He gets on the park
16 Likes
Hoare is a strong contested mark and brave but he lacks Baldwin’s disposal skills and decision making.
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Hoare looks a good player IMO. But he’s 24. By the time you allow him to get up to AFL level, even assuming you start the process this coming season, he will only have a short career at best. Baldwin has possibly a higher upside in terms of just ability and what he could be and he is 2 yrs younger and arguably further advanced along the path of being a “ready” senior player.
I think both are more likely to give value as reliable AFL KP defenders than Hayes.
5 Likes
hopefully some time this century the club will realize half way through july that we’re not a serious finals threat, send anyone with a nagging injury off for surgery immediately, promote the kids through August, secure a pick in the top 5 and then have said injured players back at the start of January.
33 Likes
Are we the only club that’s too stupid to realize this, happens time and time again.
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like clubs not realising that selecting injured players in finals doesn’t work
4 Likes
What are these “finals” you speak of?
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it’s Essendon folklore
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I believe they refer to the last game of the regular season.
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Out of interest…
How many players have we not done that with that haven’t been ready by January?
Draper and Caldwell are pretty much the ones that come to mind since 2020.
Caldwell was performing pretty well late last year. He was one of our best performing players in the last month. There was no sign in July that he needed surgery although I do recall we lighted his training loads around that time. I’m not sure why you would put him away in July though. July was somewhere between the Collingwood win and the St Kilda loss. He actually got 5 of his 6 Brownlow votes after that period.
Playing Draper late 2023 was a clear error. Which is why I was surprised he had the year he had after such a restricted pre-season and think he’ll improve on that this upcoming season.
For memory the 2022/23 pre-season had Parish in the rehab group, but he’s was back into it by January. His bigger setback was getting married through the pre-season, but he wasn’t in surgery for memory. Reid and Cox have been perennially injured so getting them in for surgery early would be putting them in cotton wool from February to get them ready for the following January.
I can’t recall anyone else in the 2022/23 pre-season, who started pre-season after January because of a late surgery. Lots of players did have niggling injuries though.
1 Like
A ‘final’ is any game in August when, after starting the season on a promising 7-2, then collapsing in a heap with a string of meek choking losses in June and July, Essendon absolutely has to win all remaining matches in order to finish the season in the top 8. And they will then lose.
What happens if you actually DO finish in the top 8?
Rumour has it that you are awarded one more game, either interstate or against the Dogs who have a ‘get out of rules free’ card for the umps for the occasion, which you lose.
23 Likes
Finals is short for finalstraw, it’s the last game that you can watch the bombers flush their season down the drain. We’re undefeated for the last 20 years. Pretty sure that’s what all them cups at the hangar are all about.
2 Likes
Grand Final is kinda the same thing - except for Sydney.
1 Like
Nino does not endorse this message. Pull out all stops to get up around the 8. Forget the draft!!
Essentially want us to tank
Brad Scott to the playing group “Forget playing finals guys our season is done we are going to send any guys into surgery who need it,play the kids so we can tank for a top 5 pick”
1 Like
Good luck Dirty
4 Likes
Oh my!
Tom Stewart says hello.
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Apparently all Calendars at TVC are 11 months long, going straight from August to October.
Rubbish.
It is strategic and forward planning.
History says injured players are a liability in finals anyway.
Carrying them through is desperation and poor management.
9 Likes