Team Mgmt. Talk about the makeup of our list - midfield balance, height profile, endurance runners

[BrunoV]

In good midfields you don’t have designated blockers or chasers. Players just read the field and act accordingly to the field that’s laid out before them.

It depends. When you've got Dusty, Petracca, Oliver or Fyfe you can set up around them.

Why you would set up around Parish is beyond me. No where near dangerous or good enough. It's just coming up with reasons to maintain what we have out of sentiment.

 

[ant555]

I do understand that Hobbs is something different to what the other guys in the midfield do, my point remains though that the more team orientated foot soldiers can be found later in the draft.

Agree. I do not think we have to pick a midfielder straight up if there is a better player that is not a midfielder. I have been on it for years about not picking the likes of Luke Parker or Jack Graham in the 30 - 50 range of the draft. I will say this and that is if there is a team beast midfielder with genuine leadership and running power then we take him. We need the star team player as much as we need the Jack Graham mid draft. I know we need KPF but if we can not get the footy to him then he can not kick goals.

 

[CBombers17]

Right now if you had to pick 3 of the same type for our midfield it would be Hobbs by the length of the Flemington straight.

 

[ant555]

What is wrong with you people bringing up Merrett and Parish as trade bait, are you nuts. I'm pretty brash with my calls but even I wouldn't go there.

They are our pillars for the structure. Fix up the rest of the field and culture and they'll push forward. The problem isn't them, it's our dumb blindness in not cleaning out Heppell, Francis, pursuing with Zerk, Stewart as defenders when one is a dud and the latter is a forward at best, and putting our hopes on VFL-dimes and venerating B-grade footballers in Snelling, Durham, Waterman, Baldwin and making dumb trades like Kelly instead of focusing on actual big bodied players that can accommodate Zach and Darc.

Let it be known that until we stop trying to be Richmond 2.0, until we clear out Dodo, until we give Heppell his jacket and start giving up more than what we expect back, we will not be a side worthy of a flag.

Anyway back to Shiel.

Parish is a pillar built on sand. His total disregard to defending is one of our biggest issues. Of course if down hill skiers float your boat then that is fine.

 

[faible]

Parish is a pillar built on sand. His total disregard to defending is one of our biggest issues. Of course if down hill skiers float your boat then that is fine.

I'm not sure if you've seen the rest of his takes on EFC but that's one of his less bad ones.

 

[Lore]

Parish is a pillar built on sand. His total disregard to defending is one of our biggest issues. Of course if down hill skiers float your boat then that is fine.

He was better with the defensive stuff when he was playing as a small forward. Something about being at the coal face idk.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

This crazy fix the midfield and all is ok at Essendon talk here is just as bad as our board of directors and the whole culture.

Let me spell this out for everyone quite simply.

MIDFIELD > DEFENCE > FORWARD LINE

Lets look at fixing our defence and forward line before we rush into trying to create a midfield of Hird, Judd, Ablett, Dangerfield to paper the cracks of the rest of the 22.

FFS.

 

[faible]

This crazy fix the midfield and all is ok at Essendon talk here is just as bad as our board of directors and the whole culture.

Let me spell this out for everyone quite simply.

MIDFIELD > DEFENCE > FORWARD LINE

Lets look at fixing our defence and forward line before we rush into trying to create a midfield of Hird, Judd, Ablett, Dangerfield to paper the cracks of the rest of the 22.

FFS.

I'm quite convinced you haven't watched modern football if you think the midfield is the last thing we should address.

 

[katana]

Lets look at fixing our defence and forward line before we rush into trying to create a midfield of Hird, Judd, Ablett, Dangerfield to paper the cracks of the rest of the 22

no one is suggesting this, we just want midfielders who can run and defend.

 

[Yoda_]

We can talk about that big bodied midfielder all we want but until we address the real elephant int he room, we will maintain the myriad of mediocrity for another 20 years.

Smith is finished
Waterman offers nothing but (trying to) kick goals
Francis should be delisted at years end
Guelfi played some forward and didn't lay a tackle (at all during the game)
We were resorting to playing Bryan and Draper as KPF due to no size up fwd.

I know we have injuries but we have no depth to even attempt to cover these injuries. Just putting players in to fill that position, not through natural list management. Another indictment on Adrian Dodoro.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I understand not wanting to blame injuries but with no Hooker, Stringer, Jones, Tipungwuti or Snelling you are taking out 5 of last years 6 starting forwards which will truly **** any forward line.

Obviously Hooker is the exception, I think retiring him with zero plan to replace him is a massive failure by the club. We are seeing how very important he was, everyone talked about how cooked he was, but he kicked 35 goals and was a hugely important target. We walked him out the door with nothing to replace him.

 

[Skipper_]

What is this side missing to compete around 2026? Ages at that point in brackets.

B: Mason Redman

27

Mason Redman

Age

27

Ht

187cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.2

4star

K

10.1

4star

HB

5.1

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.7

4star

MG

262.0

4star

D

12.0

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

4.2

3star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.8

3star

MG

210.3

3star

D

12.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.0

4star

M

4.4

4star

T

2.4

4star

MG

144.2

3star

(28) - Zach Reid (24) - Jayden Laverde

15

Jayden Laverde

Age

28

Ht

193cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.8

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.8

4star

MG

152.8

2star

D

8.8

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

3star

MG

116.5

2star

D

11.2

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

5.8

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

3.6

5star

MG

141.2

3star

(30)
HB: Andrew McGrath

1

Andrew Mcgrath

Age

26

Ht

180cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.7

5star

K

11.6

4star

HB

11.1

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

6.4

5star

MG

252.9

4star

D

22.7

5star

K

11.6

4star

HB

11.1

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

6.4

5star

MG

252.9

4star

D

22.0

5star

K

11.0

4star

HB

11.0

5star

M

1.2

2star

T

6.4

5star

MG

219.0

4star

(27) - Jordan Ridley

14

Jordan Ridley

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.6

4star

K

11.1

4star

HB

4.5

3star

M

6.4

5star

T

1.7

4star

MG

244.8

4star

D

17.0

4star

K

11.9

5star

HB

5.1

3star

M

6.7

5star

T

1.7

3star

MG

265.4

4star

D

13.8

4star

K

9.6

4star

HB

4.2

4star

M

5.2

5star

T

1.4

4star

MG

208.2

4star

(27) - Nik Cox (24)
C: Elijah Tsatas (21) - Ben Hobbs (22) - Zach Merrett (30)
HF: Nic Martin (25) - Harrison Jones (25) - Kyle Langford

4

Kyle Langford

Age

27

Ht

192cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.7

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

7.3

5star

M

3.9

4star

T

3.3

5star

G

0.7

4star

D

17.4

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

8.4

4star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.6

3star

G

0.7

4star

D

8.2

2star

K

3.2

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

2.0

3star

T

2.6

4star

G

0.6

3star

(29)
F: Sam Draper (27) - Peter Wright (29) - Tex Wanganeen (22)
R: Nick Bryan (24) - Darcy Parish

3

Darcy Parish

Age

27

Ht

180cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

20.4

5star

K

9.2

4star

HB

11.2

5star

M

3.2

3star

T

3.3

5star

CL

3.2

5star

D

16.6

4star

K

7.4

3star

HB

9.1

5star

M

1.4

2star

T

2.0

3star

CL

3.1

4star

D

22.2

5star

K

7.6

3star

HB

14.6

5star

M

3.2

4star

T

4.4

5star

CL

3.6

5star

(28) - Archie Perkins (24)
I/C: Jye Caldwell

6

Jye Caldwell

Age

24

Ht

183cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.3

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

6.5

4star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.7

5star

CL

1.8

4star

D

14.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

7.3

4star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.3

4star

CL

1.8

4star

D

13.6

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

3.8

5star

CL

1.6

4star

(25) - Alwyn Davey

Multiple players found. Use birthday to differentiate. eg [PLAYERCARD="23/11/1962"]Joe Smith[/PLAYERCARD]

Jr. (21) - Sam Durham (24) - Will Snelling

11

Will Snelling

Age

27

Ht

175cm

Wt

79kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

4.7

2star

HB

9.4

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

4.8

5star

G

0.8

4star

D

12.6

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

8.3

4star

M

1.3

1star

T

5.6

5star

G

0.4

3star

D

16.2

4star

K

5.2

2star

HB

11.0

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

3.8

5star

G

1.2

4star

(28)

 

[monty1104]

What is this side missing to compete around 2026? Ages at that point in brackets.

B: Mason Redman (28) - Zach Reid (24) - Jayden Laverde (30)
HB: Andrew McGrath (27) - Jordan Ridley (27) - Nik Cox (24)
C: Elijah Tsatas (21) - Ben Hobbs (22) - Zach Merrett (30)
HF: Nic Martin (25) - Harrison Jones (25) - Kyle Langford (29)
F: Sam Draper (27) - Peter Wright (29) - Tex Wanganeen (22)
R: Nick Bryan (24) - Darcy Parish (28) - Archie Perkins (24)
I/C: Jye Caldwell (25) - Alwyn Davey Jr. (21) - Sam Durham (24) - Will Snelling (28)

Thing is, most of those players are best 22 players right now. There’d need to be a lot of improvement from within if this team was to be competitive in 2026. I feel like we need 2 more KPD, another Key forward and a couple more big bodied midfielders. We are just too small.

 

[citizen-erased]

What is this side missing to compete around 2026? Ages at that point in brackets.

B: Mason Redman (28) - Zach Reid (24) - Jayden Laverde (30)
HB: Andrew McGrath (27) - Jordan Ridley (27) - Nik Cox (24)
C: Elijah Tsatas (21) - Ben Hobbs (22) - Zach Merrett (30)
HF: Nic Martin (25) - Harrison Jones (25) - Kyle Langford (29)
F: Sam Draper (27) - Peter Wright (29) - Tex Wanganeen (22)
R: Nick Bryan (24) - Darcy Parish (28) - Archie Perkins (24)
I/C: Jye Caldwell (25) - Alwyn Davey Jr. (21) - Sam Durham (24) - Will Snelling (28)

Proper CHB (be surprised if lav's body holds up until 30. Slide ridley back).

Someone other than hobbs as a contested beast in the middle

 

[Duckworth]

I know your stocks are meant to rise while you're out injured, but serious question. Has Zerk-Thatcher gone past Stewart as a defender? BZT has been dropped but hasn't really made any eye-catching mistakes.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

I know your stocks are meant to rise while you're out injured, but serious question. Has Zerk-Thatcher gone past Stewart as a defender? BZT has been dropped but hasn't really made any eye-catching mistakes.

There is so much going on here, my brain is going to explode.

 

[ant555]

Not a lot is going to change until we get players who’s nature is the play a more physical game. Right now it is not in the nature of a lot of these guys to play hard uncompromising football.
We play most weeks without applying any physical pressure.
We just can’t afford to draft anyone that is not a super competitor from this point.

 

[Zach Package]

Not a lot is going to change until we get players who’s nature is the play a more physical game. Right now it is not in the nature of a lot of these guys to play hard uncompromising football.
We play most weeks without applying any physical pressure.
We just can’t afford to draft anyone that is not a super competitor from this point.

Might mean sacrificing a highly credentialed assistant coach but I’d argue we need to break the bank on player development and strength and conditioning just as much as look at the type of player we get in the door.

 

[ant555]

Might mean sacrificing a highly credentialed assistant coach but I’d argue we need to break the bank on player development and strength and conditioning just as much as look at the type of player we get in the door.

My experience is it is either in a person’s nature or it is not. No amount of development changes that. We have a line up of assistant coaches all from successful systems anyway.

 

[Zach Package]

My experience is it is either in a person’s nature or it is not. No amount of development changes that. We have a line up of assistant coaches all from successful systems anyway.

Fair comment, perhaps they all need to change just as much.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Harry Lemmey pls

 

[quotemokc]

Forwards are so hard to replace.

Until 2017 our forwardline was atrocious for years post Lloyd then we finally had Danhier, Fantasia, Tippa, Hooker, McKernan for 1 season.

Now we are down to the injured Stringer.

We desperately need to find 2 small forwards that are super fast. No more Guelfi's, Smith's and Cahill's of the world.

Hopefully the Davey Twins can be something immediately as it is a position where natural talent exceeds moreso than needing to develop like talls do.

 

[citizen-erased]

Big reason we're struggling. Just have no goal outlets

Snelling, langford, jones and stringer gonna make a massive difference to wright and perkins

Tippa a huge loss.

 

[MiguelM]

Forwards are so hard to replace.

Until 2017 our forwardline was atrocious for years post Lloyd then we finally had Danhier, Fantasia, Tippa, Hooker, McKernan for 1 season.

Now we are down to the injured Stringer.

We desperately need to find 2 small forwards that are super fast. No more Guelfi's, Smith's and Cahill's of the world.

Hopefully the Davey Twins can be something immediately as it is a position where natural talent exceeds moreso than needing to develop like talls do.

In spades. When the ball hits the deck it is transported with lightspeed to the opposition forward line. Tippa's retirement has made the situation dire. More pressing than a big bodied midfielder IMO.

We have no pure speed, in fact the opposite.

We should be getting as many games into Wanganeen as possible.

49 entries for 48 points is atrocious.

 

[MattyB3150]

I understand not wanting to blame injuries but with no Hooker, Stringer, Jones, Tipungwuti or Snelling you are taking out 5 of last years 6 starting forwards which will truly duck any forward line.

Obviously Hooker is the exception, I think retiring him with zero plan to replace him is a massive failure by the club. We are seeing how very important he was, everyone talked about how cooked he was, but he kicked 35 goals and was a hugely important target. We walked him out the door with nothing to replace him.

Chuck Langford into that group too. Think we would have used him forward even more this year. Can’t wait till he returns.