Yep, there is so much Barlow about Mark Baguley…
And do not forget that guys like Pig and Bags will step up into the midfield in the next few seasons.
Bags is 26, I don't think there's huge upside.
You could be right, but his improvement over the past year has been very good and he does have a bit of pace; maybe a late bloomer like Barlow.
Barlow is in his fourth year in the AFL and is younger than Baguley.
I'm skinny, but we're going to need to get a second round pick if we're any hope of recruiting my services.
What HM said.
Starting this thread early this year I see
I remember when Ling got drafted and first got a run. Teh lulz
Just looking through our list. I'm unsure of what we have really been trying to achieve the past few years with drafting an abundance of back flankers and an abundance of skinny players?
In the era where it's been proven you need a tonne of midfielders (and usually if a midfielder doesn't make it they end up being a good flanker or pocket) I just don;t understand our philosophy. Especially when our game plan is meant to mimick the cats team which is stacked full of strong bodied, good disposal midfield types, we seem to be going against the grain and against history in our drafting model and I can't see how it will ever work.
Can anyone sell me what they think Essendon's philosophy has been in the last 2 drafts and why they think it will work? i'm interested to know.
A few of the undersized players drafted recently:
Gleeson, Ashby, Kavanagh, Merrett, gregory, hams, dalgeish
You're on a hiding-to-nothing here, mate.
Few here will criticise our draft "strategy", even though this has been a major element contributing to our slough of despond.
I remember when Ling got drafted and first got a run. Teh lulz
I remember him giving Solomon a suplex in his first year
If we'd just done the smart thing and picked Christensen instead of Long and Parker instead of Steinberg we'd probably have drafted better than any non expansion club over the past few years.
Those two decisions haunt me though, especially Parker
And what about that drafting of that bloke who barracked for Essendon as a kid and who has the same surname as one our most gifted players over the last 15 years, and who has since played in a Premiership team, and also very likely to play in another, instead of that bloke who after all these years has not yet reached Jack Dyer's "good ordinary" status?
Hindsight heroes.And what about that drafting of that bloke who barracked for Essendon as a kid and who has the same surname as one our most gifted players over the last 15 years, and who has since played in a Premiership team, and also very likely to play in another, instead of that bloke who after all these years has not yet reached Jack Dyer's "good ordinary" status?
Nothing like criticising draft selections
FFS, I have posted on this topic in 2001 and many times since!!!
EVERY time anyone dares question EFC drafting, we are guaranteed to get some redacted posting with not much more substance in response than mentioning hindsight.
Why don't you do some analysis, instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to maintain group-think?
You may well find that we have wasted more #1 draft picks than any club that we aspire to better. You may well also find that many here did not consider it great policy in FORESIGHT drafting the skinniest kids (eg Gleeson) or Frankston HBFers (eg van Unen).
While we are at it, Einstein, since you don't like hindsight, why don't you post here you definite predictions about how all these picks will go? We can bookmark it to see how well you go.
FFS, I have posted on this topic in 2001 and many times since!!!
EVERY time anyone dares question EFC drafting, we are guaranteed to get some redacted posting with not much more substance in response than mentioning hindsight.
Why don't you do some analysis, instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to maintain group-think?
You may well find that we have wasted more #1 draft picks than any club that we aspire to better. You may well also find that many here did not consider it great policy in FORESIGHT drafting the skinniest kids (eg Gleeson) or Frankston HBFers (eg van Unen).
While we are at it, Einstein, since you don't like hindsight, why don't you post here you definite predictions about how all these picks will go? We can bookmark it to see how well you go.
Sorry, but I don't make predictions cause I'm not a farking recruiter. Not doubt we have had some blunders. But name a club that hasn't?
It is wonderful to criticise and say they got that one wrong, but what about the ones they got right? I dunno like Hibberd and TBell and Howlett and Hocking. You know, those players that all clubs overlooked several times.
And just to ask, which drafting experts had Rioli in the top 7?
We do seem to have had a tendency over the last decade to go for "may develop into a midfield role" rather than midfielder who may go forward/back.
But does that hold true more recently? Kav, Heppell and Melksham were all first round picks used on out and out midfielders.
Add Colyer and Zaka from the second round as well.But does that hold true more recently? Kav, Heppell and Melksham were all first round picks used on out and out midfielders.We do seem to have had a tendency over the last decade to go for "may develop into a midfield role" rather than midfielder who may go forward/back.
Heppel is the only one of those who has justified his first round status.
Melksham has been around for how long now and may be getting better, but does not rank among AFL midfielders as an "out and out midfielder", and is not causing any sleepless nights for opposition coaches.
I doubt Kav is causing any sleepless nights for opposition VFL coaches, and doesn't show much evidence of being an "out and out midfielder" in the couple of years he has been on the list.
Heppel is the only one of those who has justified his first round status.
Melksham has been around for how long now and may be getting better, but does not rank among AFL midfielders as an "out and out midfielder", and is not causing any sleepless nights for opposition coaches.
I doubt Kav is causing any sleepless nights for opposition VFL coaches, and doesn't show much evidence of being an "out and out midfielder" in the couple of years he has been on the list.
Anyone who plays solely in the midfield is an out and out midfielder. That's what Melksham and Kav do; their quality is completely irrelevant to the strategy of drafting them.
Winderlich, Stanton, Ryder, Myers, Hurley, Melksham, Heppell. All first rounders who are currently best 22. Then you have Joe and KAV! who will be by next year. Plus add Gumby, and even Jetta, both still on our list.
In fact, there are only two of our first round draft picks of the last ten years who aren’t on our list any more. One just played finals at Port, the other still runs around at Freo. How many teams can say that? Have you seen carlton or hawthorns record in that department?
Then you have Zaharakis, Carlisle, Dempsey, Merrett and Pears all from second rounds, before you look at pre season drafts.
So arguably, 13 or so of our best 22, come directly from first or second round picks.
Stuffing up drafting isn’t when a player doesn’t turn out to be a star, it’s when he never plays a game.
We have got great value out of our drafting for quite some time now, and if you think otherwise, actually run your eye over some of the drafting done by our opposition ; even the good teams.
FFS, I have posted on this topic in 2001 and many times since!!!
EVERY time anyone dares question EFC drafting, we are guaranteed to get some redacted posting with not much more substance in response than mentioning hindsight.
Why don't you do some analysis, instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to maintain group-think?
You may well find that we have wasted more #1 draft picks than any club that we aspire to better. You may well also find that many here did not consider it great policy in FORESIGHT drafting the skinniest kids (eg Gleeson) or Frankston HBFers (eg van Unen).
While we are at it, Einstein, since you don't like hindsight, why don't you post here you definite predictions about how all these picks will go? We can bookmark it to see how well you go.
Every time someone criticises an individual pick(s) then they deserve to get ripped into. Players get missed, both by individual and groups of teams. You need to discuss across a group of picks/years, and take into consideration factors outside the recruiters control.
And when discussed in those terms, there have been heaps of lively debates over the performance of our recruiting department. Hell, JBomber and I are probably the two biggest "foes" in these debates. I tend towards the recruiting department got stuffed by Sheedy, lack of resources, bad luck on injuries and insufficient top picks. He tends to think they stuffed up more. Don't get us started on whether Myers was a midfield or HBF pick. We both agree that probably the proportion of stars vs. good picks has been lower than it needs to be.
To say that this hasn't been debated an awful lot, with people lining up on both sides, is, in my view, disingenuous.
As to the OP, he made an argument and yes, a number of people have disagreed. Mostly because they do not believe the crux of his argument was accurate (that we have only recruited particularly skinny flankers). He now needs to argue why he was right.
While we are at it, Einstein, since you don't like hindsight, why don't you post here you definite predictions about how all these picks will go? We can bookmark it to see how well you go.
Ditto to you Albert. Take the reigns and tell us all what we're missing.