Footy Dept. Soon to be ex-GM - List & Recruiting Adrian Dodoro #putoutyourjackets

[Lore]

Cliff notes:

• Stepping back from his current senior role following the 2023 AFL Draft
• Transition plan, raised the possibility with Vozzo in April
• Replacement is Matt Rosa, whose thread is here: Welcome to Essendon Matthew Rosa
  Matthew Rosa

  Age

  37

  Ht

  191cm

  Wt

  84kg

  Pos.

  Mid

  Career

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  Last 5

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  21.1

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  11.0

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  10.1

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  M

  5.0

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  T

  2.7

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  CL

  1.7

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  No current season stats available

  D

  14.6

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  9.4

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  5.2

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  M

  4.4

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  1.4

  4star

  – AFL Talent & Operations Manager!

To coincide with this announcement, the Club’s General Manager of List and Recruiting, Adrian Dodoro, has made the decision to take a step back from his current senior role following this year’s NAB AFL National Draft. He will lead the Club through the upcoming 2023 Trade and Draft period in his current position prior to transitioning to and assisting Matt Rosa moving forward.​

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Dodoro, an Essendon Life Member, has played a significant role at the Bombers over nearly three decades and said the time was right to take a step back.​

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“I approached Craig back in April to discuss the concept of transition and I feel that now is the right time to make this decision,” Dodoro said.​

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"I sat on the panel to assist in the selection of Matt, and I believe he will be an outstanding acquisition to the Club for years to come. I look forward to working with Matt moving forward.​

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“These roles are very taxing on individuals and their families and it just feels like that. After nearly three decades and with stability in key roles at the Club, now is the right time for me to take a step back in to a role which will provide me and my family with a better work life balance.​

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“More immediately, we have an important few months coming up and I’m looking forward to playing my part to deliver a strong Trade and Draft period for the Club to ensure that the playing list is in a strong position for the future.”​

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Essendon CEO Craig Vozzo acknowledged the significant impact Dodoro has made at the Club since joining in a full-time role in 1998.​

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“Adrian is a highly respected Life Member of the Essendon Football Club and has made an enormous contribution to the Club and the wider AFL industry during his time in football, including assisting to navigate the Club through unprecedented and challenging periods,” Vozzo said.​

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“Throughout his time at the Bombers, Adrian’s commitment and passion to take the Club forward in its list management and recruiting, has been unquestionable. Some of the Champions of Essendon have been identified and selected by Adrian, and we will always be grateful for the important and enduring role he has played.​

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“On behalf of the entire Club, we would like to acknowledge Adrian’s selfless decision and we look forward to his ongoing contribution to the Club.​

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“Adrian will work with Matt to ensure a smooth hand-over and a successful transition of responsibilities.”​

 

[Red Black and Blue]

How can you say no to something that wasn’t offered? If Essendon allegedly said no to 5 + 9, then why did Sydney offer 9?

Sydney never wanted to part with pick 5. They’re in a rebuild. 9 + a future first isn’t worth it.

My issue with Dodoro is his drafting rather than trading. His trading is fine.

I think we could have acquired any combination of their picks we wanted. 5 plus next years first would have been the way to go IMO.

 

[eth-dog]

Let's keep in mind that Sydney have two gun academy prospects next year and are highly likely going to need to trade their first next year anyway, so we may get a first, a second and a player instead of two firsts and a player.

 

[Yoda_]

When has he really bet on kids?
He came out lig a big man and said no to 5 and 9 so it wasn’t offered
Not one swans kid except papley wanted to come to us and tla couldn’t get a good player to get involved.
Luke Jackson and a lachie ash type would have given you two top end talents.
I just don’t see how anyone falls for the facade that is Adrian dodoro.
He is an underachiever in his role.
In his time Collingwood has won premiership bottomed out a bit and made another grand final.
Essendon can’t even win a final!

In the end, what should keep anybody in an important role in the corporate world is success. In the curious case of Adrian Dodoro, on field success has alluded him in almost 2 decades.

 

[Yoda_]

My issue with Dodoro is his drafting rather than trading. His trading is fine.

It's not just his trading though, his list management has been far from ideal. Keeping players for longer than the used by date is a big issue for me. He likes to stick with a known commodity than try his luck with younger talent. (See Jake Long as perfect example - 6 years is he up to??)

 

[Yoda_]

If Joe asks to leave again we will probably get one 1st rounder less, no big deal IMO, 1 solitary unknown pick won't be the difference in success or failure for our club.

The club have taken a calculated risk, sure it could backfire big time but we've been through worse recently I think, and the upside could be massive.

If Joe does leave, it's a better piece of business imho. A plethora of KPF free agents are likely going to be available and as such could soften the blow of losing Joe.

 

[eth-dog]

It's not just his trading though, his list management has been far from ideal. Keeping players for longer than the used by date is a big issue for me. He likes to stick with a known commodity than try his luck with younger talent. (See Jake Long as perfect example - 6 years is he up to??)

One player. As an example Hawthorne stuck with Derick Wanganeen for 5 years (Long has had 5 years). Sydney have stuck with Rose for what seems like forever. James Parsons only got cut this year from Geelong after 5/6 years even though he sucks. What has Roarke Smith done in his 5 years at the Dogs? Every club has these and pointing to the 38th player on the list being there for 5 years as an example of bad list management means every list manager in the AFL must be dogshit.

 

[Milanista28]

If Joe does leave, it's a better piece of business imho. A plethora of KPF free agents are likely going to be available and as such could soften the blow of losing Joe.

Yeah just the planning around losing him will be beneficial, won't be any surprises.

 

[Yoda_]

One player. As an example Hawthorne stuck with Derick Wanganeen for 5 years (Long has had 5 years). Sydney have stuck with Rose for what seems like forever. James Parsons only got cut this year from Geelong after 5/6 years even though he sucks. What has Roarke Smith done in his 5 years at the Dogs? Every club has these and pointing to the 38th player on the list being there for 5 years as an example of bad list management means every list manager in the AFL must be dogshit.

I understand that LM's get sucked in by what a player could become but it feels like AD consistently does this over, and over, and over again.
Not just Jake Long but what about Matt Dea? It feels like he makes the same feeble mistakes over and over again.

 

[CBombers17]

I reckon there's other list managers (and clubs) out there that given our list would have snapped up all the picks they could for Joe and Fantasia and gone for midfield, midfield, midfield, at the draft.

Add 2 or 3 best 22 mids to this side and by 2021 and pick up a good tall forward and we are top 4 with a real chance.

 

[owen87]

I understand that LM's get sucked in by what a player could become but it feels like AD consistently does this over, and over, and over again.
Not just Jake Long but what about Matt Dea? It feels like he makes the same feeble mistakes over and over again.

I didn't mind keeping Dea, always been a solid footsoldier, we're just stacked for defensive depth now.

 

[eth-dog]

I understand that LM's get sucked in by what a player could become but it feels like AD consistently does this over, and over, and over again.
Not just Jake Long but what about Matt Dea? It feels like he makes the same feeble mistakes over and over again.

Every list manager does this though. Matt Dea is a poor example because he's a competent AFL defender.

 

[JayJ20]

It's not just his trading though, his list management has been far from ideal. Keeping players for longer than the used by date is a big issue for me. He likes to stick with a known commodity than try his luck with younger talent. (See Jake Long as perfect example - 6 years is he up to??)

I think list management is an issue, but more from the perspective of list balance rather than delistings/keeping players.

Eg we have a plethora of defenders and hardly any midfield depth.

 

[eth-dog]

I think list management is an issue, but more from the perspective of list balance rather than delistings/keeping players.

Eg we have a plethora of defenders and hardly any midfield depth.

Not really. We currently have 13 defenders on the list. Last season we had 14 (Long, Dea, McNiece out; McQuillan, McBride in) which is around the right balance in terms of number of defenders. We actually have a few too many non-KPP forwards for me, that's the biggest imbalance on our list.

 

[JayJ20]

Not really. We currently have 13 defenders on the list. Last season we had 14 (Long, Dea, McNiece out; McQuillan, McBride in) which is around the right balance in terms of number of defenders. We actually have a few too many non-KPP forwards for me, that's the biggest imbalance on our list.

By midfield depth, I specifically mean inside mids.

I agree. Too light on KPFs. I think how we cover our defence should be the same logic we use for our forward line/midfield.

Our defence is by far our best position. Very balanced in that our depth has a good mix of talls and smalls. Certainly not criticising Dodoro for that.

 

[eth-dog]

By midfield depth, I specifically mean inside mids.

I agree. Too light on KPFs. I think how we cover our defence should be the same logic we use for our forward line/midfield.

Our defence is by far our best position. Very balanced in that our depth has a good mix of talls and smalls. Certainly not criticising Dodoro for that.

I don't think we're light on key forwards, I think we're heavy on medium forwards. You don't really need 3 on the list, I would have traded Laverde for a packet of chips. As far as numbers are concerned, if we have a 45 player list, I would ideally have:

15x defenders (5x KD, 4x MD, 6x SD)
20x midfielders/rucks (10x IM, 6x OM, 4x rucks)
10x forwards (5x KF, 2x MF, 3x SF)

We're a little off that but overall it's a reasonably balanced list.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Yeah just the planning around losing him will be beneficial, won't be any surprises.

Assuming we actually act on those plans and don't just take the view that he'll fall back in love with the club because we're Essendon.

 

[citizen-erased]

I don't think we're light on key forwards, I think we're heavy on medium forwards. You don't really need 3 on the list, I would have traded Laverde for a packet of chips. As far as numbers are concerned, if we have a 45 player list, I would ideally have:

15x defenders (5x KD, 4x MD, 6x SD)
20x midfielders/rucks (10x IM, 6x OM, 4x rucks)
10x forwards (5x KF, 2x MF, 3x SF)

We're a little off that but overall it's a reasonably balanced list.

15x defenders (5x KD Hooker, Hurley, Ambrose, BZT, Hartley, 4x MD Ridley, Redman, Francis. ? , 6x SD Saad, McKenna, Gleeson)
20x midfielders/rucks (10x IM Heppell, Clarke, Shiel, Parish, McGrath, Guelfi, 6x OM Merrett, Zaka, Smith, Mutch, Ham, Cutler , 4x rucks TBC, Phillips, Draper)
10x forwards (5x KF Daniher, Stringer, McKernan, Gown, Stewart, 2x MF Langford, Laverde, Begley, Brown, 3x SF Fantasia, Tippa, Snelling, Mosquito)

obvious where we need to focus the drafting.

 

[eth-dog]

15x defenders (5x KD Hooker, Hurley, Ambrose, BZT, Hartley, 4x MD Ridley, Redman, Francis. ? , 6x SD Saad, McKenna, Gleeson)
20x midfielders/rucks (10x IM Heppell, Clarke, Shiel, Parish, McGrath, Guelfi, 6x OM Merrett, Zaka, Smith, Mutch, Ham, Cutler , 4x rucks TBC, Phillips, Draper)
10x forwards (5x KF Daniher, Stringer, McKernan, Gown, Stewart, 2x MF Langford, Laverde, Begley, Brown, 3x SF Fantasia, Tippa, Snelling, Mosquito)

obvious where we need to focus the drafting.

Merrett, Smith and Mutch I count as inside. Langford I have as an outside mid. Swap Brown and Stringer. Snelling is a mid. Hurley is no longer a Key Defender. You're forgetting McBride and McQuillan too.

 

[Here_we_come]

You just have to get your spine right with 2 or 3 All Australian KPP's (pay huge $$$ for each) then you build around that. The last piece of the puzzle is midfield.

Essendon's been doing that for 40 years. The problem is it only worked for the first 20.

I don’t agree with this at all. If anything, we did the opposite of that for the first 20 years and things only changed when Dodoro came on board. Think about Lloyd and Lucas, most of the midfield pieces of the puzzle were there before they were (hird, misfiti, long, mercuri), etc.

For the past 20 years we’ve put all our eggs in the tall/spine basket and the midfield has basically been uncompetitive as a result. The game now is much more of a midfielders game than it used to be as well, so focusing too much on talks is a flawed strategy.

 

[BrunoV]

Story of a side that cant get any continuity due to injury.

We talk about this like we're the only side in the AFL that gets injuries.

 

[BrunoV]

Do you think the AFLPA will allow a pig-headed club to make this kind of move - They'll convince the AFL to abolish RFA - Finally, the Daniher name is embedded in the culture of EFC, so do you want to get the family off-side because of a childish and immature move by the club - You have no idea.

That AFLPA?

It does what the AFL tells it to do on anything controversial.

 

[citizen-erased]

I don’t agree with this at all. If anything, we did the opposite of that for the first 20 years and things only changed when Dodoro came on board. Think about Lloyd and Lucas, most of the midfield pieces of the puzzle were there before they were (hird, misfiti, long, mercuri), etc.

For the past 20 years we’ve put all our eggs in the tall/spine basket and the midfield has basically been uncompetitive as a result. The game now is much more of a midfielders game than it used to be as well, so focusing too much on talks is a flawed strategy.

Richmond and WCE are two of the better modern teams. Hawks the standard of the modern game.
Each have/had excellent spines. AA quality imo

If you played the game on paper, we'd have a better midfield than most of those sides.
Put the team on the park and its a vastly different story.

You don't draft effort, intensity or hunger. It's instilled in a group.

 

[Bjchan13]

We talk about this like we're the only side in the AFL that gets injuries.

No, we're aware that all teams gets injuries. Id use Brisbane this year as an example of a team with a good injury run, which enabled the team to gel. Im not saying that Daniher, Fantasia, Smith, Stewart, Hurley, Hooker, Zaharakis and Heppell all fit for finals would've guaranteed anything. But we need to get somewhere close to our best side on the park together consistently leading into finals to see what we're working with, as its still an unknown.

 

[BrunoV]

No, we're aware that all teams gets injuries. Id use Brisbane this year as an example of a team with a good injury run, which enabled the team to gel. Im not saying that Daniher, Fantasia, Smith, Stewart, Hurley, Hooker, Zaharakis and Heppell all fit for finals would've guaranteed anything. But we need to get somewhere close to our best side on the park together consistently leading into finals to see what we're working with, as its still an unknown.

Go and look at all of the unavailable Magpies late in the year.

The Giants.

Richmond had half a team with 10 weeks to go and had a good run from there.

Brisbane's year is an outlier and so you want to be an outlier too.

In any given year a club essentially has no control over injuries to that extent.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Go and look at all of the unavailable Magpies late in the year.

The Giants.

Richmond had half a team with 10 weeks to go and had a good run from there.

Brisbane's year is an outlier and so you want to be an outlier too.

In any given year a club essentially has no control over injuries to that extent.

Tigers had a good run when their players came back, at their worst they were 7-6 and just got thrashed by North.

Giants bounced back when a few came back.

Injuries to top 10 players hurts any side.