Club Focus Essendon 2020 - Caldwell, Hund, Wright, Cox, Perkins, Reid, Eyre, Brand

AFL Club Focus

What is the biggest priority at Essendon?

  • Key forwards

    Votes: 30 29.7%

  • Key defenders

    Votes: 7 6.9%

  • Big mids

    Votes: 52 51.5%

  • Ruck division

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 11 10.9%
  • Total voters
    101

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Data from footywire. To check the draft order (updated weekly) see the thread here.
 
I can certainly understand Essendon not paying 2 first rounders for Dunkley. But if I was an Essendon fan I would be pretty frustrated that they will go into another year with arguably the physically softest and smallest midfield in the league.
 
Brutalitops said:
Thats as equally troubling. If they want a rating system thats fine (i guess) but you need consistency. I would hope at a minimum they arent just saying values without providing a context.

Like not just going: communication; ability; determination; courage; and commitment for example. But really explaining to the players what those attributes encapsulate and why the club values them.
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I think the values are also defined by the group, under Worsfold it was all supposed to be super player driven. I’m not sure how much they redevelop those year on year. Also means it’s a moving target for anyone wanting to get into the leadership group.
 

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Lore said:
I think the values are also defined by the group, under Worsfold it was all supposed to be super player driven. I’m not sure how much they redevelop those year on year. Also means it’s a moving target for anyone wanting to get into the leadership group.
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That sounds like a healthy mix of anarchy and Calvinball. How often does your leadership group change every season?
 
Brutalitops said:
That sounds like a healthy mix of anarchy and Calvinball. How often does your leadership group change every season?
Click to expand...
It’s called a revolving door for a reason, I can’t keep up with it anymore. From what I can remember without looking anything up:

Merrett, and Daniher were left out this year, Myers retired and Fantasia was voted back in but wanted to focus on getting his body right so didn’t accept the nomination. So everyone bar Heppell was added in 2020 (Shiel, Smith, Zaharakis, Hurley).

Before that Hurley and I think Zaka were dropped from the group in 2019, in 2018 we did a “leadership group of the future” thing that seemed to be driven by the marketing department, hence Daniher and Fantasia added alongside Merrett Goddard Heppell Hooker Hurley iirc

2017 also had a 7 man group that included Goddard, with Heppell as captain for the first time (he’s held the job since then).

2016 was Heppell Hurley Hooker Goddard Myers Baguley I think?, with Watson as captain. Goddard and Baguley were the only senior players left. I think that was the first year Merrett was in as well (as a 21yo) and he captained a game or two later in the year.
 
How can Essendon fans with a son of a club legend leaving their team because of the poor medical treatment he got, or their best half back flanker, or even their best small forward when fit? On top of bringing in 2 players that have barely played or haven't played the year and another small mid? Not to mention failing once again to bring in a big body mid?

I would be ropable at the club. It's their worst trade season by a mile. Even the AFL site ranked it the 2nd worst team in the trade period. The 3 top 10 pick doesn't even begin to cover the talent lost.
 
Ash1337 said:
How can Essendon fans with a son of a club legend leaving their team because of the poor medical treatment he got, or their best half back flanker, or even their best small forward when fit? On top of bringing in 2 players that have barely played or haven't played the year and another small mid? Not to mention failing once again to bring in a big body mid?

I would be ropable at the club. It's their worst trade season by a mile. Even the AFL site ranked it the 2nd worst team in the trade period. The 3 top 10 pick doesn't even begin to cover the talent lost.
Click to expand...

I am not 'ropable' at my club and to explain why I will address some of your points. First please provide a source for your claim that Joe left Essendon because of 'poor medical treatment' - I call bs. Daniher didn't want to be in Melbourne. How is that the clubs fault? The fact is based on his last three seasons, we aren't losing much. We could potentially be far better off with Wright + Pick 7.

Fantasia is a loss but he wanted to go home to Adelaide. He has major concerns with his durability. We still have Tippa and Mosquito as options. We also drafted Ned Cahill recently who has already played a few games. We will be just fine without Fantasia, who may never consistently play at his 2017 level again.

You state that we recruited 'another small mid'. Who is this? If you mean Caldwell, he is about bang on the average height for AFL midfielders - he is not small at all. And if you look at his draft profiles, his contested game is actually a strength. I am very happy with his addition.

With Daniher gone we absolutely needed to get a KPF. Why would Cameron or Brown come to a club that is rebuilding when they are closer to the end of their careers? That is a hard sell. In Wright's best season he kicked 31 goals in 22 games. As a comparison, Naughton's best season has produced 32 goals in 23 games. Wallis was your top scorer this year with 25 goals in 18 games. In other recent years Billy Gowers was your best with 26 and Stringer with 24. You brought Bruce in to try and help things but even he only managed 14 goals in 17 games (and 6 of those were against a very poor north).
I think Peter Wright can do better than some of those examples and will be fine as a stop gap.

Now you mention that we failed to bring in a bid bodied mid. If we don't address our midfield sooner than later this is indeed a big fail. But we did try to get Dunkely. And we still have three top draft picks to use this year. There are those type of players available in the draft, so you might be going a bit early here.
At least we have finally shown intent to fix it.

The biggest losses for me are Saad and Mckenna. Mckenna was terribly homesick and wanted to go home to Ireland. Not much you can do. Saad was unexpected and very disappointing. You aren't going to be able to replace players like that immediately.

Overall I am optimistic for our future. This has basically forced us into a rebuild we really need. Adding young kids with picks 6+7+8 + Caldwell + two NGA KPPs is a really good start. We should have a good pick in 2021 which offers some really exciting top end prospects. And then in 2022 we get access to the Davey twins as f/s selections.
Things can turn around quicker than people are expecting for the Bombers.
 
Ash1337 said:
I would be ropable at the club. It's their worst trade season by a mile. Even the AFL site ranked it the 2nd worst team in the trade period. The 3 top 10 pick doesn't even begin to cover the talent lost.
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I heed little attention to what the media say. In previous years we have apparently won trade period and what has that got us?
Saad is a huge loss and definitely one that I hope the club comes clean about but we have hardly seen Joe or Fantasia for 3 years so as much as it hurts to lose them it was the right move to let them go.
I’m under no illusions the club will take a big step backwards but most fans have been crying for a rebuild instead of a quick fix and these blokes leaving have forced the hand of the club to start at the very least a decent clean out. We get 3 top 10 picks plus Caldwell who I rate highly and get to add a couple of promising Academy picks. So I effect we have 6 kids coming in to the mix who hopefully turn into quality 10 year players (our talent development is still an issue though ) Next year we lose a couple more veterans and will add a top 2 pick in a good draft plus a couple of F/S picks and hopefully have some other decent picks. So in a 2period we could potentially bring in 10 or more kids which is a good building block going forward
 
Walt Kowalski said:
"How does Dodoro get it done?"

What exactly?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Dunkley thing was a real coup.

Interesting Jason McCartney’s comments haven’t been raised here.
 

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Dodoro did exactly what he has been doing for years - his ego gets in the way and wants to win every trade he's involved in. Cannot see a bigger picture and as result Essendon list seems to have gone backwards again.

Biggest shortcoming for Essendon seems to be that your midfield lacks true inside grunt - Dunkley would provide that in spades for the next 5+ years but despite being handed a compensation gift by the Lions for Daniher, Dodoro then refuses to "lose" a trade by paying overs for what you actually need.
 
pebblesofsand said:
Dodoro did exactly what he has been doing for years - his ego gets in the way and wants to win every trade he's involved in. Cannot see a bigger picture and as result Essendon list seems to have gone backwards again.

Biggest shortcoming for Essendon seems to be that your midfield lacks true inside grunt - Dunkley would provide that in spades for the next 5+ years but despite being handed a compensation gift by the Lions for Daniher, Dodoro then refuses to "lose" a trade by paying overs for what you actually need.
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Hmm. Before this, who was the last player we failed to bring in when they nominated us?
 
pebblesofsand said:
Dodoro did exactly what he has been doing for years - his ego gets in the way and wants to win every trade he's involved in. Cannot see a bigger picture and as result Essendon list seems to have gone backwards again.

Biggest shortcoming for Essendon seems to be that your midfield lacks true inside grunt - Dunkley would provide that in spades for the next 5+ years but despite being handed a compensation gift by the Lions for Daniher, Dodoro then refuses to "lose" a trade by paying overs for what you actually need.
Click to expand...
Our future first was never going to be offered as it will be a top 4 (most likely top 2) pick next year. We could have offered 2 top 10 picks and they wouldn’t have taken it as is their right. They were adamant our future first had to be part of the deal. We move and as much as I would have loved him he isn’t the difference between us finishing 12-18th again and playing finals
 
Messenger said:
Yeah, the Dunkley thing was a real coup.

Interesting Jason McCartney’s comments haven’t been raised here.
Click to expand...
Because he's still bitter about the Stringer trade?
 
eth-dog said:
Hmm. Before this, who was the last player we failed to bring in when they nominated us?
Click to expand...
Great8 said:
Our future first was never going to be offered as it will be a top 4 (most likely top 2) pick next year. We could have offered 2 top 10 picks and they wouldn’t have taken it as is their right. They were adamant our future first had to be part of the deal. We move and as much as I would have loved him he isn’t the difference between us finishing 12-18th again and playing finals
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Just seems weird to me that you finished 8th last year and now you are more concerned about first round draft picks and a rebuild.

Begs the question - why bother convincing a contracted player, of a type that you desperately need, to nominate you if you weren't prepared to give up first rounders and pay overs for them?
 
pebblesofsand said:
Begs the question - why bother convincing a contracted player, of a type that you desperately need, to nominate you if you weren't prepared to give up first rounders and pay overs for them?
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I can’t answer that.
I’d give up two of 6,7 or 8 but not a future first. That was not going to get the job done so we should have cut and run earlier
 
Ash1337 said:
How can Essendon fans with a son of a club legend leaving their team because of the poor medical treatment he got, or their best half back flanker, or even their best small forward when fit? On top of bringing in 2 players that have barely played or haven't played the year and another small mid? Not to mention failing once again to bring in a big body mid?

I would be ropable at the club. It's their worst trade season by a mile. Even the AFL site ranked it the 2nd worst team in the trade period. The 3 top 10 pick doesn't even begin to cover the talent lost.
Click to expand...
I don't agree with the Daniher and Fantasia parts being costly to the club as they have barely played but Saad is a huge lose. Trying to get Dunkley and not putting our future 1st on the table is just dumb. In a normal year, yes our firsts from this year would have enticed the doggies but it's not a normal year, they didn't want or need this year's firsts just to waste them on matching a bid and for us to either not understand that or not care about that is frustrating. If 2 firsts were too much and we walked I would understand that more if we at least had pick 8 and next year's first for Dunkley and future 2nd and the doggies said no rather than not even trying to offer something good. Last time we took 2 top 10s together we ended up with Parish and Francis so really have no faith with what this draft period will bring. I get the whole youth argument but he's 23 not 26 so still getting a long future out of him.
 
The Reasons why Essendon haven’t won a final in fifteen+ years.

1. Recruitment and development- Recruiting players who are unable to take the next step towards AFL level. Recruiting flankers instead of Inside Midfielders, the inability to find key position talent bar key defenders.
Always looking for fringe players from rival clubs who become busts or players out of there prime. Adrian Dodoro is the man who runs it and has for how many years now?

Dodoro also routinely sours realshionships with rival clubs due to his time wasting, inability to take a net gain loss and stupid requests of star players. His stubbornness has cost us multiple deals throughout the years.

2. Boys Club- Essendon is run by ex-Essendon people who see any outside threat as the enemy. It’s become quite apparent that you will not gain any favour if you aren’t an Essendon person. Although that might sound good it leads to a lack of accountability from the top.

3- Medical/Fitness staff- For Years Essendon have been poorly run through these areas. Every year injuries seem to take a toll yet no one can find the answer to it. The players are unable to routinely run out four quarters. Many players with potential have had there careers cut short at Bombers due to injury.

4. Corporate Greed- The club has refused to completely bottom out like Hawthorn, Carlton or Richmond. The club would rather 8 to 10 wins a season that keeps memberships at a suitable level.

5. Media spin-doctors- A blantant refusual to call out Dodoro and co for their mismanagement. Especially during the off-season.

6. Arrogance- The club’s arrogance from the top. The club’s inability to realise its an eighteen team league now and there’s no cutting corners.

I love this club but I can see where the rot lies. Until it’s fixed properly Essendon will never rise from the ashes.
 

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Club Focus Essendon 2020 - Caldwell, Hund, Wright, Cox, Perkins, Reid, Eyre, Brand

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