The legit A graders as of right now imo are:
Hep
Hooker
Hurley
Jobe
Zac M
Potential future A graders will most likely come from:
Colyer
Parish
McGrath
Fantasia
Joe
Langford
Laverde
McGrath
Francis
I like being lid off. But I can't shake the feeling that in 2015 we finished 4th last, and the risk that other teams were taking the foot off the gas last year when they played us. I guess I've just seen too many sets of predictions about this group of draftees over the last 16 years, and not enough have come on for one reason or another.
Shake that feeling off, sounds like you have over indulged in the Christmas spirits. l have no reason to believe other teas took their foot off the gas. l saw plenty of evidence that the team had lifted its game and became more competitive, as the season wore on.
Saga thread in 3… 2…
Hocking is an A-grader?
This place never fails to surprise.
How many a-grader Essendon need?
and wot is a-grader anyway?
I miss the good ol’ days when after one balcony training session Grimley was a gun.On that, though, Grimley was VERY impressive. Plays like Carlisle on a good day and wants to be forward. His accuracy went rather pear-shaped as the game went on, but ten shots on goal you’ll take every day.
LOL. Reminds me of some of my “Get off the Lauchie Dalgleish bandwagon he’s MINE!!” posts.
Stanton the forgotten man again.
Statistically always been up there with the A-graders of the comp. The one who has generally always been tagged in our team.
Is he a dynamic player, no. Goes about his business generally unnoticed, yes. When he duffs 1 of 20 kicks people want to have him tarred and feathered, yes.
This attempt at (re)writing history by claiming to know whether or not Hird was a good coach is pointless. We all know the facts. When he had “clear air” he had the team firing beautifully. When he didn’t, things went pear-shaped. We’ll probably never know how good a coach Hird was because his coaching career never developed to fruition. I suspect he’d have been very good, but unfortunately he wasn’t coaching long enough for this to be any more than just a suspicion.
Jackie, you’re trying to make a definitive statement on this but really you’re just guessing. Apart from that, great post as always. Lid wide open.
How to define an " A grader" ? take your pick
You really rate the way they play.
You reckon they could walk into the best 22 in any team in the comp.
You reckon they win games off their own boot.
They are Alex Rance
Any other subset of subjective criteria
They get 30 + disposals every game.
They average 10+ contested possessions
They average 5+ clearances per game
They average 2+ goals per game.
Champion Data says so.
How many a-grader Essendon need?and wot is a-grader anyway?
Think you mean one of these…
This attempt at (re)writing history by claiming to know whether or not Hird was a good coach is pointless. We all know the facts. When he had "clear air" he had the team firing beautifully. When he didn't, things went pear-shaped. We'll probably never know how good a coach Hird was because his coaching career never developed to fruition. I suspect he'd have been very good, but unfortunately he wasn't coaching long enough for this to be any more than just a suspicion.Jackie, you’re trying to make a definitive statement on this but really you’re just guessing. Apart from that, great post as always. Lid wide open.
Zachary.
Don't think many people would read past the third paragraph.Truth is hard to process sometimes.
A lot of people here are Essendon fans, not purely Hird-adorers. Great player though!
Don't think many people would read past the third paragraph.Truth is hard to process sometimes.Moving on…
Interesting choice of words there Wim
Don't think many people would read past the third paragraph.Truth is hard to process sometimes.Moving on…
Interesting choice of words there Wim
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
Don't think many people would read past the third paragraph.Truth is hard to process sometimes.Moving on…
Interesting choice of words there Wim
Seriously?
You have a terrible habit of picking at sores.
But fine, if you really want to go into it all again after HH put it to bed, then you know it’s not beneath me.
Ffs, I thought I was being pretty farking restrained.
Hocking is an A-grader?This place never fails to surprise.
The most criminally underrated player on our list
The legit A graders as of right now imo are:Hep
Hooker
Hurley
Jobe
Zac MPotential future A graders will most likely come from:
Colyer
Parish
McGrath
Fantasia
Joe
Langford
Laverde
McGrath
Francis
The number of potential A graders is ok. The number of actual A graders is the contentious one. As it stands, I’d say it is limited:
Hooker
Hurley
Hepp
Zac, is on the cusp but needs this year to establish it. Realistically, we haven’t seen the best from Jobe since 2013 so who knows if he can regain that. This is why we are where we are, the next group of superstars need to take the next step
What more can zach do to establish hes an agrade?
its like the idiots saying dustin martin isn’t good because hes all richmond have in the midfield.
I’d see A-grader as someone capable of making an All Australian squad or highly regarded enough to be in the discussions for it.
Heart & soul player who we love but Hocking isn’t ever going to do that.
Stanton certainly is IMO. Goddard was, and may still be, who knows how he will go with all the other senior players back, especially the inside mids. And Zaka may well elevate his standing for the same reason.
Before the saga we played some great games of footy and could take it to the top teams.
During the saga we developed an incredibly robust backline and played an exciting brand of footy coming slingshotting out of the backline.
What we lacked was consistent B+ footballers across multiple positions (and replacements for them in the VFL) a functioning forwardline and a season with no string of soft tissue injuries to multiple senior members of our midfield.
I feel we have that covered now, that the last year of getting extra games into our second tier players is that consistent b+ footy we’ve needed to win those close games rather than just lose them.
Throw in Josh Kelly on top of that who let’s be honest only thought he’d be there a year and is just along for the ride (and you can tell he’s loving it and playing better because of it) and cares a tiny little less for a premiership than the rest of the team (he’s got a few) and will just have fun playing in an exciting team of young and old stars on the march, in great facilities, for one of the city’s biggest clubs. There’s no pressure on Kelly he’s having a ball out there, going to be great to watch him being left completely free to demolish teams off hb and nab a few goals sneaking forward.
Every where you look on our list you see potential, in the pups and the pops
It’s a great time to be a bombers fan
Truly we’ll only know at the end of June next year. If we break that hoodoo form slump, beat Melbourne and Brisbane and trounce the Pies on ANZAC day, that’s a step up.