When we had players with currency we had a fire sale and got zip, then when the next group with any currency came along that's all we had so couldn't or wouldnt trade , then those guys stagnated and lost thier currency. then when some got some currency they decided to leave and we got bent over, then we lost draft picks . irrespective of the reasons, it's been a disastrous 15 years at the draft and trade table but it all started with the prince of CEOs Peter Jackson mathematical error and we are yet to recover .Yes.
Slightly concerned about the lack of talk regarding specialised small forward though, that being said it didn't come upAgree. A *fast* small forward.
The great essendon sides had Bewick, Long etc. Speed kills. Now we’re one of the slowest teams in the damn league.
The loonyberger talk baffles me.We’ve just jumped back on the Tbell train so we are assuming he is number 1 ruck.
Surely we can’t carry both in the team.
So if tbell gets going does loony just languish in the twos?
He said that he is looking for a ruckman that can ruck 70 percent of the game. I think they are looking toward using T-bell as a deep fwd who spends 30% of the time in the ruck. Sounds look ruckman are extremely difficult to find. Im not sold on loony either. I think he can no doubt play but he just doesn’t stay on the track enough, plus he is aging.
Question for me was where does that leave smack? I imagined him as 70 percent fwd and belly to do most of the ruckwork. Smack not really good enough to be no 1 ruck man, and I don’t think the club believes T-Bell is either.
Was a very good listen, I thought he was very honest and frank about all questions. He didn’t shy away from the fact that the saga has taken a huge toll on the players, and not only those directly effected. Sounds to me like the obvious list cuts have been made. But we are awaiting for a coach to help make the call on borderline players. I think by the end of next week we will know a lot more about whats going on in this regard.
I really thought he would talk more about drafting some good KPP after loosing Jakey, Fletch and Ryder in the past 2 years. But he seemed to be talking more about ruckman and mids. While I agree we need more good mids, I thought KP fwd, backs, would be more important then rucks as we have smack, tbell, and giles.
His point about the spine made good sense to me, as these are the players that should hold the most value as they are extremely hard to find. All this rot that midfield is most important is incorrect. Hawks kpp players are guns. While the midfield is good it is not the best in the comp and by a long way. KPP are still as valuable as they have ever been. Watching the likes of Josh Kennedy, Taylor Walker, and even Waite confirmed this. Wile Freo’s and Sydneys (due to injury etc) lack of KPP was telling.
Its takes a balanced teem to win a flag not just a gun midfield.
Dodoro - “List is having a refresh and not a rebuild”.
Anyone else find that very disturbing? Is being in denial infectious at Essendon?
Don’t care what its called. But six or seven picks in this draft is a fair turnover.
I agree. I highly rate him. Just twats online bag him out saying how bad our recruiting is because simply off the gumbleton pick and the few crap selection of players previously. Look at the last 6 years he's done pretty solid in my opinion.Agree. Dodoro is very very underrated. Many other clubs would love him as their list manager.Was interesting Dodoro at the last second changed his mind and told them to say Zach Merretts name for pick 26. Just had an instinct he would be great. Very happy nowAdrian actually made that call himself on the night. He actually was supposed to select Lobb who went to GWS but as it came to our selection, he changed his mind and selected Zach.Love that he went with gut instinct in that situation. Draft sanctions, Crameri gone, turmoil, picked the natural footballer. Well done.
Imo there aren’t all that many that flat out bag him but more in the camp, of which i am one, that believe our list management has been average at best and we hang onto average to poor players far too long and have let the most important area of modern footy slip.
He is the list manager and is responsible for that.
What supporters need to start getting their head around is that we have been basically crap for 12+ years and while Disco is not wholly responsible for that, he is a part of it. How many staff have gone in Discos time, yet he is still there.
I am of the opinion that nearly always the team with the best players wins the flag, not the best coach, facilities etc and while all the other stuff plays a part, players win you games and flags. We haven’t had enough good players for a long time, he must take a fair share of the blame for that.
I posted earlier that he is excellent in his dealings with recruits and families and has many many contacts and as others have pointed out is a great Essendon person and a good person in general but i would prefer to see him working more in those areas rather than being the actual list manager/decision maker as he hasn’t been good enough.
Someone said he would be welcome in many other clubs. Well if so where have all the big offers for him to leave over the years been?
The only one i’m aware of is when the Sheedy led GWS asked the question…
Please don’t take this as me bagging him because i’m not but we can do better.
The way I see it is:
FB: Gleeson, Hurley, Baguley
HB: Hibberd, Hooker, Goddard
C: Colyer, Watson, Stanton
HF: - , - , Langford
FF: Laverde, Daniher, -
FOL: Bellchambers, Heppell, Z.Merrett
Bench: Zaharakis, Hocking, Myers, McKernan
To me that is a team in need of a “refresh” rather than a “rebuild” as there is a lot of talent and potential growth in there already.
Players outside of the established 22 however do need to be turned over in my opinion and fresh talent needs to be bought in which is what the club is doing.
We need to find another key forward and a permanent small forward most of all and also another half forward/third tall (Zaharakis could play here but I see him still going through the midfield too regularly) to be a threat and be up there again.
Everyone had a massive down year in 2015 and I think 90% of the list didn’t want to be out there after round 2 which is fair enough as who could really blame them? So I think you will see a dramatic improvement or regaining of form from quite a few players who were noticeably below their usual standards this season.
Adding some high picks (4, 5/11, 22, 24) and potentially luring someone like Bennell (unlikely at this stage) this year and I think we are looking great guns. However I think we will load up on picks this year and head to the draft. Then if we are as into O’Meara as Fogdog says we are, if we land him next off-season, then I think we are looking in pretty good shape.
That is my 2 cents worth anyway.
Dodo Much maligned or mediocre or a bit of both who knows. A Recurring EFC theme! Either way the lack of drafting a midfield jet in this era of midfield jets the last 15 years when virtually every other AFL club has, is a blight on his recruiting record and EFC. Surely he must land one this year.Agree. Dodoro is very very underrated. Many other clubs would love him as their list manager.Was interesting Dodoro at the last second changed his mind and told them to say Zach Merretts name for pick 26. Just had an instinct he would be great. Very happy nowAdrian actually made that call himself on the night. He actually was supposed to select Lobb who went to GWS but as it came to our selection, he changed his mind and selected Zach.Love that he went with gut instinct in that situation. Draft sanctions, Crameri gone, turmoil, picked the natural footballer. Well done.
Heppell? Merrett? Laverde? Did he not draft these guys?
Not 1 Brownlow between them…to me that means ■■■■ recruiting.Let’s see, since 2008 Hawthorn have played in 4 grand finals and will have played in 5 by the end of next weekend, they have currently won 3 of those. How many Brownlow Medalists do they have in their team?
But I’m sure they have 40 guys who all finish top 10 in the b&f every year!
Good point - Hawthorn’s list has 28 failures on it. Even the twelve who get premiership medallions each year but don’t get top 10 in the b&f. How on earth are they successful given that most of their list are failures?
Maybe because their supporters are loyal and not a bunch of whining prats who bag their own players at every opportunity?
Or maybe their supporters do bag their own players at every opportunity, but they’re not given many opportunities.
Yep that explains it. They developed a winning team then a solid culture. Oooookay.
Tough business this recruitin'.
It’s easy, just recruit the good players!
Dodo Much maligned or mediocre or a bit of both who knows. A Recurring EFC theme! Either way the lack of drafting a midfield jet in this era of midfield jets the last 15 years when virtually every other AFL club has, is a blight on his recruiting record and EFC. Surely he must land one this year.Agree. Dodoro is very very underrated. Many other clubs would love him as their list manager.Was interesting Dodoro at the last second changed his mind and told them to say Zach Merretts name for pick 26. Just had an instinct he would be great. Very happy nowAdrian actually made that call himself on the night. He actually was supposed to select Lobb who went to GWS but as it came to our selection, he changed his mind and selected Zach.Love that he went with gut instinct in that situation. Draft sanctions, Crameri gone, turmoil, picked the natural footballer. Well done.
Heppell? Merrett? Laverde? Did he not draft these guys?
Not 1 Brownlow between them…to me that means ■■■■ recruiting.Let’s see, since 2008 Hawthorn have played in 4 grand finals and will have played in 5 by the end of next weekend, they have currently won 3 of those. How many Brownlow Medalists do they have in their team?
But I’m sure they have 40 guys who all finish top 10 in the b&f every year!
Good point - Hawthorn’s list has 28 failures on it. Even the twelve who get premiership medallions each year but don’t get top 10 in the b&f. How on earth are they successful given that most of their list are failures?
Maybe because their supporters are loyal and not a bunch of whining prats who bag their own players at every opportunity?
Or maybe their supporters do bag their own players at every opportunity, but they’re not given many opportunities.
Yep that explains it. They developed a winning team then a solid culture. Oooookay.
So dropping from 46k average attendance in 2008 to 40k in 2009 when they didn’t make the finals was a sign of unwavering support? Supporters have very little to do with success. They show up and cheer when things are going well, and shout abuse (in some form or another) when things are going badly.
The way I see it is:FB: Gleeson, Hurley, Baguley
HB: Hibberd, Hooker, Goddard
C: Colyer, Watson, Stanton
HF: - , - , Langford
FF: Laverde, Daniher, -
FOL: Bellchambers, Heppell, Z.Merrett
Bench: Zaharakis, Hocking, Myers, McKernanTo me that is a team in need of a “refresh” rather than a “rebuild” as there is a lot of talent and potential growth in there already.
Players outside of the established 22 however do need to be turned over in my opinion and fresh talent needs to be bought in which is what the club is doing.
We need to find another key forward and a permanent small forward most of all and also another half forward/third tall (Zaharakis could play here but I see him still going through the midfield too regularly) to be a threat and be up there again.
Everyone had a massive down year in 2015 and I think 90% of the list didn’t want to be out there after round 2 which is fair enough as who could really blame them? So I think you will see a dramatic improvement or regaining of form from quite a few players who were noticeably below their usual standards this season.
Adding some high picks (4, 5/11, 22, 24) and potentially luring someone like Bennell (unlikely at this stage) this year and I think we are looking great guns. However I think we will load up on picks this year and head to the draft. Then if we are as into O’Meara as Fogdog says we are, if we land him next off-season, then I think we are looking in pretty good shape.
That is my 2 cents worth anyway.
Our biggest need of all IMHO is a CHB or CHF. Hooksy is plenty good enough fwd. I recon he is good enough to win AA in the fwd line with another year of development in that position. He is a beast.
He needs to be mature age and be able to play now. Mitch Brown is my pick he can play either position. Though id play him back and Hooksy fwd. In say this If you put fantasia, Edwards, and smack in that fwd line it looks pretty good.
I though that was a givenSlightly concerned about the lack of talk regarding specialised small forward though, that being said it didn't come upAgree. A *fast* small forward.The great essendon sides had Bewick, Long etc. Speed kills. Now we’re one of the slowest teams in the damn league.
One of the slowest?
More sizzle, less sausage.
One of the slowest?
colyer, zacka, edwards, dempsy, fantasia, mc kenna? (long, if he makes it) pretty darn quick
Gleeson, Pig, Jerret, Merret, bags. lav, langford? not super quick but have pace.
I think we are tracking alright in the speed department, but need a bit more silk with it. We need tippa!!
zmerrett is faster than zacka.
zmerrett is faster than zacka.
ok, fair enough ill take your word on that.
Interesting how easily you guys are pleased. Most of you are all thinking of how great he was to call out Zerrett at the last minute. After listening to everything he had to say I will like booking my self in to a mental hospital.
Hear me out:
- He says that they got the spine right first and was really planning on getting the midfield right in the last two drafts.
- We got dealt with draft penalties which really handicapped us.
- So we get a pick in the 20s for Crameri
- But then says it was always going to be ruckman with that pick (WTF - Alarm bells)
- Zerrett is there and he still wants to take the ruckman (OMG)
- Last second he says stuff it and goes for Zerrett (Phew - I need a psychological help now. Great escape).
That is so bizarre. It explains the madness about ‘time to make a move’ comment and choosing Steinberg ahead of Parker.
Sounds like a rogue recruiter who just pulls the trigger randomly. It is Boekhorst like madness. Weren’t everyone saying Merv had the final say?
Sustain success seem to be built on a group of elite midfielders in the last 10 years. Top clubs seem to be bringing in the talls from other clubs (after they are developed) to complete their teams.
Hawthorn - Gibson, Hale, Lake, Frawley, McEVoy and Gunston (Tall enough), (Ceglar, Croad, Spanger)
Sydney - Hall, Jolley, Richards, (Mumford, Buddy, Tippett)
Collingwood - Jolley, Tarrant , L.Brown
Geelong - Ottens (Stanley, McKintosh, Rivers, Clarke)
Tell me of elite midfielders changing clubs to win a premiership.
Luke Ball? Josh Kennedy (Syd)? (though he moved when he wasn’t getting a game)
Not convinced yet? Elite Mids and Mids/small forwards Premiership winning clubs have developed in the last 10-15 years
Geelong - Bartel, Ablett (F/S), Selwood, Corey, Enright, Chapman, Johnson, Kelly , Motlop and Ling
Hawthorn - Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Smith, Breust, Hill, Rioli and Birchall (gets a run)
Sydney - McVeigh, O’Keefe, Goodes, Hannebery, Jack, Parker, Jetta, Malceski, Mitchell (F/S) and Heeney (Acad.)
Going beyond this…
Brisbane - Voss, Black, Lappin, Akermanis, Power, Ashcroft, Hart and McRae (Not mentioning the Scotts)
Essendon draft Elites since 2000 -
Watson (F/S - had his troubles making it)
Stanton (hated by 1/3 of our own supporters)
Heppell (Only big tick)
Zerrett (can get there)
Just horrible indeed.