Footy Dept. Adrian Dodoro - Leaving EFC. #putoutyourjackets

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Cliff notes:
  • Stepping back from his current senior role following the 2023 AFL Draft
  • Transition plan, raised the possibility with Vozzo in April
  • Replacement is Matt Rosa, whose thread is here: Welcome to Essendon Matthew Rosa – AFL Talent & Operations Manager!
Full text from media release said:
To coincide with this announcement, the Club’s General Manager of List and Recruiting, Adrian Dodoro, has made the decision to take a step back from his current senior role following this year’s NAB AFL National Draft. He will lead the Club through the upcoming 2023 Trade and Draft period in his current position prior to transitioning to and assisting Matt Rosa moving forward.​
​
Dodoro, an Essendon Life Member, has played a significant role at the Bombers over nearly three decades and said the time was right to take a step back.​
​
“I approached Craig back in April to discuss the concept of transition and I feel that now is the right time to make this decision,” Dodoro said.​
​
"I sat on the panel to assist in the selection of Matt, and I believe he will be an outstanding acquisition to the Club for years to come. I look forward to working with Matt moving forward.​
​
“These roles are very taxing on individuals and their families and it just feels like that. After nearly three decades and with stability in key roles at the Club, now is the right time for me to take a step back in to a role which will provide me and my family with a better work life balance.​
​
“More immediately, we have an important few months coming up and I’m looking forward to playing my part to deliver a strong Trade and Draft period for the Club to ensure that the playing list is in a strong position for the future.”​
​
Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo acknowledged the significant impact Dodoro has made at the Club since joining in a full-time role in 1998.​
​
“Adrian is a highly respected Life Member of the Essendon Football Club and has made an enormous contribution to the Club and the wider AFL industry during his time in football, including assisting to navigate the Club through unprecedented and challenging periods,” Vozzo said.​
​
“Throughout his time at the Bombers, Adrian’s commitment and passion to take the Club forward in its list management and recruiting, has been unquestionable. Some of the Champions of Essendon have been identified and selected by Adrian, and we will always be grateful for the important and enduring role he has played.​
​
“On behalf of the entire Club, we would like to acknowledge Adrian’s selfless decision and we look forward to his ongoing contribution to the Club.​
​
“Adrian will work with Matt to ensure a smooth hand-over and a successful transition of responsibilities.”​
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This fraud has dropped our list into the abyss for the next 5 years, handing out mega long term contracts to B/C-graders like Oprah handing out cars.

Where B/C-graders like McGrath and Parish get 5 and 6 year contacts, you can see why players like Stringer feels jilted by unable to negotiate another year to his current one.
 
HirdyLannister said:
This fraud has dropped our list into the abyss for the next 5 years, handing out mega long term contracts to B/C-graders like Oprah handing out cars.

Where B/C-graders like McGrath and Parish get 5 and 6 year contacts, you can see why players like Stringer feels jilted by unable to negotiate another year to his current one.
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True but we can't continue with that crap. The crackdown has to start now.
 
It seems unlikely that he would be giving out contracts over a particular length or $$ without sign-off at a higher level (CEO/board). Would have to be aligned with 5 year plans and so on. In the past we've only ever had max of about ten players with more than 2 years to go on their contract at any given time, and only a couple with more than 4 years to run at any given time.

For example, at the end of 2016 we had freshly inked contracts for Hurley (2022) and Hooker (2021), with Merrett (2021) and Heppell (2020) also contracted. No one else contracted beyond 2019.

At the end of 2022, we had Merrett signed to 2027, Ridley and Langford to 2026, Laverde, Draper and Reid to 2025, and no one else beyond 2024. That was after some extensions were given to a couple of players to bring some money forward to manage the salary cap.

More recently, long contracts have become common enough in the league and players are traded under contract pretty commonly now and it gives the club leverage in negotiation if it comes to that. Seems to be something of an industry-wide reaction to the free agency landscape, but currently there are three players in the league with 8 years to run on their contracts, being signed to 2032 (Sam Taylor, Connor Rose, Aaron Naughton), and three with 7 years (High McCluggage, Brent Daniels, Nick Blakey). Harry McKay, Josh Daicos, Andy McGrath, Sean Darcy, Josh Treacy, Brennan Cox, Clayton Oliver, Harry Sheezel (6 years). Another 32 have 5 years to go with 2029 expiries.

Of those 46 players, two are Essendon players: Andy McGrath and Ben McKay. Gold Coast have 1, but every other club has at least 2.


In other words, whatever else you might have to say about Dodoro, our list profile has been relatively conservative with regard to contract length under his leadership.


As regards Stringer, he doesn't have the leverage to ask for much, and he already has a contract for next year whether or not he still likes what he agreed to previously. But that's not much to do with Dodoro except that Dodoro would've had a hand in agreeing to those triggers in the first place.
 
Are trigger clauses usually binding on both parties?
 
TBDons1989 said:
Ironically, the valid criticism is probably the reverse: we have overly prioritized picking the best available player who could individually be AA-standard at the expense of building a balanced list, and we have picked players who play very similar roles in Hooker, Carlisle, Hurley, meaning that we've had to try to reinvent them.
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The issue here was it took us an eternity to work out that of the 3 it was Hooker who was the best forward.

Hooker could have had a very good career playing forward leaving Carlisle and Hurley to play key back.
 
Old Campaigner said:
Are trigger clauses usually binding on both parties?
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I think the CBA says it can’t be binding on either party, but it’s been a while since I read it.
 
Lore said:
I think the CBA says it can’t be binding on either party, but it’s been a while since I read it.
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What on earth is the point if it can’t be binding? Player hits the trigger, expects another year but the club goes “yeah nah”
 
Well the CBA has a line about how a contract can't be unilaterally extended by either party, which is fairly obvious stuff to be in the CBA. I imagine what a contract trigger actually is an agreement in the contract that says when a player hits a certain amount of games, the club is obliged to offer a new contract, at the agreed upon amount/length in the contract. The player is not under any obligation to accept it.

It's amazing to me that these triggers weren't banned following the Bartel/Dale Thomas situations. But they serve increasingly little use now due to free agency, etc, so maybe the AFL/AFLPA is thinking they'll naturally go the way of the dodo
 
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Lore said:
It seems unlikely that he would be giving out contracts over a particular length or $$ without sign-off at a higher level (CEO/board). Would have to be aligned with 5 year plans and so on. In the past we've only ever had max of about ten players with more than 2 years to go on their contract at any given time, and only a couple with more than 4 years to run at any given time.

For example, at the end of 2016 we had freshly inked contracts for Hurley (2022) and Hooker (2021), with Merrett (2021) and Heppell (2020) also contracted. No one else contracted beyond 2019.

At the end of 2022, we had Merrett signed to 2027, Ridley and Langford to 2026, Laverde, Draper and Reid to 2025, and no one else beyond 2024. That was after some extensions were given to a couple of players to bring some money forward to manage the salary cap.

More recently, long contracts have become common enough in the league and players are traded under contract pretty commonly now and it gives the club leverage in negotiation if it comes to that. Seems to be something of an industry-wide reaction to the free agency landscape, but currently there are three players in the league with 8 years to run on their contracts, being signed to 2032 (Sam Taylor, Connor Rose, Aaron Naughton), and three with 7 years (High McCluggage, Brent Daniels, Nick Blakey). Harry McKay, Josh Daicos, Andy McGrath, Sean Darcy, Josh Treacy, Brennan Cox, Clayton Oliver, Harry Sheezel (6 years). Another 32 have 5 years to go with 2029 expiries.

Of those 46 players, two are Essendon players: Andy McGrath and Ben McKay. Gold Coast have 1, but every other club has at least 2.


In other words, whatever else you might have to say about Dodoro, our list profile has been relatively conservative with regard to contract length under his leadership.


As regards Stringer, he doesn't have the leverage to ask for much, and he already has a contract for next year whether or not he still likes what he agreed to previously. But that's not much to do with Dodoro except that Dodoro would've had a hand in agreeing to those triggers in the first place.
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The McGrath and Parish ones stand out for us because of the simple question: Why? They're hardly in high demand, and hardly irreplaceable. Sign your stars up for the big contracts to avoid people coming knocking. We've locked in 2 very vanilla players which is hard to justify based on their output.

All those players you listed would have considerable interest from rival clubs maybe with the exception of Cox so it makes more sense to lock them in long term.

The fact we don't have more long term contracts is perhaps an indictment on the top end quality of our list.
 
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Pweter said:
The McGrath and Parish ones stand out for us because of the simple question: Why? They're hardly in high demand, and hardly irreplaceable. Sign your stars up for the big contracts to avoid people coming knocking. We've locked in 2 very vanilla players which is hard to justify based on their output.

All those players you listed would have considerable interest from rival clubs maybe with the exception of Cox so it makes more sense to lock them in long term.

The fact we don't have more long term contracts is perhaps an indictment on the top end quality of our list.
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The key to the midfield and the future captain, I imagine. Although the merits of either point are arguable.
 
Lore said:
It seems unlikely that he would be giving out contracts over a particular length or $$ without sign-off at a higher level (CEO/board). Would have to be aligned with 5 year plans and so on. In the past we've only ever had max of about ten players with more than 2 years to go on their contract at any given time, and only a couple with more than 4 years to run at any given time.

For example, at the end of 2016 we had freshly inked contracts for Hurley (2022) and Hooker (2021), with Merrett (2021) and Heppell (2020) also contracted. No one else contracted beyond 2019.

At the end of 2022, we had Merrett signed to 2027, Ridley and Langford to 2026, Laverde, Draper and Reid to 2025, and no one else beyond 2024. That was after some extensions were given to a couple of players to bring some money forward to manage the salary cap.

More recently, long contracts have become common enough in the league and players are traded under contract pretty commonly now and it gives the club leverage in negotiation if it comes to that. Seems to be something of an industry-wide reaction to the free agency landscape, but currently there are three players in the league with 8 years to run on their contracts, being signed to 2032 (Sam Taylor, Connor Rose, Aaron Naughton), and three with 7 years (High McCluggage, Brent Daniels, Nick Blakey). Harry McKay, Josh Daicos, Andy McGrath, Sean Darcy, Josh Treacy, Brennan Cox, Clayton Oliver, Harry Sheezel (6 years). Another 32 have 5 years to go with 2029 expiries.

Of those 46 players, two are Essendon players: Andy McGrath and Ben McKay. Gold Coast have 1, but every other club has at least 2.


In other words, whatever else you might have to say about Dodoro, our list profile has been relatively conservative with regard to contract length under his leadership.


As regards Stringer, he doesn't have the leverage to ask for much, and he already has a contract for next year whether or not he still likes what he agreed to previously. But that's not much to do with Dodoro except that Dodoro would've had a hand in agreeing to those triggers in the first place.
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The knock on adrian isn't that he has a fetish for long contracts.

The knock on him is that he, for 20 years, has filled up on breadsticks at the buffett table- leaving no room in his guts for the real food.

He has a fetish for overpaying (in dollars and additional years) for decent, but unspectacular players.

Rinse and repeat that approach over and over- and suddenly you have a maxxed out cap on a list that is competitive at best- but never a real flag threat.

Why does adrian have this fetish for overpaying for GOPs?

In order to be seen to win trade week every year.

He's clever enough not to do it on too many huge 'big fish' deals- but him doing it across the whole list at a smaller level is why he's hopeless.

He's not filling up on breadsticks by eating a few gigantic breadsticks (ie 5 year + deals.)

But hes doing it via eating a whole mountain of those smaller dinner roles for 20 years- always throwing a few extra years and $$ at GOPs
 
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2006 to 2016 was the killer period

Had we not drafted Gumbleton (we still had Lloyd and Lucas for another 3 years - this still baffles me), Myers, Melksham, Heppell, Kavanagh, Langford, Laverde, Francis and Mcgrath (ALL TOP 20 PICKS) our round 1, 2017 team post saga could have been:

1725428852353.png

Touk Miller played juniors in the Essendon and District Football League and was right under our noses and was VIC METRO CAPTAIN and in our own backyard and WE DIDN'T PICK HIM and took Langford with #17 and Laverde with #20 and Miller went at pick #29!

How exciting to watch would that forward line have been?
 
The_Steadier said:
The knock on adrian isn't that he has a fetish for long contracts.

The knock on him is that he, for 20 years, has filled up on breadsticks at the buffett table- leaving no room in his guts for the real food.

He has a fetish for overpaying (in dollars and additional years) for decent, but unspectacular players.

Rinse and repeat that approach over and over- and suddenly you have a maxxed out cap on a list that is competitive at best- but never a real flag threat.

Why does adrian have this fetish for overpaying for GOPs?

In order to be seen to win trade week every year.

He's clever enough not to do it on too many huge 'big fish' deals- but him doing it across the whole list at a smaller level is why he's hopeless.

He's not filling up on breadsticks by eating a few gigantic breadsticks (ie 5 year + deals.)

But hes doing it via eating a whole mountain of those smaller dinner roles for 20 years- always throwing a few extra years and $$ at GOPs
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ahhhh… that’s the problem!

we’ve been trying to nut it out for 300+ pages and you’ve just come in here and absolutely nailed it!

and you’ve used a bread analogy, and everyone loves bread!
 
brutus76 said:
2006 to 2016 was the killer period

Had we not drafted Gumbleton (we still had Lloyd and Lucas for another 3 years - this still baffles me), Myers, Melksham, Heppell, Kavanagh, Langford, Laverde, Francis and Mcgrath (ALL TOP 20 PICKS) our round 1, 2017 team post saga could have been:

View attachment 2100430

Touk Miller played juniors in the Essendon and District Football League and was right under our noses and was VIC METRO CAPTAIN and in our own backyard and WE DIDN'T PICK HIM and took Langford with #17 and Laverde with #20 and Miller went at pick #29!

How exciting to watch would that forward line have been?
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I'm pretty sure every supporter base could put together a brilliant team of players they've drafted that are good, removing the players they've drafted that were no good, and added players they wished they'd drafted who were available at a given pick.
 
Pweter said:
I'm pretty sure every supporter base could put together a brilliant team of players they've drafted that are good, removing the players they've drafted that were no good, and added players they wished they'd drafted who were available at a given pick.
Click to expand...
The difference is essendon’s recruiting goes from absolutely pathetic to acceptable/decent, whereas other teams go from good to great.
 

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Footy Dept. Adrian Dodoro - Leaving EFC. #putoutyourjackets

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