Recruiting Trade & Free Agency VIII

[Lore]

ATTENTION OPPOSITION POSTERS: You are on the Essendon board - not the draft board, or the main board or your club board. You are welcome to post here but you will mind your manners or you will be carded. Don't waltz in here telling the locals what's happening/not happening, what's dumb etc. By the same token sealioning will also not be tolerated so be warned. You do not have equal standing here no matter how right you think you are.

Spoiler: AFL TRADE, DRAFT AND FREE AGENCY KEY DATES 2020

Draft Combine
Tuesday October 1 - Friday October 4

AFL Grand Final
Saturday October 24

Free Agency Window
Friday October 30 – Friday November 6

AFL Trade Period (Players and picks)
Wednesday November 4 – 7.30pm Thursday November 12

List Lodgement 1
Wednesday November 25

Delisted Free Agency Window 1
Thursday November 26 - Sunday November 29

List Lodgement 2 (Final date for primary list delistings)
Monday November 30

Delisted Free Agency Window 2
Monday November 30 - Tuesday December 1

AFL Trade Period (Picks only)
Concludes Thursday December 3

National Draft
7pm Wednesday December 9

Preseason and Rookie Drafts
12pm Thursday December 10

Final List Lodgement
Mid-December (tbc)

Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period (SSP)
Wednesday January 6, 2021 – will conclude prior to the start of the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

Spoiler: DRAFT ORDER

Any issues with it post in this thread:

Draft discussion goes here: Draft Watch

Father/Son & NGA discussion goes here: James Hird Academy (Father/Son and Next Generation)

Poll results: Who should stay? | Which key forward do you want? | What would you give up to get Josh Dunkley

5

Josh Dunkley

Age

28

Ht

191cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.8

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

11.3

5star

M

4.3

4star

T

5.8

5star

CL

3.2

5star

D

20.7

5star

K

7.0

3star

HB

13.7

5star

M

2.3

2star

T

5.3

5star

CL

2.7

4star

D

14.2

4star

K

7.2

3star

HB

7.0

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

4.0

5star

CL

1.4

4star

?

 

[eDPS]

We are trying to get Houli back, wow

 

[TheGrizz]

We are trying to get Houli back, wow

Wot

 

[Hamez]

 

[citizen-erased]

lol. Saad & Houli together, but in red and black.

Smacks of thinking we're still close & he replaces McKenna's spot.

 

[JayJ20]

Well... That's different and unexpected. If it's for a year to give us some leadership (and if it keeps Saad), then I'd be ok with it. Replaces McKenna.

 

[DapperJong]

Coaching panel thinks we can win it next year.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

I....I don't mind that.

 

[THOMO_31]

If ppl think we are hard to deal with, have you seen gold coasts record.

Love to be proven wrong. But we will see

There's zero chance they don't take that. The pair played 1 out of a possible combined 34 games this year dude.

On SM-G973F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Houli? Absurd.

 

[bennyg12]

Board the joint up

 

[Seb78]

Lol, this ******* club

 

[JayJ20]

Coaching panel thinks we can win it next year.

Not really. Houli is an experienced leader. Even with a rebuild (or a mini rebuild), you still need some experienced players to guide the younger players.

Very much like a Hodge at Brisbane type move and I'm here for it. He knows what it took to buy into Rutten and Caracella's gameplan. May also help us keep Saad.

 

[revival_mode]

Houli lol. this club.

 

[eth-dog]

Houli's not a bad get. Can play the unaccountable McKenna role and adds another lefty to our defensive group.

Gleeson, Francis, Ridley, Hurley, Hooker, Redman, Ambrose, BZT, Guelfi are all right footers. McQuillan and McBride are both righties too I think, but not 100% sure on.
Hird (if he plays HB which I suspect he will) and Saad the only lefties.

 

[VelvetSledge]

I don't mind that idea. A level head in the backline with tons of experience. Could easily transition to coaching after a couple of years playing, and could be the talisman to Saad staying.

Say what you want about his age, but he's a great player. Not the worst idea.

That said, highly doubt it would happen.

 

[JuniorWatch]

It's an absurd idea on the face of where our list is at but I think this might be the club trying to fix cultural issues.
Sounds like the playing group is fractured and Houli is known as a great teammate and rounded person outside football.
Might also be part of the reasoning behind Talia.

 

[mike14]

Not really. Houli is an experienced leader. Even with a rebuild (or a mini rebuild), you still need some experienced players to guide the younger players.

Very much like a Hodge at Brisbane type move and I'm here for it. He knows what it took to buy into Rutten and Caracella's gameplan. May also help us keep Saad.

Zaharakis, Hurley, Hooker, Heppell, Shiel, Smith are all 150+ game players and Merrett is fast approaching that too.
We've got experience, we need talent. Preferably talent in an age bracket which will mean they are still playing good football in ~3 years.
Giving up anything except say Gleeson for Houli would be a trade based on-going over estimation of where our list is at

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Houli has been shielded by talent and system will revert to a spud playing with us.

 

[fargothegreat]

Wow just read the Houli news. Do you guys get this? I thought all the talk was a bit of a rebuild/refresh at Essendon?

 

[citizen-erased]

worth noting that while Houli is 32, Simpson was able to play a similar role until he was 35 (36 this year but did struggle a bit).

2 years not so bad to cover McKenna whilst we find a replacement (and keep Saad )

 

[citizen-erased]

Wow just read the Houli news. Do you guys get this? I thought all the talk was a bit of a rebuild/refresh at Essendon?

tough to say.
Last few years we've gone hard on getting Saad, Shiel, Smith & Stringer in.

This could be our Tigers moment of 2016.
Add the right pieces and finally get things right to bounce up.....someone may need to scour the landscape for some kooks to mount a board challennge...shouldn't be hard these days.

Or we fall in a heap, some people get sacked and we start the rebuild in 2021 or 2022

 

[JayJ20]

Zaharakis, Hurley, Hooker, Heppell, Shiel, Smith are all 150+ game players and Merrett is fast approaching that too.
We've got experience, we need talent. Preferably talent in an age bracket which will mean they are still playing good football in ~3 years.
Giving up anything except say Gleeson for Houli would be a trade based on-going over estimation of where our list is at

I mean successful experienced players, not experience in getting thrashed every EF.

Our interest in Houli to me says that Rutten doesn't rate our experienced players as leaders and quite rightly so. We saw what happened with the whole TBC situation. Current unrest likely stems from that group. On-field leadership is just as big of a need as addressing holes in the list.

Houli also knows what it looks like to implement Caracella and Rutten's gameplan. The likes of McGrath, Ridley, Langford, Merrett and Saad can approach him for on-field guidance. We essentially need an on-field coach and Houli is a perfect fit.

That's the whole reason why Brisbane recruited guys like Birchall and Hodge. It's a part of rebuilding the side.

 

[faible]

Could easily transition to coaching after a couple of years playing, and could be the talisman to Saad staying.

These are the two things that might make some sense.

Does Houli have coaching aspirations? In which case, as we paying him as a player knowing he'll be a part-time coach? Does bringing Houli in keep Saad? Is Houli cover if Saad is leaving?

As a player Houli is fine, but it's not entirely clear as to the purpose or role he'd be playing in my mind right now.

 

[windyhill]

What a joke.

 

[Fin ice Smuggler]

Like Ryder shunned us surely Houli has some battle scars that will be too tough to overcome and come back to Essendon. Our club environment is too toxic for him to contemplate coming back. If I were him I’d take a pay cut to remain a tiger.

he also has life after football on his mind. I don’t think it will be a great fit.