In our wisdom, obviously super thrilled with his level of availability, we handed Guelfi a two year extension last year. So barring a trade (unlikely he’d have interest) or a payout, he’ll be on the list next year.
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He’s the steak Knives in the Harley Reid deal.
So we can expect a contract extension announcement soon - probably as a good news story after a loss!
To celebrate, 35% off at the Bomber Shop. One Day only!
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Well, we were entering the premiership window in 2012/2013. But this little thing called the saga derailed that.
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Who?
He was in the VFL huddle on Friday.
Can confirm he is still alive.
Not sure if his calf is attached though.
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It perfectly encapsulates the essendon story about what we have valued and what we haven’t.
It’s the on field equivalent of ‘we are Essendon and we’re too big and (historically) successful to learn anything from any other clubs’
2012 round 13
4th for points for
3rd for points against
2013 round 17
3rd for points for
4th for points against
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Thanks AFL
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I’m not sure what that is saying. Obviously the points against isn’t great, but if the differential is large enough who cares?
No this is least points against. So were going quite well
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LOL, I did say I didn’t understand what it was saying! 
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If you look at the premiership winners of the last ten years, they seem to have many players with either or both head bands or tattoos. Collingwood is stacked with both. We currently have zero.
Redman has gone backwards since cutting his long hair.
Maybe we need more alpha personality…
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So are we actually gonna start making the right calls with first round picks or what? There’s only so many of these you can afford to burn and still expect to assemble a squad with enough top end ability/output to seriously contend for the pointy end in September.
The last 10 years on the whole have been a fkg disaster in terms of either outright picking the wrong blokes or picking guys that look ok but get constantly injured.
Let’s hope the Caddy draft onwards signals a step in the right direction.
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It doesn’t make for great reading when you see what we have used our first round picks on.
From 2014 to 2022, we had 13 first round picks. Only 6 of them are currently playing regular afl games for us at the moment - Langford, McGrath, Perkins, Reid, Shiel and Hobbs. Parish frustratingly injured.
Which is the point of having multiple top end picks across multiple years.
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We’ve either; not had access to the top players in the draft, because of mid table finishes.
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Refused to move players on (either via trade or Free agency) to get multiple picks.
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Or just picked terribly without any plan, because Dodoro just wants the player he likes.
If you compare us with (say) Geelong……. They usually pick according to need. Which means that their players have a genuine development path. They’ll start as a role player, then eventually move into an elite status after 100 games.
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We have all our first round picks
We have a first round pick from Melbourne
We have room in our salary cap
There are two potential first round NGA picks linked to us next year
I think we are in a pretty good spot to improve
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Shiel should count for two, so 7. Parish and Cox been injured. Tsatas started in the best 22 until he broke his hand.
Lav (who injuries significantly restricted) and Francis both still on lists.
Given the hit rate of firsts, that seems pretty reasonable. Only Smith not still playing football out of 13.
The fact that Shiel cost two first is my point! We had 13 first rounders and they’ve netted us 6/7 current best 22 players. Francis wouldn’t be in our best 22 if he was on our list anyway.
Busts happen though, and that’s the importance of hitting the pointy end of the draft multiple years. I believe around 1 in 5 top 5 picks don’t play 100 games.
I think looking back, the real stinker is the Shiel decision. Was never worth two firsts, those firsts were in strong drafts, and he wasn’t a good fit for our list.
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