I’m not sure Caldwell is really all that different to that description. He looks like the sort of guy who will grow into the ‘big body’ we need in due course, but he’s not there yet.
Not sure he’s exactly an elite kick, either.
Edit: I don’t mean to be bagging him, or anything like that. I just see him as one small step above being a brand new draftee. Lots to be excited about, but it won’t happen straight away.
why do you hate caldwell so much?
I see where you’re coming from, I just reckon they will pump games into him.
Yeah, I mean if he’s up to it… Let’s hope so. What else have we got to do?
I just feel it’s a stretch that this guy walks into our midfield. Massive, massive bonus if he does.
I’m stoked we got him but temper expectations, the guy has hardly played and hasn’t exactly set the world on fire when he has. You’re underrating our current mob if you think he will walk into the midfield
I rate the Essendon midfield.
And its only going to better next year when Draper adds some polish to his game and Jye is a rotation.
I rate Draper.
Yeah, that’s all I got.
I think its indicative of the cupboard being pretty bare. We havent taken any top kids since McGrath and Ridley. We’d normally be arguing about which 1-3 year players will break out next year. For us it’s um… Jones?. So Caldwell becomes the great white hope rather than the fringe guy from another club.
Will be rectified soon with 3 new top ten kids.
I don’t particularly like Heppell on a back flank either, but I’m worried his pace more than his kicking.
But I think if Hepp is essentially the 7th defender and he’s free to use his reading of the play to intercept then that would be ideal
Parish’s output hasn’t been very good so far. It’s not a huge step to go past him
The ghost of David Myers is holding him back
you’ve always been a critic of parish mate, it’d be a miracle if caldwell just suddenly turned into a mid 20s midfielder next year. the back half of last year when parish was playing on ball he was racking up mid to high 20 touch games. I doubt caldwell is going past that
I think he could and I expect he will. It’s no slight on Parish but you’d be planning to play him in a role Parish has only played for quarters here and there.
We will spread the load next year.
Heppell will start half back while he gets some continuity
Merrett mostly on the wing.
Caldwell/Parish likely to spend equal time up forward
hb: %Heppell
c: *Langford #Parish ^Merrett
r: Draper ^Shiel %McGrath
hf: *Zaharakis
f: #Caldwell
Heppell swap with McGrath defender/mid
Langford swap wth Zaharakis
Shiel to bench Merrett in SHiels spot, with Ham or Smith to the Wing
Parish and Caldwell split time between inside mid and forward
A
c: Langford Parish Merrett
r: Draper Shiel McGrath
B
c: Zaharakis Caldwell Smith
r; Draper Merrett Heppell
Sounds good HD but don’t think Smith has the necessary run in his legs any more to be a winger
Walsh & Smith would. Rozee would play, but not midfield.
Has he won the Brownlow yet?
If not, he’s a failure.
Does anyone know where Merrett prefers to play? As in what position, not what club.
In the era of players packing up and leaving if they’re not played in the way they want for long enough it will be interesting to see how Merrett is used next season.
I’ve seen plenty of people on here say we should play him more on a wing for instance.
Does Merrett see himself as a centre square on-baller or a wing?
Caldwell will be starting 22 as a mid.
I think people are underestimating the midfield depth required these days - it’s not just a centre & 2 onballers.
Injuries- there was one game last year where all of Heppell, Shiel McGrath Merrett & Parish played.
Even if you assume Heppell isn’t crippled by injuries, there were 6 out of 17 games where we were missing 1 of the other 4.
Rotations - during games how often were Walla Stringer Clarke Langford Smith even Guelfi sighted at centre bounces? Caldwell as an inside mid mitigates that.
Positional shuffles - this will happen. Exactly how & who I’ll wait & see, but I’ll put money on our 6 mids, including Caldwell, lining up differently in 2021.
All in all in practice there’s a starting spot for Caldwell with mid time involved
He seems like a similar role to Parish - good around the clearance, and that’s about all. Different styles of going about it.
He seems like he can play, but I don’t really know if he’ll be an immediate asset to the 22 on a flank/wing/rotation. When he’s up to being a main clearance player, we’ll see his best.
Some people come on quickly, some take more time (and development / coaching…etc plays a major role in addition to mental maturity/professionalism etc)
You’re right in the fact that he would play a similar role to parish (who has taken a similar slow burn trajectory) and I also feel a lot of people on this forum rate him harshly…feel he is probably one of the best handballers in the comp - with one more year of development/ pre-season - he should be ready to take the next step in 2021.
As for Jye - let him take his time, we don’t need to put unnecessary expectations on him next year especially given the fact that we definitely wont be contending and with the aim to bed the game plan/ pump more games into (a few new kids from this draft) + settling the culture overall.
Our best off-field recruit this year seems to be Brasher - good shot in the arm given the focus and direction he’s brought till date…can only lead to good things in time.
Still lots of battles to be fought and won before we can aim to win the war…you would think it should be a 5-6 year plan to try and win at least 1 (ideally more flags)