Adrian Dodoro - Flankers into Mids since 2000 (Part 1)

Any more news @S_K ?

If I was the club, I wouldnā€™t be releasing anything that wasnā€™t ā€œWeā€™re playing finalsā€ related this week.

As frustrating as that probably is for @S_K

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Is it time to part with Dodoro?

Iā€™m not saying we should, or we shouldnā€™t, butā€¦ he has been here the longest. He is the common thread between the late-Sheedy doldrums, the Knights doldrums, the saga doldrums and now the Worsfold doldrums.

As the names and coaches have changed over this 15 year period, the list seems to be full of the same types of players year in and year out. Our first round picks seem to turn into very good, serviceable players, but they never seem to progress beyond that. They always seem to be slightly taller guys of average speed who arenā€™t necessarily good at any one thing but are versatileā€¦ we seem to want guys who can play off a flank or function as a third tall KPP in a pinch, at the expense of other things. And just a fondness for KPPs in the first placeā€¦ our best players of the last several years have been mostly talls and father/son picks.

I donā€™t think Dodoro has been terrible but I do wonder if maybe our draft philosophy is getting stale.

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It would be great if he got a few CLEAR years to do his ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  job. He should be congratulated not ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  condemned. Blame is on the coaches. Take a good look at the coaches box and tell me how much success is there? Itā€™s time Essendon hierarchy start getting tough. The game is changing rapidly and they need modern coaches.

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19 years not enough? His best draft in that time was in the middle of the Saga so its moronic to blame the saga for anything but him finally finding a genuine mid, even if it was luck.

Yes the club hierarchy need to get tough or at least competent - Dodoro needs to go. NO other club keep their list manager this long especially with zero success to rest on.

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Hardly been any better at the trade table either

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He needs to go. Sure heā€™s done some good things, but good isnā€™t going to win you flags. We should be one of the most attractive clubs in the country to go to. Big crowds, great facilities, big games etc. but for some reason or another we arenā€™t attracting any big names. And the buck so tops with Dodoro.

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And please donā€™t reply blaming the saga. Heā€™s was at the club Long before Thant happened.

Time to recruit some more decent left footers. We have Daniher, Merrett, Heppell, Myers, Hocking and Mutch.

I only regard Merrett and Daniher as having a damaging left foot. Myers has a great left foot but gets about 2 touches a match. Heppell is a decent player but his left foot isnā€™t damaging at all.

Hawthorns premiership team were so skillful (unlike ours) thanks to almost half the team being left foot - plus Sam Mitchell who was both.

Our AFL premiership and grand final teams (since 1990) had the following players.

2000 / 2001 - Ramanaskaus, McVeigh, Long, Lloyd, Lucas, Moorecroft

1993 - Oā€™Donnell, Long, Thompson, Denham, Olarenshaw (Kickett & Cransberg)

1990 - Madden, Long, Oā€™Donnell, Thompson, Cransberg, Anderson, Kickett

There comes a time to change the main recruiter, generally happens a fair bit for most clubs. When was the last time we did that?

You could argue that since shifting Dodoro to a list manager role and having Keane in a more senior recruiting role has brought about better results.

To some degree yes.

Iā€™m not totally opposed to replacing Dodoro. Iā€™d need a better argument than we havenā€™t won a final to convince me.

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He had to leave for Collingwood for us to make a change. At least he left us with the 2000 side to get us through a few years before Dodoroā€™s influence. This club aint exactly proactive when it comes to getting the best people in any capacity.

You canā€™t trade if no-one wants to a basket case club

The one that burns us is Ryder IMO. Canā€™t help but think the midfield would be much better with him giving the kids we have silver service as heā€™s done to Port this season. Had a look at Port last year as opposed to this year. The improvement thatā€™s come from their midfield is largely attributed to his dominance. Last year Port were floundering with Lobbe in ruck then when he got hurt, Trengove. They actually starting setting up to lose the taps when Trengove was ā€œruckingā€. It makes such a difference to be able to set up aggressively from the centre, gives your forwards much cleaner opportunities & takes the stress off the defence. We got shafted by Ryder & thatā€™s the one that really hurts us to this day IMO.

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He hasnā€™t given us a list capable of winning a final for longer than any other list manager in the league. Do you have some other form of benchmark or standard that might ever convince you? Maybe even an example from another club where they resisted the temptation to replace a guy who had failed for 19 years but finally after 20,30,40 years of failure the same approach finally worked. FFS even the clubs who have been successful make changes in these key areas. We know, surely we all know by now that the entire club was poorly run & resourced post 2000 - what exactly is there to believe that keeping the key element of the list management from that era is in any way the right decision. Not winning games of football especially finals is the ONLY way we should be judging our list. Unless you somehow believe that weā€™ve had a great list but 5 coaches now couldnā€™t get them to perform anywhere near ability, then you simply have to concede our list hasnā€™t been good enough. Eventually when all the other excuses fail, you might want to attribute some level of responsibility for the list on to the list manager.

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So in other words you donā€™t have a better argument. Ok.

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You have NO argument. The facts are the facts. Youā€™ve avoided addressing the facts through this entire thread but they remain the constant.

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Agreed. Not good enough to get a few good players here and there. Whatā€™s the overall draft strategy over the last decade? Our midfield has been ā– ā– ā– ā–  for that period and still is.