Not sure about that Craig Vozzo said the club is aiming to play finals this year
Aiming to play finals this year doesnât necessarily mean we arenât aiming for 2030. Aiming for finals just means âwith everything going well, we think we could make finals this yearâ. 2021 was a good example of that, we made finals and it ended up being an anomaly that we put down to Merrett and Parish both having A grade years.
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I think we are lot closer then 2030.
2027 or 2028 could see us contending for a flag if eveything goes to plan
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Itâs going to take 5 years to colonic all Dodoro out of our list.
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2030 is 5 years away
and were likely looking at anyone McGRaths age and Below
I agree with Nino we have 6 x 27 year olds- we likely need to be in prime position when they are 30 and still offer something so like 2028.
Plus add in a few first round draft picks or Harley Reid.
b: McGrath (29) McKay (30) Ridley (29)
hb: Redman (30) Reid (26) (Merrett (32)
c: Duursma (27) Tsatas (23) Durham (26)
hf: Martin(27) Caddy (22) Davey (24)
f: Kako (22) Langford (31) Gresham (30)
R: Draper (29) Caldwell (27) Perkins (26)
int: Parish (30) Bryan (26) Roberts (22)
Didnât we already try this 5 year plan nonsense under Xavier surely the club ainât doing that again?
These 5 year plans that clubs do is a load of wank just win games of football farkin
Planning doesnât guarantee weâll win a flag, but not planning guarantees we wonât Nino.
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yeah I just donât like them all it does is put pressure on the club to deliver
In 2010, Gale publicly stated Richmondâs 10 year plan was to win three Premierships by 2020. We all had a good laugh, and then in 2020 Richmond did just that.
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Sheesh. We must really be far off it.
I donât personally believe they are talking about 2030. In Vossos interview he talks about three year plans so I would expect heâs more thinking we are challenging by 2027 and the window opens at that time and goes till 2030
That was with Xavier and Dodo though. I have slightly more faith in Vozzo and Rosa.
Itâs the Scott piece Iâm concerned byâŚ
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That seems about right
The average age of that team is 27.0. For comparison, the average age of the last 3
premiers was 27.5 years old
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If true, it begs the question why they didnât trade some of our older players. Merrett will be ~35, Langford ~34, Parish, Redman and McKay ~33, Draper, Ridley and McGrath ~32 in 2030.
Why not trade some of them for picks? If weâd got picks in either the 2024 or 2025 drafts the kids would be 23/24 in 2030. And give us better shots at replacing the above players which will be difficult to do with mid-draft firsts and later picks.
I said elsewhere this appears to be an unchanged EFC policy. Just more evidence here for that argument.
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I donât buy it. I could see them internally targeting 2027, but 2030 just seems too far out
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If we have some players step up, it will be time to hit the trade period hard. If they donât step up, itâs time to be patient for another decade.
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Oh it makes sense alrightâŚ
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Iâm going to be pushing 50 if the club thinks 2030 is when they will contend you can suck my â â â â Essendon haha
You will wait till your 50th birthday for a Flag, andâŚ
YOU WILL LIKE IT !
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Hawthorn and Essendon reset their lists the same way. The Hawks just did it better
ByMarc McGowan
March 14, 2025 â 5.00am
Essendon thought Massimo DâAmbrosio was sticking around, on a modest one-year rookie contract.
The mid-season draftee fell out of favour under new Bombers coach Brad Scott in 2023, and did not play a senior match after round 13. But they wanted to retain him, based on the impressive glimpses he had shown.
The problem was Hawthorn liked DâAmbrosio even more.
Hawks star and former Bomber Massimo DâAmbrosio.Credit:Getty Images
They were willing to give him a two-year deal, whereas Essendon handed fellow rookies Jye Menzie and Kaine Baldwin only one each, so were reluctant to give DâAmbrosio double that.
According to an industry source with knowledge of the situation, the Hawksâ interest surprised Essendon, and their list boss Mark McKenzieâs trump card was a little-known AFL rule.
As a second-year rookie, DâAmbrosio had the right to reject another such deal, become an unrestricted free agent and walk to the Hawks. Hawthorn generously agreed to still negotiate with Adrian Dodoro and the Bombers, before giving up pick 61 and a future fourth-rounder.
Ben McKay (pictured right, playing against twin brother Harry) picked Essendon over the Hawks.Credit:AFL Photos
In the same period, North Melbourneâs restricted free agent defender Ben McKay chose to sign with Essendon over the Hawks (as well as Port Adelaide and Sydney).
McKay grew up a Bombers fan, and his prior relationship with Scott, friendship with Jordan Ridley and Andrew McGrath, and Essendonâs hefty, front-ended offer swayed him to Tullamarine. His agent is ex-Bomber Adam Ramanauskas, too.
The 202-centimetre backman also could not reconcile with going from 17th-placed North Melbourne to 16th-ranked Hawthorn, a source familiar with negotiations who wished to remain anonymous told this masthead. Essendon were 11th that year.
Much has changed ahead of tonightâs round one clash between the Hawks and Bombers.
DâAmbrosio played 16 games over two seasons with Hawthornâs arch nemesis, Essendon.Credit:Getty Images
DâAmbrosio, stuck as an emergency at Essendon in the second half of 2023, made the All-Australian squad of 40 last year, while Hawthorn soared from an 0-5 start to win a final in coach Sam Mitchellâs third season in charge since replacing Alastair Clarkson.
That last bit must rankle Bombers fans most, given the club has infamously not saluted in a final since beating Melbourne in 2004.
â[The Hawksâ] second half of the year was outstanding, and theyâve carried that form through to the first game of the season,â Scott said. âSo, yeah, it feels quick, but itâs been a four- or five-year process to get to that point.
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âI still think, and they would say, I assume, that theyâre still developing, and have got to bridge the gap as well to the best. But, yeah, theyâve done a terrific job, and all credit to them.â
Scott and Mitchell have fast-tracked change since being appointed ahead of the 2023 and 2022 seasons, respectively.
If four-time premiership coach Clarkson was guilty of clinging to the past for too long, then Mitchell and McKenzie have been the opposite. Their power move of trading Tom Mitchell and Jaeger OâMeara â both of whom were Clarkson recruits â to go younger in the midfield paid unexpectedly immediate dividends.
They have aggressively sought improvement via free agency and trade, while still prioritising the draft.
Will Day, Josh Weddle and Nick Watson are Hawthornâs major first-round hits, Cam Mackenzie and Josh Ward have had solid starts to their careers, Denver Grainger-Barras was a bust, and Will McCabe is yet to play a game.
What has become obvious is that Essendon have taken a very similar âresetâ approach to their brown-and-gold rivals, in raw numbers but also in philosophy. The Hawks have just done it better to date.
Both clubs have had seven first-round draft selections since 2019 â the Bombers have had five top-10 picks to Hawthornâs four â each has brought in double-digit players via free agency or trade, and they have turned over 50 or more players apiece in delistings and retirements in that time.
Essendon tall forward Nate Caddy looks a future star, as does fellow first-round pick Isaac Kako, who will make his AFL debut tonight.
However, Elijah Tsatas has had to overhaul his kicking technique; Ben Hobbs played fewer AFL games in his third season than his first two; and the jury is out for various reasons on Nik Cox (lack of a position/concussion), Archie Perkins (impact) and Zach Reid (injuries), who were picks eight to 10 in 2020.
Isaac Kako and Nate Caddy were close friends before they became Bombers. Theyâve already shown glimpses of their star potential.Credit:Getty Images
The Bombersâ band of recruits, including McKay, Jade Gresham, Jye Caldwell, Dylan Shiel and Xavier Duursma, donât stack up either with Hawks counterparts DâAmbrosio, Karl Amon, Tom Barrass, Lloyd Meek, Josh Battle, Mabior Chol, Jack Scrimshaw, Jarman Impey, Sam Frost and Jack Ginnivan.
All 10 of those recruits featured in Hawthornâs 20-point victory over the Swans in Sydney last week.
Scott, entering his third campaign at the helm, is bullish that Essendon are finally ready to âlaunchâ after turning over about half of their list in his time at the club and even shipping veteran Jake Stringer to the Giants.
âWeâre not going to sit back and wait for it to happen ⌠the competition continues to trend into being very tight, and so thatâs a challenge, but it presents opportunity as well,â Scott said.
âItâs not like it was decades ago, where it would take a really long time to rebuild a list â and thereâs plenty of evidence of that around the competition of clubs that have been able to do that.
âWe felt that the last two years have been a necessary reset, and now we go forward with real optimism.â