Recruiting AFL Trade & Free Agency XI - McKay. Goldstein. Gresham. Duursma!

[Lore]

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See all the movements from the 2023 trade period.

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[faible]

Eagles beat us last year as a winless side who couldn't score (110 against us)

That.... misses a lot of context.

The Eagles side that we played was vastly different to the one wheeled out for most of the first half of the season.

Or is the players taking the field not relevant?

 

[TheGrizz]

That.... misses a lot of context.

The Eagles side that we played was vastly different to the one wheeled out for most of the first half of the season.

Or is the players taking the field not relevant?

The players who then went on to win exactly ZERO games after beating us?

You mean that kind of context?

I think CE's point stands.

 

[faible]

You mean the players who then went on to win exactly ZERO games after beating us?

You mean that kind of context?

I think CE's point stands.

Nope.

The context where we lost by 10 points to a team playing at home whilst giving away an average of 2 years and 47 games experience.

That context.



Time and again we talk about EFC making poor decisions because supporters completely misread where the playing list is at and have unrealistic expectations. This was exhibit A of that.

 

[ant555]

10-11 for us is ambitious.

I think 10 is achievable if we do not get injuries again. Lets face it right now it looks like we will actually have some small forwards and selection pressure in the midfield. If they improve the forward half pressure which they have been working on and reduce the easy opposition transition then we can match sides. If the injuries to key players come we will struggle but there is enough talent on the list to win 10 games if 90% of them are on the park.
Last season was destroyed not only by the coach not having the right game plan for the group but also by the fact we had no genuine small forwards and a midfield group that always had someone injured and no Jake Stringer.

 

[citizen-erased]

I think 10 is achievable if we do not get injuries again. Lets face it right now it looks like we will actually have some small forwards and selection pressure in the midfield. If they improve the forward half pressure which they have been working on and reduce the easy opposition transition then we can match sides. If the injuries to key players come we will struggle but there is enough talent on the list to win 10 games if 90% of them are on the park.
Last season was destroyed not only by the coach not having the right game plan for the group but also by the fact we had no genuine small forwards and a midfield group that always had someone injured and no Jake Stringer.

we're hard to gauge, and i'm downplaying our chances.

But whilst we have small forwards, outside Tippa, they don't have a lot of AFL experience. So that's a ways off.
The midfield ideally gets better with Setterfield added, Caldwell and Hobbs having good pre-seasons and Perkins added to the mix. Plus Martin could prove a gun in there.

i still see the forward line pressure being an issue, even if Tippa comes straight back in
Defence is good on the flanks, but our key posts are a problem.
One thing i'm hoping to see is a lot of quality rebound and some good run and carry via McGrath, Hind, Redman and D'Ambrosio

I reckon the one area we can carry an injury or two is midfield.
Ruck, fwd & def will really stretch us.

End of the day, our squad is largely underdeveloped and this has been recognised. One offseason won't fix that. And if we finish bottom 4, it's not the end of the world. Rebuilding takes time.

 

[TheGrizz]

Nope.

The context where we lost by 10 points to a team playing at home whilst giving away an average of 2 years and 47 games experience.

That context.

View attachment 1611984

Time and again we talk about EFC making poor decisions because supporters completely misread where the playing list is at and have unrealistic expectations. This was exhibit A of that.

I dont care what the age demographics say.

What does their 'experience' matter if all it won them was exactly 2 games for the entire year, and ZERO after they beat us.

 

[Lore]

I dont care what the age demographics say.

What does their 'experience' matter if all it won them was exactly 2 games for the entire year, and ZERO after they beat us.

The only thing worse than being young and losing is being experienced and losing regardless At least with youth on your side there's a reasonable excuse...

 

[citizen-erased]

That.... misses a lot of context.

The Eagles side that we played was vastly different to the one wheeled out for most of the first half of the season.

Or is the players taking the field not relevant?

i look less at the opposition these days, and more at us
We're still a very conditional side, with Jekyll and Hyde performances. And prone to finish bottom 4.

What are our easy games?
-Hawks (once). Rd.1 and they'll be fired up for it.
-Roos. 1st game is rd12. 2nd is late.
-GWS. I say easy, last time we beat them was 2019...by a goal. they pantsed us by 12 goals that year.
-Eagles. Who beat us as the least competitive side in the comp last year and didn't win again all year. At least we get two bites this year

Which goes back to the original point. If Day leaves the Hawks, i don't see what we offer that the hawks don't. They can at least defend.

The only thing worse than being young and losing is being experienced and losing regardless At least with youth on your side there's a reasonable excuse...

Fair.

 

[ant555]

we're hard to gauge, and i'm downplaying our chances.

But whilst we have small forwards, outside Tippa, they don't have a lot of AFL experience. So that's a ways off.
The midfield ideally gets better with Setterfield added, Caldwell and Hobbs having good pre-seasons and Perkins added to the mix. Plus Martin could prove a gun in there.

i still see the forward line pressure being an issue, even if Tippa comes straight back in
Defence is good on the flanks, but our key posts are a problem.
One thing i'm hoping to see is a lot of quality rebound and some good run and carry via McGrath, Hind, Redman and D'Ambrosio

I reckon the one area we can carry an injury or two is midfield.
Ruck, fwd & def will really stretch us.

End of the day, our squad is largely underdeveloped and this has been recognised. One offseason won't fix that. And if we finish bottom 4, it's not the end of the world. Rebuilding takes time.

All the small forwards have to do is tackle and pressure. It will improve as the forward line will not be full of lumbering plodders. Even a fit Snelling improves our forward line. Menzie has a pre season under his belt. Snelling is fit. Davey can play a bit of a role with his speed. Hobbs and Caldwell will both play a forward role .The forward pressure issue is about personal and the right mix. Experience is not a massive factor.

We are no worse than 2021. What has been recognized is we are not a top 6 or a probably not finals bound side. If we finish bottom 4 then we have a real issue if we have no injuries and the rebuild will take 10 years. We will have to more on everyone over 24 and the likes of Hobbs , Cox and Perkins will be flops. We where crap last year but that was not our level. There where factors involved. I do not see us playing finals but if we do not win 9 or 10 games with limited injury and the list we have then bunker down for another 5000 days.
The only thing we need to see is much better forward half pressure. Our run and carry is good enough. The thing that hurt us the most was how shit truck slow we where in the forward line and how easily we allowed the ball to escape. That leads to players chasing all day and running out of gas and looking unfit.

 

[yodellinhank]

The only thing worse than being young and losing is being experienced and losing regardless At least with youth on your side there's a reasonable excuse...

I'm sure the posters on our board will be able to make up a reasonable excuse when we're experienced and losing.

 

[faible]

I dont care what the age demographics say.

What does their 'experience' matter if all it won them was exactly 2 games for the entire year, and ZERO after they beat us.

You can not care all you like, we were giving away a truckload of experience and lost by 10 points. Hardly something worth all the meltdowns it caused.

We rolled out one of the youngest and least experienced sides all year. Being Essendon doesn’t somehow change being younger and less experienced than the opposition being one of the biggest predictors of result.

 

[citizen-erased]

All the small forwards have to do is tackle and pressure. It will improve as the forward line will not be full of lumbering plodders. Even a fit Snelling improves our forward line. Menzie has a pre season under his belt. Snelling is fit. Davey can play a bit of a role with his speed. Hobbs and Caldwell will both play a forward role .The forward pressure issue is about personal and the right mix. Experience is not a massive factor.

We are no worse than 2021. What has been recognized is we are not a top 6 or a probably not finals bound side. If we finish bottom 4 then we have a real issue if we have no injuries and the rebuild will take 10 years. We will have to more on everyone over 24 and the likes of Hobbs , Cox and Perkins will be flops. We where crap last year but that was not our level. There where factors involved. I do not see us playing finals but if we do not win 9 or 10 games with limited injury and the list we have then bunker down for another 5000 days.
The only thing we need to see is much better forward half pressure. Our run and carry is good enough. The thing that hurt us the most was how s**t truck slow we where in the forward line and how easily we allowed the ball to escape. That leads to players chasing all day and running out of gas and looking unfit.

Id like to see the improvement first. Perhaps rd1 2022 has me rather jaded still

I hope we'll be better. Its all i have at the moment

 

[Lore]

I'm sure the posters on our board will be able to make up a reasonable excuse when we're experienced and losing.

I n j u r i e s

 

[yodellinhank]

I n j u r i e s

Sack Murphy.

 

[TheGrizz]

You can not care all you like, we were giving away a truckload of experience and lost by 10 points. Hardly something worth all the meltdowns it caused.

We rolled out one of the youngest and least experienced sides all year. Being Essendon doesn’t somehow change being younger and less experienced than the opposition being one of the biggest predictors of result.

So actual performance doesn't mean anything to you? Just what should be expected by their age demographic?

I mean if the expectation to beat a team who had...
1. won one game in the 12 before we played them and
2. Won zero games in the 8 afterwards (with a % of 59)
...is too high an expectation for a team that won 7 games, you can't be helped.

 

[faible]

So actual performance doesn't mean anything to you? Just what should be expected by their age demographic?

I mean if the expectation to beat a team who had...
1. won one game in the 12 before we played them and
2. Won zero games in the 8 afterwards (with a % of 59)
...is too high an expectation for a team that won 7 games, you can't be helped.

Actual performances should be discussed with context.

We were significantly younger and less experienced, such that irrespective of records prior (or after) the game, we were more likely to lose than win.

On the day we were very inaccurate, whilst they were very accurate - especially early in the game.

We were also not a very good football side ourselves having only won 3 games to that point of the season, despite not being covid ravage like the Eagles list was.

None of these things suggested we should have beaten the Eagles.

As for the bolded, I'm not the one still complaining about losing a game we were always more likely to lose than win.

 

[Harlequin Dream]

I am not going to read too much either way on a single game like that. In this context it isn't a huge data point.

 

[faible]

I am not going to read too much either way on a single game like that. In this context it isn't a huge data point.

Isn't this the whole point of the board, reading too much in to everything?

Player wears a hat, what does it mean?
Player likes an instagram post by another player, must mean they're guaranteed to be traded.

 

[Snake Charmer]

I’m pretty high on Menzies. I think he could become a very good small forward for us. As soon as this year

 

[citizen-erased]

I’m pretty high on Menzies. I think he could become a very good small forward for us. As soon as this year

taking a step back, the strategy may align nicely

in 2 years, if we've got Menzie, Alwyn & any of Snelling/Guelf/Jayden/Munkara as our smalls performing at AFL level, we should have the ground pressure game needed
Ideally by then the backline has the k's into Reid, Cox and Hayes, and someone from Weideman, Jones and Baldwin have established themselves as the 2nd KPF

Draper should enter his peak as a ruck and have at his feet the likes of Merrett, Parish, Perkins, Caldwell, Hobbs, Martin, Tsatas & Durham

the 2024 off-season should be where we target recruiting for what should be 1-2 gaps

Ridley - Hayes - Redman
Merrett* - Reid - McGrath
Martin - Perkins - Tsatas
Davey - Bryan - Jones
Munkara - Wright - Menzie
Draper - Parish - Hobbs
Caldwell - D'Ambrosio - Durham - Cox
Langford (mr fix it type role)

*Merrett would be 29 going on 30. Suspect by then he's dual position role.

Bold = ? for me.
Bryan being able to play a dual fwd/ruck role
A grade small forwards
Game turning midfielder
Defensive spine

 

[citizen-erased]

So actual performance doesn't mean anything to you? Just what should be expected by their age demographic?

I mean if the expectation to beat a team who had...
1. won one game in the 12 before we played them and
2. Won zero games in the 8 afterwards (with a % of 59)
...is too high an expectation for a team that won 7 games, you can't be helped.

Actual performances should be discussed with context.

We were significantly younger and less experienced, such that irrespective of records prior (or after) the game, we were more likely to lose than win.

On the day we were very inaccurate, whilst they were very accurate - especially early in the game.

We were also not a very good football side ourselves having only won 3 games to that point of the season, despite not being covid ravage like the Eagles list was.

None of these things suggested we should have beaten the Eagles.

As for the bolded, I'm not the one still complaining about losing a game we were always more likely to lose than win.

We've gotten away a bit from my original point that as a point of difference to the hawks, we're not likely to appear that much better to Day.
Hawks may be odds on for the spoon, but we're not going to be that far ahead of them based on '22 form.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

 

[BrunoV]

Yay!

 

[ant555]

Smart move.

 

[Ati Tude]

good article here about it. And Cleaver to stay with our VFL side based on this too.

WAFL clubs miss out on Narkle’s sparkle

Several WAFL clubs missed out on the services of highly-skilled former Geelong midfielder Quinton Narkle, who has decided to remain in Victoria.

thewest.com.au