bye bye Lalor
Merret only being a solid A grade and not superstar.
I can garantee you right now, if he was on another teams list he would be an outright superstar.
The same as if trac was on our list, he would be no where near the superstar category and a good to average A grade like Merret currently is.
We dont know how to get the best out of players.
Shiel is the perfect example cost us 2 1st round picks, had been a very good A grade player for GWS until Conilio and Kelly got there and he became surplus to there needs.
He has been injury riddled and hit and miss with us ever since.
Very good when he wants to be but inconsistent. Like stringer
2 Likes
Mega trade
Port: Lukoscious
Suns: Rioli
Blues: Houston
Richmond: Blues F1
picks to balance
Oh God, No, not Draper forward.
Youâre giving me flashbacks of the snake Daniher. At least he could kick a goal from outside 50 unlike Draper who struggles to kick them from any position unless he is on the run and even then its luck mostbofvthe time.
Taken as a whole, though, they speak to a club that doesnât really have an honest idea about where itâs at. Or, rather, that has a highly inflated idea of how good âwe were in the 8 for a bitâ really is.
Itâs where we were last year
And the year before
And the year before that
AndâŚ
On here, we get too caught up in the minutiae and lose the big picture.
Weâre mediocre.
Weâve been mediocre for 16-17 years.
How do we get actually good? Does the club have a plan, and is everyone on the same page to execute that plan?
Those are the only questions that matter.
12 Likes
It is a great question and I think the club is debating that inside the four walls.
The only strategy I see they have been consistent with since 2020 is to take first round picks to the draft and then use other means to improve the list and it seems it will be the same case again this year.
But if other clubs are doing similar then how do you jump ahead?
Saints will take him wont they, theyâre so desperate for quality in the middle
Thatâs not entirely correct. We were chasing Dunkley in 2020.
The only way clubs like us can jump those around us is by hitting the pointy end of the draft and hoping we can access some A graders
These picks in the 6-12 range are not helping us.
Yes, it doesnât help when our List manager has been incompetentâŚâŚ. But we simply havenât had enough exposure to the top end of the draft.
6 Likes
The only bad thing is the cost.
Heâs a legitimate superstar,
Heâs absolutely professional,
He has the mindset you want, he wants to compete in big games and win finals, thatâs a culture builder.
Adds a dynamic, consistent piece to both our forwardline and our midfield.
He legitimately raises our ceiling with a talent that grabs games and wins them.
If we are ânot far awayâ as supposedly many fans believe there is no reason not to do it.
You try and capitalize on the last few years of elite Merrett.
The reach for Trac probably sets us up with a nice expiry date of this build, you push for success within the next 3-4 years and if it doesnât accomplish something you get to blow the list to kingdom come and build properly down the bottom of the ladder, just after Tassie get the picks.
That would be the goal, itâs a nice couple of years of potential success before you actually do the real thing we should do and build from the bottom instead of building from the middle.
The next few years wouldnât suck, we probably win a couple finals and big games and taste some success.
Maybe?
https://archive.md/sZV9c#selection-1183.0-1203.182 LIKELY NO FOURTH CLUB FOR DON
Will Setterfield is yet to be offered a new deal by Essendon but is keen to play at the club in 2025 despite rival interest.
Setterfield has already played for the Dons, GWS and Carlton so is understandably keen to remain at his third club.
He battled a PCL injury this year that lingered through the year but when he was fit and in form the Dons were keen to play him as a hard-running tall mid.
The Dons are keen to keep him so he is unlikely to be moving to a fourth club, with Essendon having already delisted Nick Hind, Tex Wanganeen and Kaine Baldwin.
Essendon handed back-up ruckman Nick Bryan the last four games of the season and while he has suitors the Dons will hope it is enough to show him he will get regular games next year.
14 Likes
Petracca not interested in joining us and we arenât chasing him either according to the AgeâŚI hope this is where the story ends!
15 Likes
Really depends on the draft, most of them you are spot on.
Some have great depth though in the 6-12 range like 2018 (B.King, Smith, Blakey, Butters) , 2019 (Young, Serong, Green, Flanders, Pickett), 2021 (still early but Rachele, Amiss, Gibcus and Wanganeen Milera look great).
We have just been in the wrong drafts unfortunately.
2024 sounds like it will be a draft with fantastic depth though and we should be striving to get another pick in the 8-15 range before a Kako bid to take 3 top 20 picks.
We really need to take two steps back to go forward but the club seems unwilling to go down this path and seems happy to keep topping up and finishing 8th-14th so I dare say we will do it again and again and continue to wonder why things donât change.
We really need to hit the next two drafts hard and build a list from that
12 Likes
Unfortunately we are very far away.
Good, â â â â off then. Enjoy playing in front of 6000 people in Alice springs every year
4 Likes
Setterfield is a good depth player.
If heâs happy to just be depth, Iâm happy for him to hang around.
22 Likes
Watch this space
2 Likes
Yeah heâs more than serviceable but we should be trying to move him off the list at the end of next season
I agree, but there are people outside and inside that think we arenât as far as it seems.