#9 Dylan Shiel (Part 1)

Shiel’s inclusion, McGrath’s growth and a few others’ specialties forces opposition to be accountable with a sweeper. This to me is the biggest gain we will get especially with the new 6-6-6 rule. We can still breakthrough the sweeper plus have the advantage of going wide with less pressure.
The price of 2 first rounders to be a significantly better team in the now, what was available is worth it.
Rolls-Royce comment I think is more toward the conditioning (morning ice baths, diligence, preparation). And our history of kicking ability, anyone who can spin the footy correctly point over point is looked at with awe.

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But not too still.

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Right. Still beating is the operative term here.

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To me, “Rolls Royce” is about the smooth way some elite players move on the field. Its about grace, fluidity of movement and evasiveness. Its obvious at training, but more likely to be disrupted when playing actual games when opponents come at them.

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McPhee springs to mind.

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I am only speculating that Shiel is not worth 2 first rounders.
He IS a quality player but not a 2 first round type.
Judging by Dodoro’s demeanour after the trade, it presented like he thought the same thing.
Please understand, this observation is not a negative against Shiel and his value to the team.
He adds another dimension to the mix.
He will help Essendon reach finals (and have a chance to prove his critics wrong)
And, he’s heading into his prime so Essendon gets the best of him.
Good times ahead, no doubt.

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I suppose you could also have mentioned we got the second rounder coming back.

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Greek sad they couldn’t shaft someone in a haggle. More news at 7

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He’s a total gun and we needed him. The deal was fair. Adelaide made a massive blue in not getting Gibbs a year earlier. Thankfully we didn’t make the same mistake. Dodoro pushed for the best deal he could get but was right to get the deal done in the end.

In my mind, we paid 1.5 first rounders to get Shiel given we got a second back. It’s what he’s worth.

In my mind, ‘Rolls Royce’ is the most pompus fad term in the AFL right now. A big load of wank.

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It’s a good thing that’s not what the trade was then isn’t it?

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It’s got nothing to do with Shiel. Dodoro has been on the record a heap of times saying how important he thinks it is to keep your future first round picks. Trading a future first rounder doesn’t fit his normal strategy.

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A few mentions of what it cost us draft pick wise but don’t underestimate the great job Dodoro has done in getting all four of Saad, Smith, Stringer and Shiel through the door for below market rate financially.

From all reports we paid under market value which will significantly assist us with retaining players in the future.

Smith is now a midfield gun and I expect we would have got him at a very good HFF price.

Stringer we know was unders due to his off field behavior.

Saad wanted to come home and I expect we would at the very minimum paid market rate but possibly unders?

And Shiel was reported to have been offered far bigger contracts at the other teams.

We are positioned very well to retain our up and coming guns from the 19-22 year old age group.

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never go full ATE

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What Dodoro has done with the list since 2016 is nothing short of incredible. The man deserves a medal.

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He’s most certainly played his part.

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I don’t think you can state that Shiel is not worth 2 first rounders. That’s what we gave up, with a little coming back, so that is what he cost us. Hell Carlton may have been willing to give up 3 first round picks, but they never got that opportunity (Fark Carlton). You can certainly state that Dodoro did not want to give up his future 1st rounder in that trade.

Dodoro killed it in the 2017 trade period. Absolutely, unconditionally killed it. However in 2018 he was merely very good. In the end GWS made a strong move with Shiel when they found the room to keep him in their salary cap. I don’t know if they would have done it, but they did enough to make the threat credible. In the end Dodoro had to decide whether to compromise or not… and he compromised. In my view this has weakened Dodoro for future negotiations as he cannot state that he will never give up a future first round pick. However I strongly agree with his decision to make the move, as it is the right time for us to go all in.

We still got our man. GWS still lost their man, and had to move on other players to make the room in the salary cap in case they decided to keep him.

The results in the next 2 years will tell which side made the correct move. If we give ourselves chances to win it all, then nobody will give two flying farks about what a draft pick we had to give up to get Shiel. And if GWS get in trouble because they lack depth (having moved on players to fit Shiel in the cap), then that draft pick isn’t going to help them one little bit.

I am a big Dodoro fan, but it didn’t completely fall his way in 2018. Not at all his fault. Just the other side playing a stronger hand.

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  1. He is worth it.
  2. If Dodoro didn’t think he was worth it, the trade wouldn’t have gone ahead.

In the end Shiel chose us over 3 other clubs, and knocked back a massive amount money to come to Essendon. He is worth everything he cost us, and more. Dodoro bargained hard and it paid off.

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Fixed.

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People need to stop thinking that a 1st rounder is a guaranteed gun.

Shiel is 100% better than 2 18 year old unknown kids.

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