes there’s Fantasias but they are once a decade picks in that sort of range. I’d rather take Hams and draft a rookie.
How many list thread BomberBlitz Get?
I think we are likely to keep Smack as insurance. With our interest in Kelly and assuming we take Dea I think we would look at not upgrading Connor. He deserves it but I believe he can stay on the international rookie lust for another year and this would give us greater flexibility.
Why upgrade Long? Give him another year on the rookie list and let him develop, he is still very raw. Tippa is different as he has been in the system a couple years longer so has a bigger body.
I wouldn’t bother with Kelly either, he is a great player but he is 32. We will already have BJ probably off a HBF and with hurls and Hooker and Baguley back in defence I don’t think Kelly will be the right option.
We don’t need picks for Dea and/or Kelly, do we? Just list spots.
Have they changed the rules in the past month or so? I thought their contracts officially ended at the end of the season meaning they would have to go into the draft again?
We don’t need picks for Dea and/or Kelly, do we? Just list spots.
Have they changed the rules in the past month or so? I thought their contracts officially ended at the end of the season meaning they would have to go into the draft again?
Yeah it was on the AFL website during the week. We can just sign them as delisted free agents now.
So I’ll take a stab at it
Delist/Retire/Trade
Cooney
Ashby
Kommer
Hibberd
Pears
Dempsey
Edwards
Gwilt*
Upgrade:
Tippa
F/A:
Dea
Keep Long and Mckenna on the rookie list’s for another year unless we are reducing rookies and adding list places
- I don’t think we need to sign Kelly really but wouldnt be unhappy if we did, if we plan on picking him up I think we probably don’t need Gwilt as depth as we would have an extra defender anyway
So this gives us 7 - 8 out and 2 - 3 in depending on the Kelly & Gwilt scenario but either way it leaves us with 5 list spots to fill
4 in the ND and 1 in PSD
To me that works pretty nicely.
I hope we are looking at Aaron Heppell and Nash Holmes for either late picks or rookie spots
Why upgrade Long? Give him another year on the rookie list and let him develop, he is still very raw. Tippa is different as he has been in the system a couple years longer so has a bigger body.
Agree
I think this is a lot more complex than people are giving it credit. Blitzers with more knowledge of the draft process please feel free to correct me; however, my take - and I’m no expert - on the situation is:
Essendon currently has a Senior List of 39 and Rookie List of 6. Clubs are entitled to 40 on their Senior Lists.
The loss of Hibberd (and probably Pears) has no effect on the Senior List number as we have 10 top ups which will be replaced by 10 victimised.
Rookies can be drafted by other clubs if not elevated by their club, isn’t this how we lost Jenkins? Consequently, do you gamble with not upgrading Long and/or McKenna? This will also mean no picks in the Rookie draft unless Wallis, Gach or Hams let go. Tippa will be upgraded; consequently we have a list of 40.
Decisions: How many draft picks, consensus from Blitz 4 National & 1 PSD. If Kelly & Dea are added to the list this means 7 spaces required. If Long & McKenna upgraded 9 spaces required.
As I understand it, and I’m happy to be overruled on this one, you cannot drop a first year player off your list after one year.
Balancing all of the above will be a huge challenge for Woosha and his team it also means some of dreams/wishes/fantasies of Blitzers will need to become more balanced and realistic. I certainly can’t find 9 spaces on the list as it currently stands.