View Full Version : Bendigo Bombers departures
What is with all the departures from Bendigo? Cloke, Maddern, Connaughton, Carter, Rosa, and now Jolley. How can they expect to even be competitive next season coupled with the losses from our senior list
All that can be hoped is that we pick up a few experienced types that get rejected on December 11th, that's when the usual big signings are anyway.
It's a bit premature to be worrying about the VFL though, things get settled far later in the piece than at AFL level.
The Dustbin
4 Dec 2007, 20:24
What about Skipworth? The forgotton man.......
football_legends
4 Dec 2007, 20:31
What is with all the departures from Bendigo? Cloke, Maddern, Connaughton, Carter, Rosa, and now Jolley. How can they expect to even be competitive next season coupled with the losses from our senior list
i am a mad essendon fan but cloke was a joke!
cannoughton unlucky,i thought jolley was a good player!:thumbsd:
In my opinion, a good VFL side should be a sign of a good AFL side.
If we don't have to depth to force some very good players into the VFL each week, then I guess that's just bad luck.
The_Young_Gun
4 Dec 2007, 21:06
Any of you heard of Flaherty, he's been playing for bendigo this year and was just wondering. I don't know much about him but on all of our VFL report cards this season he has been put on our best players list for most of the bendigo's games.
I dunno, he might be a dud who just gets a lot of the ball or could be a good PSD prospect.
The Dustbin
4 Dec 2007, 21:06
Despite our great relationship with Bendigo, I would still like to see Essendon field their own VFL team.
Does anybody know when the the contract/agreement is up?
In my opinion, a good VFL side should be a sign of a good AFL side.
If we don't have to depth to force some very good players into the VFL each week, then I guess that's just bad luck.
the that have left weren't on our list anyway, so it won't effect our depth
Any of you heard of Flaherty, he's been playing for bendigo this year and was just wondering. I don't know much about him but on all of our VFL report cards this season he has been put on our best players list for most of the bendigo's games.
I dunno, he might be a dud who just gets a lot of the ball or could be a good PSD prospect.
i think you're thinking of someone else. if i'm not mistaken flaherty is bendigo's young fullback who had a decent year. i wouldn't have thought he would get rookied this year especially as we have already drafted a few key backs
Despite our great relationship with Bendigo, I would still like to see Essendon field their own VFL team.
Does anybody know when the the contract/agreement is up?
i think the deal runs out at the end of 2009
The_Young_Gun
4 Dec 2007, 21:31
Yeah thats him, Flaherty the full back, I don't mean he was in the best's list in the whole VFL. I mean on the Essendon website they have report cards on every bendigo match and just saw his name come up regulary on the bendigo's top 5 players for the match. Thought he could be someone we would think about elevating into our list.
Was just curious about him is all.
Any news on Jason Clokes chances in coming to Essendon, I havn't heard anything yet.
the that have left weren't on our list anyway, so it won't effect our depth
Of those that played in the VFL consistently we have lost Bradley, Bolton and Heffernan all who were very handy at that level, not to mention Campo and MJ at times!
It was about time Bendigo had a shake up anyway. They had to clear a lot of guys out and start again in a more profesional manor.
Cloke and Jolley left simply becasue of travel. They wont get drafted so they needed a Melbourne based club to play VFL with. I can understand them not wanting to travel to Bendigo a couple times a week for training on top of what work comitments they have.
Connaughton was never going to get fit enough. Continual trouble with groin injuries on top of his work ment he could never train hard enough.
Maddern was always injured and hasnt shown a lot of form for a while now.
Carter could do enough training becasue of his work and to be honest i dont think Rosa will be as big of a loss as people think. He was a turnover king who constantly turned back into traffic when he had the footy. Yes he could win a lot of it but he also put his team mates under a lot of pressure with his disposal and constant u turns.
It will more than likely be a tough year for Bendigo , from what i have heard there will be a lot of kids on the list. There are a few from the Bendigo Pioneers who didnt get drafted that are training with the squad.
They will have a few solid players on the list in Skipworth , Tim Plummer , Jarrod Atkinson (if he doesnt get rookied) , Micheal Pilcher ( who did well in the ruck late last season). As far as i know Flaherty and young Weeks playing again. They have David Martin who played in the national champs last year for NSW/ACT. He is a 204cm ruckman from North Shore in Sydney who played some games for the Swans reserves.
If they can sign a couple more players things might not be as bad.
With Knights pushing them to become a profesional outfit and making sure they are going to be fit at least they are heading in the right direction.
Im not too sure what the long term future holds. I have never had a problem with the alignment . We have been able to run our own race and play players where we have wanted but there are still a few problems. The fitness issue now appears to be sorted with them having a new conditioning coach but there are a couple of other problems.
First up it is hard to attract quality players. Employment opertunities in Bendigo are not as easy to come by as they are in Melbourne so good players generally have to base themselves down here for work. It is much easier to train at a Melbourne based club than traveling to Bendigo two or three times per week and spending $150 a week on petrol .
On top of that it was originally hoped that Bendigo would provide a lot of kids who didnt get drafted from the Pioneers a chance to play footy at the next level. This hasnt worked on two fronts. First of all the kids dont end up staying in the Bendigo area. They move on for work or back home to Swan Hill, Midura or where ever once their days at Pioneers have ended. The other problem is the Pioneers have had a poor run in recent times. They havn't had a lot of quality kids coming through to give them depth.
Thirdly the sponsorship oppertunities and corperate money just isnt there in Bendigo. They never have the budget they want. Unless Essendon bite the bullet and put in more cash then it wont improve any and here lies the next problem. If we have to pump in more cash then we might as well spend the money on our own reserves side playing out of WH.
The contract is up at the end of 2009. Knights has set a plan in place for Bendigo as well. At the end of 2009 we will have to weigh up if this plan is moving forward and looks like being a winner and how much we will lose in strategic marketing and potential membership in the area against the cost and benifits of having our own seconds side based in Melbourne.
As i have said i have no real problems with the alignment but i just belive that the money won't ever be there unless Essendon put more in and it may be better to have our own side in the future .
B-Bomber
4 Dec 2007, 23:31
:thumbsu: Ant
I too like the Bendigo alignment (in principle, have a good mate from there).
They will see how successful Geelong and Collingwood as stand alone VFL sides fair and this will hopefully put the pressure on to perform otherwise lose the alignment when the contract runs out.
For me, if it doesn't get better by 2009 then we should move on, that being said, if it does get better, I won't mind! (either way, it gets better).
yes agree with ant but i think we should head in the direction of going alone and just getting topup players. I think we would retain more higher quality footballers if we were at windy hill and i would like to see footy been played at windy hill on a more regular basis again
It was about time Bendigo had a shake up anyway. They had to clear a lot of guys out and start again in a more profesional manor.
Cloke and Jolley left simply becasue of travel. They wont get drafted so they needed a Melbourne based club to play VFL with. I can understand them not wanting to travel to Bendigo a couple times a week for training on top of what work comitments they have.
Connaughton was never going to get fit enough. Continual trouble with groin injuries on top of his work ment he could never train hard enough.
Maddern was always injured and hasnt shown a lot of form for a while now.
Carter could do enough training becasue of his work and to be honest i dont think Rosa will be as big of a loss as people think. He was a turnover king who constantly turned back into traffic when he had the footy. Yes he could win a lot of it but he also put his team mates under a lot of pressure with his disposal and constant u turns.
It will more than likely be a tough year for Bendigo , from what i have heard there will be a lot of kids on the list. There are a few from the Bendigo Pioneers who didnt get drafted that are training with the squad.
They will have a few solid players on the list in Skipworth , Tim Plummer , Jarrod Atkinson (if he doesnt get rookied) , Micheal Pilcher ( who did well in the ruck late last season). As far as i know Flaherty and young Weeks playing again. They have David Martin who played in the national champs last year for NSW/ACT. He is a 204cm ruckman from North Shore in Sydney who played some games for the Swans reserves.
If they can sign a couple more players things might not be as bad.
With Knights pushing them to become a profesional outfit and making sure they are going to be fit at least they are heading in the right direction.
Im not too sure what the long term future holds. I have never had a problem with the alignment . We have been able to run our own race and play players where we have wanted but there are still a few problems. The fitness issue now appears to be sorted with them having a new conditioning coach but there are a couple of other problems.
First up it is hard to attract quality players. Employment opertunities in Bendigo are not as easy to come by as they are in Melbourne so good players generally have to base themselves down here for work. It is much easier to train at a Melbourne based club than traveling to Bendigo two or three times per week and spending $150 a week on petrol .
On top of that it was originally hoped that Bendigo would provide a lot of kids who didnt get drafted from the Pioneers a chance to play footy at the next level. This hasnt worked on two fronts. First of all the kids dont end up staying in the Bendigo area. They move on for work or back home to Swan Hill, Midura or where ever once their days at Pioneers have ended. The other problem is the Pioneers have had a poor run in recent times. They havn't had a lot of quality kids coming through to give them depth.
Thirdly the sponsorship oppertunities and corperate money just isnt there in Bendigo. They never have the budget they want. Unless Essendon bite the bullet and put in more cash then it wont improve any and here lies the next problem. If we have to pump in more cash then we might as well spend the money on our own reserves side playing out of WH.
The contract is up at the end of 2009. Knights has set a plan in place for Bendigo as well. At the end of 2009 we will have to weigh up if this plan is moving forward and looks like being a winner and how much we will lose in strategic marketing and potential membership in the area against the cost and benifits of having our own seconds side based in Melbourne.
As i have said i have no real problems with the alignment but i just belive that the money won't ever be there unless Essendon put more in and it may be better to have our own side in the future .
i respect you thoughts here but surely the guys would car pool or essendon would organise a bus/mini-bus to take the players from windy hill to bendigo for training? given they're on-board with the whole green scheme would have thought they'd be doing this for sure.
i respect you thoughts here but surely the guys would car pool or essendon would organise a bus/mini-bus to take the players from windy hill to bendigo for training? given they're on-board with the whole green scheme would have thought they'd be doing this for sure.
Not sure what you are getting at here ?
The travel part i was talking about was for Bendigo listed players based in Melbourne. Nothing to do with Essendon or Essendon listed players who rarely (if at all) travel to Bendigo for training.
It is a simple fact that when you are a VFL listed player and you also have to work for a living then you are not going to be too excited about traveling to Bendigo three times a week if you live in Melbourne. Car pooling or mini bus's are not going to change this .
bradrowe#32
12 Dec 2007, 10:20
Sam O'Brien, Daniel Anderson and Ben Duscher are rumoured to be heading to Rochester in the GVFL. I think they were mainly reserves players, but I guess it means a little bit of depth is lost as they were all recent Pioneers graduates.
Sam O'Brien, Daniel Anderson and Ben Duscher are rumoured to be heading to Rochester in the GVFL. I think they were mainly reserves players, but I guess it means a little bit of depth is lost as they were all recent Pioneers graduates.
If you saw Bendigo Reserves play you would not be saying any depth was lost by players leaving. They where very ordinary.
nesko_25
14 Dec 2007, 02:21
If you saw Bendigo Reserves play you would not be saying any depth was lost by players leaving. They where very ordinary.
ant555, Gullsa. I'm finding this amusing, alot of the bendigo boys only play there for one year and if they dont get picked up they leave to chase $$$ in the Bendigo, Heathcote ot Loddrn Valley leagues. I know alot of clubs around the region are not a fan because they loose their players to the bendigo 2s which isnt really doing much for them as a player.
If in 2010 essendon have their on VFL what will happen to Bendigo? Go into Recess? The Diggers?
Maybe take a few sides out of the BFL and make it more like the GV were the teams are alot stronger and travel for an hour and a half.
ant555, Gullsa. I'm finding this amusing, alot of the bendigo boys only play there for one year and if they dont get picked up they leave to chase $$$ in the Bendigo, Heathcote ot Loddrn Valley leagues. I know alot of clubs around the region are not a fan because they loose their players to the bendigo 2s which isnt really doing much for them as a player.
If in 2010 essendon have their on VFL what will happen to Bendigo? Go into Recess? The Diggers?
Maybe take a few sides out of the BFL and make it more like the GV were the teams are alot stronger and travel for an hour and a half.
Bendigo will fall over without the Essendon alignment or an alignment with another AFL club.
Bendigo will fall over without the Essendon alignment or an alignment with another AFL club.
yes agree and it was the only reason Bendigo made the finals last year. Is this effecting the standard of our listed players? There seems to be a big drop of standard of players after you take out the listed players, so this is why it had convinced me we should just go alone once the agreement is finished
yes agree and it was the only reason Bendigo made the finals last year. Is this effecting the standard of our listed players? There seems to be a big drop of standard of players after you take out the listed players, so this is why it had convinced me we should just go alone once the agreement is finished
I dont see how it effect the development of our players other than not getting finals experience (which hasnt been the case every year).
We dont have to send our blokes to play seconds very often and we get to play them where ever the caoch wants them played.
Well if a players skills are not up to scratch and say they are dropping easy marks etc this could effect players with confidence on the field
rat1234
17 Dec 2007, 12:08
Bendigo will fall over without the Essendon alignment or an alignment with another AFL club.
most vfl teams would fall over, probs is bendigos depth good 5 or so players not much after it and are very young
Good to see a few inroads being made on signing some bigger names.
Brent Hartigan's on board for 2008 and we're on the verge of signing Charles Slattery, Henry's brother.
kelvin_sheedy
20 Dec 2007, 21:51
yes agree and it was the only reason Bendigo made the finals last year. Is this effecting the standard of our listed players? There seems to be a big drop of standard of players after you take out the listed players, so this is why it had convinced me we should just go alone once the agreement is finished
Yep, I reckon if people are learning their trade in an environment that lacks quality then they are less likely to succeed.
We should make sure we have a powerhouse side in the VFL so that all the Essendon players are developing as best they can next to the best people and the best players.
High Ryder
20 Dec 2007, 21:57
Good to see a few inroads being made on signing some bigger names.
Brent Hartigan's on board for 2008 and we're on the verge of signing Charles Slattery, Henry's brother.
How old is Slatts brother? Is he any good.
BTW where'd you find this out?
How old is Slatts brother? Is he any good.
BTW where'd you find this out?
Bendigo advertiser website mate
How old is Slatts brother? Is he any good.
BTW where'd you find this out?
Bendigo advertiser website mate
Yeah, it should be in the column of articles down the left on the Essendon BigFooty homepage.
I can't say I really know much about Charles Slattery except that he trained with us last year and played in a SANFL Premiership side this year.