Recruiting AFL Trade & Free Agency XII - 💰💰💰

[Lore]

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Spoiler: 2024 Draft Order

 

[Yoda_]

My hope is simply that we start managing and building a list to try to win a premiership.

Rather than collecting and desperately retaining players as individual assets.

Essendon would never have the sense and clarity to do what Collingwood did with Treloar, Grundy and Stephenson etc.

It’s about building a premiership list, not building a list of players.

that is Dodo's legacy

 

[DeezNuts]

If we’re not doing everything we can to get Perryman/Houston to fix our rebounding issues and moving Martin forward, just blow it all up

It’s pretty simple

 

[Bjchan13]

My hope is simply that we start managing and building a list to try to win a premiership.

Rather than collecting and desperately retaining players as individual assets.

Essendon would never have the sense and clarity to do what Collingwood did with Treloar, Grundy and Stephenson etc.

It’s about building a premiership list, not building a list of players.

You wouldn't know this unless we'd been in Collingwoods position when they did this. We've never been close to it since probably 2002

 

[yodellinhank]

Im starting to agree on this. I want the forward line addressed but the defence is just a much of a worry. Redman has gone backwards. McGrath could be better than what he is delivering with better distributors around him. Laverde MUST be upgraded. Get one elite ball user and pray Reid comes good and the defence looks infinitely better

The forward line at least has a chance, as far as smalls go especially. We're probably drafting a very talented small forward to add to the Daveys, Caddy looks to be able to develop into one of the key planks. Draper should have the ability to be one of those planks until we can find something better.

The backline there is very little there, you could maybe use Roberts back there. Luol is the runner we need but his disposal needs more improvement than Tsatas. He gets lost. We need one probably two back there who can kick.

 

[yodellinhank]

My hope is simply that we start managing and building a list to try to win a premiership.

Rather than collecting and desperately retaining players as individual assets.

Essendon would never have the sense and clarity to do what Collingwood did with Treloar, Grundy and Stephenson etc.

It’s about building a premiership list, not building a list of players.

True, but you probably need to build that from a competitive base. I don't think you can find it all from nowhere.

 

[Bjchan13]

Yeah I think people are forgetting Laverde wasn’t in the round 1 side, and would probably be a great depth player. But shouldn’t be playing seniors and taking the gun key forward, that’s a massive ask.

I have question marks on how Brad deploys the troops in the middle and in the backline and I don’t think he’s getting the most out of them at all, not even close, but the backline is where we lack a bit of quality and smarts.

Definitely have questioned plenty in regards to Brad myself, but i think the backline mess was more a victim of the list and player availability. Could he have given Hayes a few games? Yes, probably but im not sure it makes a huge difference in Hayes development or the teams future. Laverde, Kelly, McGrath and McKay in charge of ball movement from defence is the stuff of nightmares.

 

[katana]

Next year id hope

Plan A - Z Reid (Which it was this year)
PLAN B - L.Hayes
PLAN C - Laverde

i would say hayes will need to be integrating into the first team by the second half of next year, or opposition teams will pry him out.

 

[Yoda_]

The forward line at least has a chance, as far as smalls go especially. We're probably drafting a very talented small forward to add to the Daveys, Caddy looks to be able to develop into one of the key planks. Draper should have the ability to be one of those planks until we can find something better.

The backline there is very little there, you could maybe use Roberts back there. Luol is the runner we need but his disposal needs more improvement than Tsatas. He gets lost. We need one probably two back there who can kick.

I advocated earlier in the year that Durham could be an exceptional half back flanker.. good endurance, skills are good, has the tenacity to defend and awareness to go fwd when it permits.

 

[jdstorm]

My point is you can not wipe them all out in 1 off season.
You get no argument form me about Stringer / Shiel / 2MP / Parish etc . I have been strong on letting them go but it has to be a process spread over a few trade periods.
The Hawks moved their blokes on between the end of 2016 and the end of 2020. They where in fact moving stalwarts out and topping up before they went rebuild. It was only ever 2 or 3 a season.
Shiel / Stringer / Kelly / Weideman / Setterfield this year.
Laverde / look at where Parish is at / look at where 2MP is at / has Draper had a decent year next year.
McGrath the next year.
Of course the order could be moved around but a good list build does not simply dump them in one season.

Agreed…

In terms of moving players on I think of your senior players as scaffolding and how many are needed to maintain structure while guys are learning.

In that instance clearing out more of essendons senior players (due to them being uninterested in maintaining structure) may be more beneficial then in other situations

Just need to replace some of them with more load bearing players


Edit: I know this is wrong in terms of smart list building and adding “scaffolding players” but part of me wonders what the list would look like if you could turn Parish Wright, Redders and a few firsts into Houston and Trac.

The list balance starts to look pretty tantalising.

Ridley mckay McGrath
Houston Reid(Hayes) Roberts
Martin Calders Dursma
Bryan Durham Trac
Langers Caddy Kako
Merrett Draper Geulf

Hobbs Tsatas Perkins Jones

 

[crackers65]

i would say hayes will need to be integrating into the first team by the second half of next year, or opposition teams will pry him out.

Realistically, if Hayes isn’t playing senior footy next year, it means we don’t rate him. If Reid can’t get on the park we can’t afford to keep him either. We are placing a lot of faith in two unproven players.

 

[jdstorm]

Realistically, if Hayes isn’t playing senior footy next year, it means we don’t rate him. If Reid can’t get on the park we can’t afford to keep him either. We are placing a lot of faith in two unproven players.

Think you could move Reid to that Developmental Ruck spot and give him another year or 2

 

[crackers65]

Think you could move Reid to that Developmental Ruck spot and give him another year or 2

Anything is possible if he stays on the park. He is obviously a very talented player, but I have said it before - the best ability is availability.

 

[jdstorm]

Anything is possible if he stays on the park. He is obviously a very talented player, but I have said it before - the best ability is availability.

I agree with you.

I’m just also of the oppinion that sometimes with the really tall players they aren’t ready till age 25 and it would be a shame to spend 5 years developing someone to delist right before they are physically ready

 

[Zach Package]

Definitely have questioned plenty in regards to Brad myself, but i think the backline mess was more a victim of the list and player availability. Could he have given Hayes a few games? Yes, probably but im not sure it makes a huge difference in Hayes development or the teams future. Laverde, Kelly, McGrath and McKay in charge of ball movement from defence is the stuff of nightmares.

Yes I think that is fair, Ridley unavailability hurt a bit as well.

I’m not going to lump McGrath and McKay in with Laverde, Kelly and Heppell because McGrath takes the game forward with his legs and basically always goes forward even if he doesn’t always get it right and McKay locks a man away and intercepts. I’m happy with those two.

In Laverde, Kelly and Heppell you have half a backline that aren’t lock down players, don’t take the game forward and have middling kicking skills, without being overly long kicks either. You can see they always look to pass the parcel and feed backwards.

Never going to work, you can maybe afford to carry one real ball stopper in the backline, not 4. It probably cost us 8 goals last night and similar against Sydney.

 

[Yoda_]

Yes I think that is fair, Ridley unavailability hurt a bit as well.

I’m not going to lump McGrath and McKay in with Laverde, Kelly and Heppell because McGrath takes the game forward with his legs and basically always goes forward even if he doesn’t always get it right and McKay locks a man away and intercepts. I’m happy with those two.

In Laverde, Kelly and Heppell you have half a backline that aren’t lock down players, don’t take the game forward and have middling kicking skills, without being overly long kicks either. You can see they always look to pass the parcel and feed backwards.

Never going to work, you can maybe afford to carry one real ball stopper in the backline, not 4. It probably cost us 8 goals last night and similar against Sydney.

appreciate your unique take on things mate. Where do you see Redman because good, up and going Redman was one the precipice of the AA squad. this year he should have been dropped from a bottom 6 team. A stark contrast. He could be another we should be able to lock away and throw the key away on

 

[yodellinhank]

I advocated earlier in the year that Durham could be an exceptional half back flanker.. good endurance, skills are good, has the tenacity to defend and awareness to go fwd when it permits.

Durham is another one of those extremely rare breeds - he's a footballer. Takes on whatever we ask of him. Have to be a Crichton chance, if not now then later. But I'd hope he can keep doing what he's doing and we find a couple to play back.

 

[FootyGuru]

I advocated earlier in the year that Durham could be an exceptional half back flanker.. good endurance, skills are good, has the tenacity to defend and awareness to go fwd when it permits.

For sure durham could do that. Generally Scott will keep the flexibility within the wing positions. Durham would have been exposed to chopping out down back in stages.

other than the flexibility with some players, he relies on groups and line coaches to fill positions in seniors. Generally if a forward is out he will bring a forward in, hence why Roberts took so long to get a game and menzie and Davey were seemingly gifted games.

I’d even consider a permanent switch of Langford down back. Can’t roll out with leverde and Kelly alongside McKay again

 

[JayJ20]

My hope is simply that we start managing and building a list to try to win a premiership.

Rather than collecting and desperately retaining players as individual assets.

Essendon would never have the sense and clarity to do what Collingwood did with Treloar, Grundy and Stephenson etc.

It’s about building a premiership list, not building a list of players.

Ever since the saga, we seem to be more concerned about losing players rather than thinking about what we can gain from it to fix list balance issues. That's why we see ridiculous contracts being offered to the likes of Parish and McGrath when it was already evident both players were not going to improve more than their output at the time. We're more afraid of bottom out then building a premiership list.

I guess that's the intangible effect of the saga. That each and every re-signing and trade request is worth celebrating about even if it costs us a premiership in the long run.

 

[cAsEy_18]

My hope is simply that we start managing and building a list to try to win a premiership.

Rather than collecting and desperately retaining players as individual assets.

Essendon would never have the sense and clarity to do what Collingwood did with Treloar, Grundy and Stephenson etc.

It’s about building a premiership list, not building a list of players.

Agree with the sentiment, but Treloar and Grundy trades were exclusively salary cap related.

 

[Zach Package]

appreciate your unique take on things mate. Where do you see Redman because good, up and going Redman was one the precipice of the AA squad. this year he should have been dropped from a bottom 6 team. A stark contrast. He could be another we should be able to lock away and throw the key away on

Looks a player devoid of confidence and if they were more organised they would be feeding him much more footy.

If you’re going to have Laverde, Kelly and Heppell feeding back and back and back then he should be the one they are always feeding back to.

Instead he’s getting really, really high up the ground which is just dumb and confusing.

Has capacity to be an 80 metre player every time he touches the ball.

 

[Inspecta Gadget]

So many holes.

Lucky we're a destination club. Who cares about finals when you get to play on Anzac day.

 

[cavalcade]

appreciate your unique take on things mate. Where do you see Redman because good, up and going Redman was one the precipice of the AA squad. this year he should have been dropped from a bottom 6 team. A stark contrast. He could be another we should be able to lock away and throw the key away on

The team is loaded with 6 ft 2-3 half backs. Laverde Redman Heppell Martin Kelly.
When you have too many of one type a few of them are bound to lose consistency. On any given day you won't find roles for all, or even most of them. I believe Redman suffers as a result.

 

[yodellinhank]

Forward wise, the balance has been out of whack since Weid/Wright didn't work out. Seems we try to play 1 true tall, 4 mediums and 1 small. It's not enough small or tall to give a contest and kill it if we lose.

As a rough draft, I think I'd like the mix:

1. A link half forward that works all day long, up and back, pressure and delivery i50. High pressure act, high score involvement, sneak a goal here and there. Work rate essential - Froju, Gresham, Kako. Would sometimes need to play as the defensive HF

2. CHF - Caddy, Wright, Jones

3. A supporting forward. Can be resting mid, can be the lockdown, "striker", fat side, sometimes needs to push up more to the wing - Guelfi, Durham, Roberts, Jones, Cox, guys from 1

4. Third tall - Langers, Stringer (?), Jones, Cox,

5. Stay home small. Needs to hit the scoreboard, needs to crumb, needs to pressure - Sproggy, Guelfi, Froju, (Kako?), resting mid

6. Full forward - Draper, Wright, Vinsentini

There obviously needs to be some time and development, eg Vinsentini is probably at least 3 years away, Davey boys similar - but I think we have room for development there.

 

[Bjchan13]

Forward wise, the balance has been out of whack since Weid/Wright didn't work out. Seems we try to play 1 true tall, 4 mediums and 1 small. It's not enough small or tall to give a contest and kill it if we lose.

As a rough draft, I think I'd like the mix:

1. A link half forward that works all day long, up and back, pressure and delivery i50. High pressure act, high score involvement, sneak a goal here and there. Work rate essential - Froju, Gresham, Kako. Would sometimes need to play as the defensive HF

2. CHF - Caddy, Wright, Jones

3. A supporting forward. Can be resting mid, can be the lockdown, "striker", fat side, sometimes needs to push up more to the wing - Guelfi, Durham, Roberts, Jones, Cox, guys from 1

4. Third tall - Langers, Stringer (?), Jones, Cox,

5. Stay home small. Needs to hit the scoreboard, needs to crumb, needs to pressure - Sproggy, Guelfi, Froju, (Kako?), resting mid

6. Full forward - Draper, Wright, Vinsentini

There obviously needs to be some time and development, eg Vinsentini is probably at least 3 years away, Davey boys similar - but I think we have room for development there.

HF Langford Caddy Gresham
F Kako Wright A Davey

INT Draper (Ruck/fwd)


VFL- Jones, Cox (both playing key position)

Stringer traded possible

 

[ydc55]

HF Langford Caddy Gresham
F Kako Wright A Davey

INT Draper (Ruck/fwd)


VFL- Jones, Cox (both playing key position)

Stringer traded possible

Alwyn davey junior is not fit enough for vfl football.
Unless he gets fair dinkum he will unlikely be on a list by 2026