I say we go straight down the guts.
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Edited for accuracy
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I think if there is one thing we could add to the list right now it would an absolute blitzkrieg midfield runner with pace and an elite engine who works both ways. Scully, Brad hill, Isaac Smith. Someone in that mold.
It would be the icing on our midfield cake - poise, creativity, strength, pace, stamina
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Raz could play that role to perfection.
The argument is that it weakens the forward line. I reckon he still kicks bags from the midfield and with goal assists might even out.
See thatās my argument for why we should draft a couple more small forwards (well one of, that and depth). See if we canāt get lucky and find another diamond in the rough which would allow Fantasia to spend more time in the midfield.
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No doubt guys like Smith and hopefully Zerrett and McGrath will spend more time resting forward this season. But I think theyāll still be predominantly midfield. Essentially weāve got Fanta, Tippa and Bags as small forwards.
Long should be delisted. The only other option on the list is Colyer and heās not a small forward.
Weāre also short for outside mid depth.
Essentially Green, Merrett and Long need to be replaced by new young guys who can play forward or wing. If Bags is delisted, we need one more.
McKenna and McGrath could both develop into that kind of player, but you can never have too many elite runners
I just donāt see McKenna the midfielder on the horizon. McGrath I can certainly see in the middle but not really as an an elite outside player. I think heās too good in close and his kicking isnāt a huge asset
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Both good points, McKenna certainly is a weapon of the HB and Iād be reluctant to move him from there.
I feel weāve barely scratched the surface on McGrathās potential, I hope he spends some time forward this year and develops his forward craft some more.
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With Shiel I donāt think we can afford another āstarā and sustain.
We have close to the right mix and probably needs mature depth to drop off for youth.
Start by moving on a Dea or Hartley for Fletcher jnr. We have depth in Brown, Ambrose and Zerk if Hurley or Hooker go down.
We may have too much backline depth and Baguely on has a year max so we need 2 additional forwards, most likely small/medium.
Midfield is all good but need Luey replacement this or next trade.
Whaaaa?
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Very interesting exercise this one, which many of you nerds have probably done at some time or another.
Print off the Essendon team list from this year (Footywire).
Cross off the 3 Delistings.
Add in Dylan Shiel and 2 other Draftees.
Then go down the page and write down what you believe each player is being paid next year.
FYI, next yearās Salary Cap is 12.7mil, and up to 105% of that can be paid dependant on previous years (refer to SplitRoundās thread for further info).
Once completed, as I began to tally up the figures, I knew Iād be well over.
I used a flat amount of 100k for Rookies and 1st/2nd year players, which may be a fraction over.
My total came to 14.5 mil 
Assuming we can go the full 105%, the max figure is just under 13.4 mil.
Obviously, Iāve over stated some of the players wages !
Fairly sure rookies are closer to 50/60K
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Whilst itās a fun exercise to run, it really doesnāt mean much at all.
There are too many variables that we donāt know about.
We are not privy to players salary, whether a contract is front loaded, match payments, bonuses and whether contracts are ārestructuredā so that new signings can be made.
Also, the contract figure stated in the media is usually over exaggerated.
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We definitely need another small forward or two.
We struggled at times this year to fill that position when Raz was injured.
Green and Jerrett who were our back up small forwards have been delisted.
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Itās not an interesting exercise at all and Iām sure most havenāt done it.
There are too many complexities built into player wages that we simply know nothing about, so itās a completely pointless exercise.
On a side note, where did you get the $12.7m from as the salary cap? I heard the other day on trade radio (I think it might have been Barrett but not sure) they said the average salary for main list players will be about $400k from next year. I thought that didnāt sound right. If the $12.7m is right, then itās not far over $300k so typically whoever that was, was wrong.
SplitRoundās thread states that the Salary Cap for 2019 is $12,758,095.
It was an interesting exercise for me as it confirms that people have a tendency to overstate player salaries.
Clearly, I did that myself, and by a fair margin !
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Fact is very few players have a guaranteed figure. For all bar the top few on your list it is a base figure, which grows according to games played, personal kpiās, b&f finishes, etc etc etc. Itās almost impossible to work out what most of them get. The only way for sure to know the contract figure is to be told by the people involved. That will give you the base figure. And even then, outside of that top handful, you still have no idea of the actual earnings of most of the list.
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Absolutely, itās a guess, which is what I did, and the total came to 14.5m.
Iām striking OFF List Manager as a future career option.
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I like to simply rate the list 1-44 on how important they are for the next year. (well 1-45 at present given Lav2 on the rookie B list).
I donāt know how sharing that information with you all helps anyone.