That’s one of the problems in not bringing in many indigenous players for so long. We really don’t have many past players that could step into that role.
Given Essendon’s player development record, recruiting any player who requires longer term development is insane.
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Yes, the secret is to never try.
Poor list decisions?
Really?
How the ■■■■ so?
Because we haven’t found anyone worthy of listing makes it a bad decision???
Get a grip mate. The last cat b’s have been a complete waste of time.
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The thing is though that the club expected this. That’s why he was a long term prospect.
Something doesn’t really add up.
I would love for there to be a review into the indigenous programs and support at the club. I still feel like we are stuck in that old school mentality that we are ‘saviours’ doing indigenous people a favour by drafting them as opposed to genuinely putting in the effort to enable them to reach their maximum potential.
We do everything so tokenistically.
Even knowing he is a long term prospect the club could still have been dissapointed by some aspect of his professionalism or something that made them think he wasnt going to make it and wasnt worth the spot on the list.
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Good point
That list is out of date, Pies signed a CAT B a few months back , I’d be asking the same question of all the other clubs too, obviously North and Port being impoverished shitholes explains why they’d be trying to save a buck but it’s a decent question of the others
North also has the largest list allowance in the league. They don’t need to have cat B rookies
Out of curiosity, genuinely, how many Cat B’s have gone onto long careers at the top level?
I think Jiath from the Hawks is one.
Are you saying rfk didn’t call him the most skillful player he has drafted or just quoting an additional rfk thought on him?
The club focuses too much on football. If it concentrated more on the business side and made a profit, we could invest in Cat B rookies.
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I blame all the supporters that didn’t take advantage of the Bombershop discounts.
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I still wake up in cold sweats regretting not purchasing the DVD of Essendon vs Fremantle, Rd 2 2009 at the discounted price of $33.
I deserve all the blame.
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Do you really think saving money is the reason? If limited resources are part of the reason for his delisting then I would think our coaches limited time being better spent elsewhere is a more likely reason then not want to pay his salary. All that time that might have been wasted on Munkara will now be spent on the rest of the list instead.
He was miles off it.
As evident by fact he’s not even landed at a state level team for 2024
He largely got gifted a list spot being picked up as catB but clearly didn’t show anywhere near enough to be considered ongoing, even if they thought it might click for him in 3-4yrs it’s too long.
Walla had to bust his balls at state league level to eventually get his shot and only after he met minimum fitness expectations. Munkara will need to do the same if wants to make it make into AFL
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Bingo
Join the dots
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Get what your saying speedy but i think some of the confusion is more around the narrative of Munkara’s signing. I remember being at training and talking to the club and the response i got was they were not sure if he would even play this year. They needed to help him settle in Melbourne and grow his body.
So from afar Munkara playing 15 games in VFL was a surprise. Some in the VFL program thought he was definitely improving. He had doubled his avg disposals in 2nd half of year and kicked 10 goals in his last 8 games. Now i get its not ground breaking but you could see he was having more impact as season went on.
So it was a genuine surprise considering the Cat b free hit in some ways and the club preaching emphasis on development with new added staff.
Like i said though club have all the intel on & off the field so they have a right to make the call…for some it just came as a surprise. When Menzie was on our podcast he said that Munkara did things at training he had never seen before. I saw some of it too. His talent was very high. But something is not quite right when comps don’t go after him…as you rightly say. Still I hope he puts his head down and has a crack no matter where he plays.
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There was no doubting the talent
But players can’t get by on that without the work rate, desire & commitment to being an AFL player.
Aaron Francis was touted as most talented player on the list, who did eye opening things at training and on field at times.
Even if his VFL production had improved there would have to be other things they were basing decision on around ie. GPS numbers for distance, repeat sprints, training intensity
I’d assume after a year in a program they weren’t seeing enough progress to justify
Some maturing to be done outside AFL program and would need to prove himself now to return to an AFL list down the track. IF that’s what he really wants, it might be he just enjoys having a kick with his mates and not having the pressures & expectations that come to elite sports
I’d hope he can return and we can see him light up the big stage however.
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