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

?

 

[carnthedons]

Seems Merret and Dunkley would be a straight swap? Both players are contracted and would compliment the team they go in very well.
Reading the Bulldogs board they seem to want Merret and a million extra Essendon draft picks return for Dunkley.

I’m not sure how we give extra draft picks and the more acclaimed player but

Dunkley isn’t even a first choice mid there, they play him HF/back up ruck

 

[eth-dog]

If it's Merrett for Dunkley they should be putting the pick on top.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

We can keep Merrett and Dunkley

 

[carloss]

Think the SANFL bloke will go in the National Draft? Ronke should be a token Pick swap and Stoddart has been delisted

Imagine Draper tapping it down to Jordan Foote

Jordan Foote

Age

29

Ht

184cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

3.3

1star

HB

6.7

4star

M

1.3

2star

T

4.0

5star

CL

1.0

3star

No current season stats available

D

10.2

3star

K

3.4

2star

HB

6.8

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

4.8

5star

CL

1.2

4star

 

[JT_the_Man]

Ok, reading through the Dogs board and they most definitely want the farm and then some for Dunkley. Some are calling out the sheer level of ridiculousness in some of their suggestions, ie Merrett and two firsts... Or Merrett, Tippa and picks.

I’d say two firsts is the right price but not sure how that works with the JUH situation.

 

[TheGrizz]

Apparently so.

Not apparently

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

 

[westking]

By turning some negatives into a positive and finally attempting to solve our midfield issues by adding genuine midfielders to the group?

Haters going to hate.

Im not a hater and Im sorry some have interpreted it that way. But Im just looking at the clubs history and making an observation. If we get Dunkley he will be our highest paid player. I thought this year Essendon was a team of individuals. Would Dunkly help change this as the highest paid? I don't know but hey lets swipe another highly talented individual player and the quick fix is in...again. Rinse and repeat. For us, the history indicates we get it wrong.

I just wish for once we recruited and developed "our own". I know it sounds insular and this club has been guilty of that too. I hope as you said if he does come it will finally solve some midfield issues. I personally think there are deeper issues to resolve and getting caught up in silly season doesn't help.

 

[Zach Package]

We can keep Merrett and Dunkley

Not only that, but getting Dunkley makes Merrett more likely to sign that big deal in front of him.

 

[andleanback]

Im not a hater and Im sorry some have interpreted it that way. But Im just looking at the clubs history and making an observation. If we get Dunkley he will be our highest paid player. I thought this year Essendon was a team of individuals. Would Dunkly help change this as the highest paid? I don't know but hey lets swipe another highly talented individual player and the quick fix is in...again. Rinse and repeat. For us, the history indicates we get it wrong.

I just wish for once we recruited and developed "our own". I know it sounds insular and this club has been guilty of that too. I hope as you said if he does come it will finally solve some midfield issues. I personally think there are deeper issues to resolve and getting caught up in silly season doesn't help.

I agree, theres no point paying massive overs just to get dunkley in on big coin. Take some picks to the draft, get organic growth and develop our own. We should only be going after dunkley if merrett requests a trade.

 

[reload141]

Ok, reading through the Dogs board and they most definitely want the farm and then some for Dunkley. Some are calling out the sheer level of ridiculousness in some of their suggestions, ie Merrett and two firsts... Or Merrett, Tippa and picks.

I’d say two firsts is the right price but not sure how that works with the JUH situation.

They can ask for whatever it doesn’t matter... we’ve put the big offer in front of Dunkley and they have an abundance of mids there... Dunkley is an incredible player and if the contract is front loaded we need to spend 95% of the cap anyway.
It might not happen this year but it’s good to get in early so when he talks to the Dogs about extending he has us right there too.
Edit: They are just dreaming of the large haul they could want as all clubs do... but realistically he’s worth 2 first rounders which is what we should have to offer.

 

[JDavey]

If we start next year with Dunkley, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell, Heppell then what does our midfield CBA look like?

We would have 7 playing for 3 positions and we love to try and run Stringer/Walla/Smith/Langford through on top of that.
Does Heppell go HBF? Does Parish get put as a SF more permanently? Do rotations from some of the others dry up?

Its really hard to judge what we're doing here....

 

[JT_the_Man]

If we start next year with Dunkley, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell, Heppell then what does our midfield CBA look like?

We would have 7 playing for 3 positions and we love to try and run Stringer/Walla/Smith/Langford through on top of that.
Does Heppell go HBF? Does Parish get put as a SF more permanently? Do rotations from some of the others dry up?

Its really hard to judge what we're doing here....

I’d say Heppell is out of the centre bounces and Merrett spends a lot more time on the wing.

 

[JayJ20]

If we start next year with Dunkley, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell, Heppell then what does our midfield CBA look like?

We would have 7 playing for 3 positions and we love to try and run Stringer/Walla/Smith/Langford through on top of that.
Does Heppell go HBF? Does Parish get put as a SF more permanently? Do rotations from some of the others dry up?

Its really hard to judge what we're doing here....

Merrett onto a wing and Heppell HBF.

Walla and Smith pushed out of the midfield rotations.

 

[eth-dog]

If we start next year with Dunkley, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell, Heppell then what does our midfield CBA look like?

We would have 7 playing for 3 positions and we love to try and run Stringer/Walla/Smith/Langford through on top of that.
Does Heppell go HBF? Does Parish get put as a SF more permanently? Do rotations from some of the others dry up?

Its really hard to judge what we're doing here....

Generally we have 5 regular inside mids. I'd be using Dunkley, McGrath, Shiel, Parish and probably Heppell over Caldwell as the regulars with Caldwell, Langford and Merrett as the main men on the wings.

 

[Milanista28]

I wouldn’t even pursue getting up to McDonald.

Blood Jones, Bryan and Crauford, keep the powder dry and spend all those draft picks on getting quality smalls into the club. You saw how useless Daniher looked at times when we couldn’t get it into his half, why would we want that again?

Not concerned about 2021 alone, Jones and McDonald could be our next Lloyd Lucas, but you're strategy also works.

 

[Harlequin Dream]

Midfield depth is very good.

It would be nice to have the luxury of playing Heppell back, Merrett wing and Snelling forward.

 

[eth-dog]

I don't get this obsession with moving Heppell to half back? Why do we want one of our TWO midfielders who are capable of taking an overhead mark to move away from there? Especially with his lack of penetration by foot. We're much better served having him on the ball or on a wing.

 

[Fin ice Smuggler]

Im not a hater and Im sorry some have interpreted it that way. But Im just looking at the clubs history and making an observation. If we get Dunkley he will be our highest paid player. I thought this year Essendon was a team of individuals. Would Dunkly help change this as the highest paid? I don't know but hey lets swipe another highly talented individual player and the quick fix is in...again. Rinse and repeat. For us, the history indicates we get it wrong.

I just wish for once we recruited and developed "our own". I know it sounds insular and this club has been guilty of that too. I hope as you said if he does come it will finally solve some midfield issues. I personally think there are deeper issues to resolve and getting caught up in silly season doesn't help.

I agree on developing our own but maybe the draft isn’t that stacked with talent? Dunkley is only 23 so I think it’s the right age demographic.

With inclusion of Dunkley we’d probably have a very good core of players under 25 to develop.

 

[fairbump_playon]

If we start next year with Dunkley, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell, Heppell then what does our midfield CBA look like?

We would have 7 playing for 3 positions and we love to try and run Stringer/Walla/Smith/Langford through on top of that.
Does Heppell go HBF? Does Parish get put as a SF more permanently? Do rotations from some of the others dry up?

Its really hard to judge what we're doing here....

After years living in a flanksta's paradise we might have forgotten what it's like to have proper midfielders.

I think Langford owns a wing now - but I'm pretty happy to let go of the idea of running Smith and Walla through the middle..

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

If we start next year with Dunkley, Merrett, McGrath, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell, Heppell then what does our midfield CBA look like?

We would have 7 playing for 3 positions and we love to try and run Stringer/Walla/Smith/Langford through on top of that.
Does Heppell go HBF? Does Parish get put as a SF more permanently? Do rotations from some of the others dry up?

Its really hard to judge what we're doing here....

Parish, can rotate to forward, so can Merrett (also wing), Tippa stays as small forward or off HB. Stringer can spend most of his time up forward and the odd start at centre bounce. Langford HF, McGrath can rotate through middle, wing even HB. Plenty of variety. Dunkley and Heppell and no further losses would be a huge boost to the mid.

 

[andleanback]

I’d say Heppell is out of the centre bounces and Merrett spends a lot more time on the wing.

Would hope merrett leaves then. Paying a guy 800-900K to play on a wing is ridiculous.

 

[DERO]

I have a theory we’ll take witherden as a salary dump to allow the lions to up joes contract.

Not a bad theory.

 

[Bjchan13]

Imagine Draper tapping it down to Jordan Foote

Jordan Foote

Age

29

Ht

184cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

3.3

1star

HB

6.7

4star

M

1.3

2star

T

4.0

5star

CL

1.0

3star

No current season stats available

D

10.2

3star

K

3.4

2star

HB

6.8

5star

M

1.6

2star

T

4.8

5star

CL

1.2

4star

View attachment 992474

Rude combination

 

[JayJ20]

I don't get this obsession with moving Heppell to half back? Why do we want one of our TWO midfielders who are capable of taking an overhead mark to move away from there? Especially with his lack of penetration by foot. We're much better served having him on the ball or on a wing.

Good point. Wing it is.

I very much doubt Dunkley comes anyway.

 

[Howard Moon]

Merrett and Smith say they will 'honour their contracts'

It's hardly an emphatic endorsement of their ongoing love for the club and it's environment...

I think we gotta move early and decisively