Sam Marshall would be my number 1 target
A true Essendon supporter at this stage hates our own players more than the oppositions
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This is a good thread.
Iād like us to identify and target some talent on other lists who are likely to be underpaid and not in line for big pay.
I like Connor McDonald at Hawthorn for example who will be on half the Wizards pay.
Matt Roberts at the Swans
We should poach the best second ruck not getting a main gig.
GWS are ripe to be raided too
Hustwaite
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I think Toby Green would be the one Iād go after but I donāt think the feeling is mutualā¦
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Hard to attract anyone here with the wet plank of a coach we have currently
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Taryn Thomas
Jason Johannisen also available this year?
Toby Greene.
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I like the idea of Toby Greene. Would probably work both structurally and culturally. Heād likely want to move for a shot at success though, although he did barrack for us as a kid.
Would Jack Crisp fit the mould?
Iād rather target Lachie Neale if going after a midfielder on the wrong side of 30.
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With those figures, Brad would love to keep him in the VFL
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With eggs
Longmuir, but Iād take Hinkley, Longmire, even Paul Roos, someone who can coach and build a decent culture.
Iād say Mitchell but atm my hatred for all things Hawthorn runs deeper than my love for Essendon.
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Lachie Neale and Steven May.
Luke McDonald.
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Assuming this is for Hodge like recruits who can provide on field leadership in their latter years.
So generally, what attributes does the player need:
- you need to be close to retired. Youād probably need to be in the last year of contract or expiring next year and youād have to offer them a three year contract as a sweatener.
Itāll take up a list spot, but not much salary cap. - you need to have come from successful organisations.
Iāl say successful because we may not be able to get premiership players. So multiple prelims and grand finals appearances would be preferable. - you also need to be ādefensiveā minded.
Letās face it, that is our deficiency. Thereās no point getting a player who like to be āthe loose manā or is a creative small forward with almost zero tackling intent. - Iād argue they need to be able to play in multiple positions.
Thereās no point getting a player who can only play in the midfield when we want to be prioritising those positions for Sharp, Robey, etc.
Iāll choose one player from every team. So, who could the targets beā¦
- Ade - Rory Laird. Out of contract at the end of 2027. Heās a long shot as Adelaide are in with a chance for a premiership soon and itās not like they already have a ready replacement for him. I think he has a few more years to go, but maybe at the end of next year he could be a good choice. Can play multiple positions, but no premiership. He definitely has the right habits in place though.
- Bris - Ryan Lester. Out of contract this pre-season. Most would choose Neale or Zorko. Iāll go with Lester because they fit the need more than the other two.
- Car - Nick Haynes. Out of contract this pre-season. I couldnāt find much at Carlton.
- Coll - Jack Crisp. Out of contract this pre-season. Pendles and Sidebottom were the obvious ones, but Iām guessing that Collingwood will do whatever they can to ensure they end up at the club in some capacity. I was close to going with Jeremy Howe, but Crisp is the better choice. He fits the defensive midfielder role perfectly and heās also been capable of shifting out to the wing. He definitely has the right habits you want in a leader.
- Freo - Jaeger OāMeara. Out of contract this pre-season. Theyāve got no one of note, Jaegar is the closest. Fremantle is an example that you do not need older āleadersā who have been there before. They just kept backfilling their middle group with gambles (Clark, Sharp), persevered with their injury riddled prospects (Darcy, Chapman) and ex-premiership players in their prime (Jackson, Bolton).
- Geel - Blicavs. Out of contract this pre-season. Dangerfield will be kept at Geelong. Same with Tom Stewart. There was talk earlier this year that Jed Bews could be a good choice, but I donāt think heās the right choice. I doubt weād be able to get Blicavs, but if it was even a decent possibility, Iād go for it. Heās defensive minded, can play almost anywhere and his running capabilities would be another major bonus.
- GC - Touk Miller. Out of contract at the end of 2027. Okay, thereās no chance of getting him. Heād be a good target for Tasmania though.
- GWS - Toby Greene. Out of contract this pre-season. Weāre not getting him. He wants a premiership, but I couldnāt find anyone on their list who fit the mould and he was the closest.
- Haw - James Sicily. Out of contract at the end of 2027. No chance we get him.
- Melb - Jake Melksham. Out of contract this pre-season. Thereās no one else here worth bothering with. Viney has three years on his contract and can only play midfield, so he doesnāt fit. I donāt think we go for Melksham and I even question whether heās the fit we need.
- NM - Luke Parker. Out of contract this pre-season. He can be this decades āteach the ā ā ā ā teamsā tour. I donāt think heās going anywhere but there wasnāt much else here. And Caleb Daniel is an easy no.
- PA - Ollie Wines. Out of contract this pre-season. Port will try to keep him at the club. Iām also not sure heās the right person for us as he is pretty limited in where he can play. Isnāt great forward (at least not without decent players around him), has played some wing though, but again, they adjust heavily to allow that to happen when itās used.
- Rich - Nick Vlastuin. Out of contract this pre-season. Iām not sure Richmond try to keep him on as an assistant. This would be my number 1 priority.
- StK - Brad Hill. Out of contract at the end of 2027. Iām not sure about this one, but thereās not much else here. He was at the Hawks last decade and been a staple at Freo and the Saints. Heās definitely got the right habits, Iām not sure a wing is where we need the help.
- Syd - Dane Rampe. Out of contract this pre-season. Goal old goal post Rampe. Set it aside, heās a good choice for us. They have not had a decent backline this decade yet been successful.
- WCE - Elliott Yeo. Out of contract at the end of 2027. Not many options here and I doubt Duggan leaves. Getting him on the park is the biggest problem.
- WB - James Harmes. Out of contract this pre-season. Thereās not as much here as I thought and Treloar isnāt the right choice. Iād probably steer clear of Harmes as well.
The easy part is putting together a list. The difficult part is convincing the player that Essendon is the place to be. Especially when you consider that weāre sacking a coach this year or worst case next year. And given our history, the āoutside influencesā are waiting for an opportunity to change the direction of the club.
Iād say half of the list would say āthanks, but no thanksā. Another half, you probably would even try to convince them to come here.
One thing of note with the Hodge choice by Brisbane, he was going to retire and was convinced by Fagan being at the club. We donāt have that. Even if we brought Hinkley across in some capacity, we might be a chance to get Wines, but itās only the same because of the connection. Fagan had been there a year to get a good understanding of where the club was at. For memory, there was also Leigh Matthews there to help keep the direction of the club aligned. Whether that is something Welsh can step in to and help convince is unsure. Any new board member couldnāt be trusted.
Another thing of note about the Brisbane example. Itās not like Hodge was on his lonesome up there. He gets the credit, but he had some support from what weād consider from the outside looking in as failed veterans who couldnāt push the club forwards. That is Zorko, Robinson, Dayne Beams and Daniel Rich. At the time, Beams was our Merrett, Rich is our Parish, Robinson is our Redman (a bit of embellishment here). I couldnāt find a Zorko comparison, but basically, they are failed players viewed the same way we view our oldies. Weāve even begun viewing our 25-28 year old players with a similar paint brush (Caldwell and Durham). They didnāt keep all of them eventually, but they were there to help Hodge with on field leadership.
I donāt think weāre going to wipe out Merrett, Langford, Parish, Redman, McGrath and Ridley this pre-season the way most Blitzers want. Iām not sure you can go into a season with only 3 or 4 players on your list over 28 years old. The closest to it I can find is Gold Coast and GWS as a start up. Melbourne did it under Roos (Cross, Jamar, Byrnes, Vince) and across the next few years they added to it (Lumumba, Lewis) as the younger group got older. Richmond did it under Hardwick (Richo, Cousins, Simmonds, Tuck) and they were gone pretty soon after and they waited for the younger group to develop. In a weird way, we are in a similar position to the Tigers. A coach who was there longer than needed (Wallce/Scott) had a few years of going to the draft (Riewoldt, Cotchin, Rance, Martin) with some failures along the way (Vickery) after historic failures (Tambling, Meyer, Oakley-Nichols) and just made the right coaching choice and stood by him (2016 was the board challenge the year before their Grand Final). It didnāt look like the right choices were made at the time. When Martin was out of contract, he was a ābad eggā. Poison for any club. Cotchin was a weak leader. Rance was the worst key position defender who never played on the key forward and was loose man more often than not (sounds like Fletch). Richmond had their own failure moniker of Ninthmond (sounds like Essington) and they had people destabilising the club from outside (ā ā ā ā and others).
I think we will sack Scott. The results are close to impossible to defend. I think the board can alter course enough to go the Richmond route, but itāll need a lot of communication of what the fark they are doing. Because fans and members have been given weird communication (never mentioned rebuild, blind Freddie knows what weāre doing, we want to play and win finals, etc) and even been told to use their own KPIs (at an AGM a few years ago). They need to take the fans and members along for the ride. Thos who donāt want to go for the ride will be the loud ones on the side trolling and death riding the club regardless of what they do (and they are more likely to be right), but those who want to ābuy inā for the ride should be given that opportunity. But itāll take a board willing to say āthis is where we are and this is where weāre goingā. Something they havenāt done for quite some time. And please, remove the X-Campbell marketing rubbish. Just be clear and honest with the audience you are presenting to (riff Raff supporters). Save that other rubbish for the execs when youāre trying to grab sponsors.
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Jack Crisp has hit a games trigger at pies for a new contract. I think Howe is the choice, especially if Ridley leaves.
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Out of your list - Vlaustin, Wines, Parker, Hill most gettable.
You didnāt list Hogan - he could be good to take pressure off Caddy and May.
Just imagine, Parish, langford, Merrett, Ridley all gone. maybe even Redman too.
Positionally - defender, small forward, mid all areas of need.
say we went Howe, Vlaustin, Hogan, Maurice Rioli Jnr
Out: Ridley, Merrett, Langford, Parish
In Bris R1 + 2027 F1, Hawks R1 & 2027 F1, Saints R2, Geelong F3
Free Agents - Howe, Vlaustin, Wines
Rioli Jnr for Geelong F3
Hogan for EFC R2, Pies probably beat this offer.
b: McGrath McKay Howe
hb: Roberts Reid Vlaustin
c: Duursma Wines Martin
hf: Durham Caddy Kako
f: May Hogan Rioli Jnr
r: Bryan Robey Sharp
int: Farrow, Caldwell Day-Wicks Johnson Clarke
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