Can Sam Draper be the next Max Gawn for the new Baby Bombers?
Circumstance has forced Essendon to temper its expectations, but injuries and departures have opened the door for a new order that could be very special.
Kevin Sheedy never just enters a room, he appears from nowhere with all the theatrics of a Broadway veteran.
On Thursday at Carlton’s Parkside cafe, ahead of the Essendon-Blues scratch match, up bobbed Sheedy between two pot plants as an adjoining table discussed the new version of the baby Bombers.
“You have just got to play these kids,” said Sheedy, 29 years after he gave a willing band of youth their chance midway through the 1992 season.
An hour later there was No.8 selection Nik Cox as a preposterously tall wingman, Sam Draper doing a more than passable Max Gawn impression and Archie Perkins sidestepping Sam Docherty with all the swagger of future star.
History charts that Sheedy’s mob would win the flag by 1993, with a blend of audacious young kids and veterans like Tim Watson.
Essendon knows this is no Port Adelaide-style bounce where three first-year draftees help slingshot the club back into finals contention.
No, this is very much a club realising that for all of its intent to challenge with acquired talent (Devon Smith, Dylan Shiel, Jake Stringer), it had no option but to dramatically change tack and go back to the draft.
And in a manner that might see that 6000-day long drought since a winning final extend for some years yet.
Essendon knows it, the fans who watched on Thursday know it, and, as soon as everyone is on the same page, the rest of the supporter base can get on with acknowledging this might be a bottom four-and-building year, rather than a top-four-and-challenging season.
In the off-season, Essendon lost four players who should be in their absolute peak, both in skill and age demographic – Adam Saad, Joe Daniher, Orazio Fantasia and Connor McKenna.
Michael Hurley’s gaunt appearance on Thursday – having lost up to 10kg and still barely able to walk – highlights that any 2021 games will be a bonus from here, given his hip infection.
Cale Hooker has lost up to 6kg and will play forward.
At 32, retirement could have been on the cards, but he dedicated himself to becoming a lighter, more agile player. With his soft-tissue problems he has a real challenge to play regular impactful football, while Dyson Heppell’s foot issues have seen him pensioned off to half back.
It adds up to seven players repurposed, diminished in impact or gone to rival clubs instead of taking the Dons to the promised land.
As assistant coach Blake Caracella inferred on Thursday, this could be a rollercoaster year.
“(Jy) Caldwell played really well. He is a strong-bodied inside mid who will complement (Andy) McGrath and (Zach) Merrett and (Dylan) Shiel and (Kyle) Langford,” Caracella said.
“We have quite a deep midfield and a lot of young kids to fill spots around them.”
That’s the bad news.
Here is the good stuff.
A bottom-four year might hand the Dons the draft capital to put together two exceptional drafts, and the bedrock for the resurgence.
The Dons can’t afford to lose another 25-year-old – this time Zach Merrett – who will take his time considering his free agency options and might still walk.
But if he did, in a year where the Dons finished bottom two, the reward would be a top-three draft pick in a national draft that is finally uncompromised, handing Essendon five top-10 picks in two years.
The Draper comparison isn’t a throwaway line.
The 22-year-old, with eight games under his belt, is capable of, at some stage in his career, being the best ruckman in the game.
He is wild and at times cumbersome, all arms and legs as he charges around the ground.
Like Gawn he throws at himself at every high ball then, moments later, he’s at the bottom of the pack squirting out a handball or booting the footy up field.
Refined, he ain’t.
But he just might be something special for the next decade.
Essendon thinks Nik Cox will start Round 1 on the wing but could develop into a pure mid, while Harry Jones’ first real steps in Bombers’ colours as a marking tall were highly encouraging.
Throw in No.10 pick Zach Reid, Jordan Ridley, Ned Cahill and Nick Hind off half back, a rejuvenated Peter Wright, Caldwell’s emergence as an inside mid and the kids will be all right.
Now it is up to Ben Rutten to sell the message with transparency and insight — as he works behind the scenes to rid this list of selfishness and individualism.
It might not be the preferred path from as recently as early last year, but Essendon knows it is the only way forward.
