Delisted # 8: Martin Gleeson - Not offered a contract, finishes his Essendon career on 97 AFL games

[Beerfish]

Contract Status: Not offered another contract in 2022
Last Game Played: Elimination Final, 2021
Injury Status: n/a

 

[BrunoV]

Redman’s got a big tank and I don’t think the wing is that different to role he’s playing now.

I don't think we've ever seen him truly fit as he hasn't done a pre-season (until maybe this year).

It's a different role. Redman plays pretty deep in defence and the wing is two-way unlike any other position.

He's a very smart player with the running power to play on the wing. He like Ridley grew up playing on both flanks which at least gives a feel for playing in the other direction.

I don't think it means Redman can play wing as effectively as Ham or Cutler on Sunday or probably at any point this year. Given the way this year is panning out it really is a project for summer.

 

[Ambrosia]

I'd like to develop Redman and Ridley up the ground.

I don’t think Ridley will ever be moved from defence. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen so far and think by the end of this year he’ll be our best defender

 

[Bazza1]

When Daniher is back pushing McKenna forward would balance the side a bit better too. I think this is the way to go

 

[Bjchan13]

This is how I fit him in:

FB: Gleeson - Ambrose - Saad
HB: Ridley - Hurley - Mckenna
C: Redman - Shiel - Ham
HF: Smith - Mckernan - Fantasia
FF: Tippa - Hooker - Stringer
R: Bellchambers - McGrath - Merrett
IC: Francis - Heppell - Parish - Langford

EMG: Snelling, Cutler, Zaharakis, Stewart

My point is Gleeson is clearly better than Cutler and Guelfi so why not shuffle the side around to fit him in.

I hope we don't lose him as he's in the prime of his career and has plenty of footy ahead of him. My hope for keeping him is there is plenty of his type around the league already on the fringes.

That side looks a bit off to me. Lacks a hard edge and wouldnt suit the style that truck/cara are trying to play. The defence looks like it could be exploited by a team with multiple tall forwards. If Daniher was fit in this team is he just a straight swap for McKernan in your opinion?

 

[Ambrosia]

That side looks a bit off to me. Lacks a hard edge and wouldnt suit the style that truck/cara are trying to play. The defence looks like it could be exploited by a team with multiple tall forwards. If Daniher was fit in this team is he just a straight swap for McKernan in your opinion?

Ambrose is good at playing tall with his body spoils. Yeah either Mckernan or Ambrose out and Hooker goes back. I can’t see all our talls remaining fit for too long though.

Crazy to think Hurley is contracted to 2022. I’d say he’s a candidate to retire early that could be more based on hope than anything else.

 

[Bjchan13]

Where do you stand the concept of even moving pieces around to fit Gleeson into the side? See it a


Ambrose is good at playing tall with his body spoils. Yeah either Mckernan or Ambrose out and Hooker goes back. I can’t see all our talls remaining fit for too long though.

Crazy to think Hurley is contracted to 2022. I’d say he’s a candidate to retire early that could be more based on hope than anything else.

See i like the idea of keeping McKernan in as he can pinchhit in the ruck and at least draw a tall defender away from Joe. Obviously none of us want to see Daniher anywhere near the ruck. Daniher played his best season with Hooker next to him so ideally id like to see that but if Hooker has to play back id like Towner in the team purely hitting blokes, blocking for Joe. In defence even if you pushed Redman, Mckenna and Hooker out, you've still got Ridley, Saad, Francis, Ambrose, Hurley, Zerk- Thatcher. I like Gleeson but i just struggle to see him getting in.

 

[quotemokc]

The side currently lacks marking ability, he should be playing.

 

[BrunoV]

Ambrose is good at playing tall with his body spoils. Yeah either Mckernan or Ambrose out and Hooker goes back. I can’t see all our talls remaining fit for too long though.

Crazy to think Hurley is contracted to 2022. I’d say he’s a candidate to retire early that could be more based on hope than anything else.

22? Jesus

 

[Ambrosia]

22? Jesus

Some ASADA tax there you’d think

 

[yodellinhank]

I don’t think Ridley will ever be moved from defence. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen so far and think by the end of this year he’ll be our best defender

Big call.

 

[Ambrosia]

Big call.

Yeah him catching Saad is probably unlikely.

 

[yodellinhank]

Yeah him catching Saad is probably unlikely.

In more ways than one

 

[ghostdog]

McKenna to the HFF is the answer

If Ridley, Redman, and Saad are back, and we have Francis, Zerk and Hooker/Hurley/Ambrose as they age, Gleeson still doesn't fit. And McKenna's homeward bound in a matter of months.
What am I missing?

 

[eth-dog]

If Ridley, Redman, and Saad are back, and we have Francis, Zerk and Hooker/Hurley/Ambrose as they age, Gleeson still doesn't fit. And McKenna's homeward bound in a matter of months.
What am I missing?

Teams play 7 defenders. When was the last time you saw 6 players get 100% game time from the same team?

 

[ghostdog]

Teams play 7 defenders. When was the last time you saw 6 players get 100% game time from the same team?

Hooksy was specifically referring to 'the back six' only this week. But I kind of thought that was what you were alluding to. So you'd start him on the bench?

 

[11kgm]

its a shame i miss the marty party

 

[ghostdog]

I rate Gleeson too. But i cant squeeze him in. Show me a best 22 with Gleeson in the side

Rightio. This is what I'd hope for if all were fit.

B: Francis Hooker Saad
HB: McKenna Hurley Ridley
M: Redman Merrett McGrath
HF: Smith McKernan Fantasia
F: Stringer Daniher McDonald-Tipungwuti
R/R: Draper Shiel Parish

I: Gleeson Heppell Langford Stewart
Emg: Ambrose Townsend Clark Ham

Caveat: not sure how many Emergencies we're allowed, but that doesn't affect my best 22 anyway.

The Interchange has a player for each area of the ground, including the seventh defender.

 

[ghostdog]

McKenna is too good for us to risk losing him if all it takes is a change of position.

He started forward in 2015 and was unusually strong above head. He definitely kicked a healthy bag against the Cats and on another occasion.

The issue will be whether he has the smarts to play forward. He can become an A grade, possibly the best rebounding half back/defender in the league. Very hard to be able to make an equivalent prediction about him as a forward without any recently exposed form.

I don't agree re Redman. In my view he's clearly the best option of the defenders to try on the wing.

Redman played a handful of quarters on ball in the midst of a comeback from injury in 2018 and played mostly forward in 2016 and 2017 (from memory he went to defence late in 2017). You're writing him off based on a few average quarters in 2018. In the other half of those quarters he looked Judd-like. It's not a formline from which we can tell anything.

I'd like to develop Redman and Ridley up the ground.

Redman should definitely be tried on a wing. Cutler should be considered a fringe player.

 

[Bjchan13]

Rightio. This is what I'd hope for if all were fit.

B: Francis Hooker Saad
HB: McKenna Hurley Ridley
M: Redman Merrett McGrath
HF: Smith McKernan Fantasia
F: Stringer Daniher McDonald-Tipungwuti
R/R: Draper Shiel Parish

I: Gleeson Heppell Langford Stewart
Emg: Ambrose Townsend Clark Ham

Caveat: not sure how many Emergencies we're allowed, but that doesn't affect my best 22 anyway.

The Interchange has a player for each area of the ground, including the seventh defender.

Fair enough, straight away with that side id swap Ambrose with Gleeson, for versatility, he can hold down a key position if Hooker goes forward, he hurts blokes, he's proven he can lock down on players like Fyfe. Id also prefer to leave Redman where he is and give that wing spot to Ham as another option. But depth isnt a bad problem to have.

 

[ghostdog]

Fair enough, straight away with that side id swap Ambrose with Gleeson, for versatility, he can hold down a key position if Hooker goes forward, he hurts blokes, he's proven he can lock down on players like Fyfe. Id also prefer to leave Redman where he is and give that wing spot to Ham as another option. But depth isnt a bad problem to have.

Ambrose and Zerk will be there after Hooker and Hurley are gone. Then Brand/Eyre (I can't remember which is the key tall) with Zerk maybe, after Ambrose is gone. Redman and Ham on wings would be great when Ham has put on some size.

 

[Bjchan13]

Ambrose and Zerk will be there after Hooker and Hurley are gone. Then Brand/Eyre (I can't remember which is the key tall) with Zerk maybe, after Ambrose is gone. Redman and Ham on wings would be great when Ham has put on some size.

Think Brand and Eyre are both KP one a fwd and one a defender. Whichever one is the defender is 196 or more i believe so yeah i cant wait for them with the davey twins to arrive.

 

[ghostdog]

Think Brand and Eyre are both KP one a fwd and one a defender. Whichever one is the defender is 196 or more i believe so yeah i cant wait for them with the davey twins to arrive.

Soz, I meant KPD. Yeah, I'm looking forward to them as well. Josh Misiti I've read good things about too.

 

[BrunoV]

I don’t think Ridley will ever be moved from defence. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen so far and think by the end of this year he’ll be our best defender

I'm taking a very optimistic view of our future defensive stocks, including of players who are not even on the list (i.e. Brand and Eyre) and I think we'll probably end up with 3 or 4 other >193cm options in defence. Hopefully Gleeson is also still around in the mid to longish term.

One thing that is not going to be on show a lot, because of the way the game is played in defence, and also because it doesn't stand out (it can be hard to see unless you're rewinding a replay) is the quality of Ridley's contested ground level play. He's clean and super aggressive which belies his clean-cut school boy looks (which means that it will be years before the mainstream notices if at all). Interestingly he is credited with 1 tackle against Sydney. He laid a few big tackles in the first half including taking down Sinclair (which is all I've seen of the replay to date).

Whereas I once would have said Laverde has the best set of raw attributes to play inside among all of the kids, Ridley is much cleaner than what Laverde has shown below his knees in the last few years.

I'm not a believer in limiting the use of talent on a list based on preferred position, etc. In my view it's up to the coaches to maximise the use of available talent. There will always be structural limitations but it also seems to me that too much talent is wasted for extremely questionable role players. The path to having other quality tall and third tall defenders is much clearer to me than it is for an inside distributor to build a midfield around.

 

[Ambrosia]

I'm taking a very optimistic view of our future defensive stocks, including of players who are not even on the list (i.e. Brand and Eyre) and I think we'll probably end up with 3 or 4 other >193cm options in defence. Hopefully Gleeson is also still around in the mid to longish term.

One thing that is not going to be on show a lot, because of the way the game is played in defence, and also because it doesn't stand out (it can be hard to see unless you're rewinding a replay) is the quality of Ridley's contested ground level play. He's clean and super aggressive which belies his clean-cut school boy looks (which means that it will be years before the mainstream notices if at all). Interestingly he is credited with 1 tackle against Sydney. He laid a few big tackles in the first half including taking down Sinclair (which is all I've seen of the replay to date).

Whereas I once would have said Laverde has the best set of raw attributes to play inside among all of the kids, Ridley is much cleaner than what Laverde has shown below his knees in the last few years.

I'm not a believer in limiting the use of talent on a list based on preferred position, etc. In my view it's up to the coaches to maximise the use of available talent. There will always be structural limitations but it also seems to me that too much talent is wasted for extremely questionable role players. The path to having other quality tall and third tall defenders is much clearer to me than it is for an inside distributor to build a midfield around.

It’d be awesome if he could get that good but unsure if it’s on the road map from anyone at the club and he doesn’t seem like the type to demand it.

 

[Zach Package]

Return of the king