Delisted Adrian Dodoro - On leave Aug ‘24. Parted ways Nov ‘24. Lodged a dispute with FairWork. Paid out. Gone. #putoutyourjackets

[yodellinhank]

Clearly isn't working any better without him. Undermined for years and shoulders the blame for all of Rosa/Mahoney/Richardson et al's mistakes. And he's still copping it

It will take us a good 4-5 years to be fully free of the stain that was dodo.

C'mon man, it's gonna take longer than that.

 

[Agronomus]

Scott's contract extension makes a lot more sense now

 

[DERO]

Scott's contract extension makes a lot more sense now

How so?

 

[Agronomus]

How so?

Parish, McGrath, Ridley, Redman have hit their mid 20s and should be at their physical prime and are up around 100 to 150 games and leading the charge.
Outside of Roberts who else in our backline would you still want in 5 years?
With our draft capital, Brad doesn't have any more excuses not to emulate his better brother

 

[jdstorm]

Parish, McGrath, Ridley, Redman have hit their mid 20s and should be at their physical prime and are up around 100 to 150 games and leading the charge.
Outside of Roberts who else in our backline would you still want in 5 years?
With our draft capital, Brad doesn't have any more excuses not to emulate his better brother

Parish and Ridley are always hurt and McGrath wouldnt be an AFL player at a bunch of other clubs

That’s a far different tier of player to Danger and Jezza and Tom Hawkins and Stuart ect

 

[Zach Package]

I find the hindsight drafting stuff an extremely shallow analysis of his tenure, there is ****ing squillions of hours and words worth of radio, podcast and articles out there to interrogate how dreadful he was and we were at a much deeper level. Like, 10 part podcasts, hour long episodes, forensic stuff.


With absolute perfect hindsight you could in theory say our drafting in the 2020-2024 period wasn’t fantastic but if you perfect hindsight it and grab the absolute best player available at the picks I’m not even sure the current side is that much better.

2020: Holmes, Treacy, McCreery?
2021: Lohmann
2022: Hollands
2023: Probably still Caddy?

 

[Burzum]

Still can't get over him having a podcast about untold draft stories like he was Bill Belichick and there was something worth listening to.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

I find the hindsight drafting stuff an extremely shallow analysis of his tenure, there is ****ing squillions of hours and words worth of radio, podcast and articles out there to interrogate how dreadful he was and we were at a much deeper level. Like, 10 part podcasts, hour long episodes, forensic stuff.


With absolute perfect hindsight you could in theory say our drafting in the 2020-2024 period wasn’t fantastic but if you perfect hindsight it and grab the absolute best player available at the picks I’m not even sure the current side is that much better.

2020: Holmes, Treacy, McCreery?
2021: Lohmann
2022: Hollands
2023: Probably still Caddy?

It's not so much the pick by pick analysis that's the issue. It's more like we've known that we're a team that struggles to move the ball in the midfield and we continually picked players in the first round of the draft that generally lacked marking presence and were average kicks at best.

 

[Zach Package]

It's not so much the pick by pick analysis that's the issue. It's more like we've known that we're a team that struggles to move the ball in the midfield and we continually picked players in the first round of the draft that generally lacked marking presence and were average kicks at best.

Yeah fully agree, so it is a more nuanced discussion than ‘what has he done with these specific draft picks’ when everyone said we had done really well at the time.

The criticism is not the correct criticism.

 

[ant555]

Yeah fully agree, so it is a more nuanced discussion than ‘what has he done with these specific draft picks’ when everyone said we had done really well at the time.

The criticism is not the correct criticism.

The criticism should be along the lines of building the list. It has been an annoyance to me for a while.
How many years do you keep picking or trading for 180cm midfielders.
Why do you take two 200cm 80kg kids in one draft.
Why no focus on some endurance athletes.
Etc

 

[Zach Package]

The criticism should be along the lines of building the list. It has been an annoyance to me for a while.
How many years do you keep picking or trading for 180cm midfielders.
Why do you take two 200cm 80kg kids in one draft.
Why no focus on some endurance athletes.
Etc

That is exactly the kind of depth that the media should be interrogating things with.

Not just 'lol, what a dolt'

If Matthew Lloyd is going to be the preeminent voice on this, he is not capable of having this kind of detailed discussion

 

[Here_we_come]

Clearly isn't working any better without him. Undermined for years and shoulders the blame for all of Rosa/Mahoney/Richardson et al's mistakes. And he's still copping it

C'mon man, it's gonna take longer than that.

In a personnel sense, I suspect that by 4-5 years most of Dodo's list will be turned over. This means we will be mostly free from his diabolical list management and recruiting decisions and it will also allow us a more accurate assessment about what the post-dodo world has in store.

In my mind, we have to capitalize on these poor years we're about to have and focus on building like Hawthorn have done and like north and WC are currently doing. If we're lucky, we may have 2 early first round selections in this year's draft.

The club seems to have finally woken up to the fact that its list will never be competitive and they seem to now believe starting over is the right move, which I agree with.

 

[Zach Package]

That is exactly the kind of depth that the media should be interrogating things with.

Not just 'lol, what a dolt'

If Matthew Lloyd is going to be the preeminent voice on this, he is not capable of having this kind of detailed discussion

You’re so close Llordo, keep going

 

[Yoda_]

Scott's contract extension makes a lot more sense now

can you explain it to every * wit in the media who cant grasp it

k thnx

 

[Runk]

For over 2 decades Essendon gave Adrian Dodoro the run of the joint when it came to the club’s drafting and list management. TWENTY. ****ING. YEARS of incompetence, misjudgment, and failure to assemble a list capable of long-term viability. And now, watching yet another rebuild, we’re left wondering; how was this ever permitted to happen?

Dodoro’s time in charge wasn’t just frustrating, it was a total failure of football management. His obsession with aesthetics or whether it was a player’s size, style or “potential” always seemed to take precedence over, you know, the actual stuff that matters, too. Again and again, every aspect of his work over-complicated, chasing fantasy rather than reality, resulting in a list that never rendered into the greatest part of the whole.

Reports and leaks over the years, painted the picture of someone who wasn’t just ineffective but simply unprofessional. His whiteboard bullshit, his empty desk drawers, his way of turning lists over through draft and trade lacked the care, the exactness and the foresight needed to create a balanced list. Where other clubs tracked and targeted leaders, elite skills, footy IQ and athleticism, Dodoro appeared happy to make selections, with no overarching structure or long-term vision.

The result? A revolving door of unbalanced squads, half-baked rebuilds and a club constantly stuck in the middle of the pack, never bad enough to bottom out properly, never good enough to contend. Instead of building around clear pillars of leadership, talent, and structure, we got scattergun drafting, a focus on winning trade week in the most performative manner possible, and a list that has always felt one step behind the competition.

And yet, he was untouchable for years. Essendon’s decision makers like Jackson, Robson, Gunston & Campbell alike failed in their duty to hold him accountable, and the club has paid the price.

Now, we’re only just beginning to clean up the mess, but the damage has already been done. Two decades wasted on false hope. Two decades of watching other clubs build intelligently while Essendon spun its wheels in the mud like complete pinecones.

You've probably noticed that I've spent a while thinking a lot about this and I want to be clear for me this isn’t just frustration, but rather outright anger at the sheer mismanagement that was allowed to go unchecked.

Dodoro’s reign should be remembered for exactly what it was: a disaster enabled by boards and CEO's that held the club back for far too long and was designed to break the faithful over and over.

 

[BomberManU]

My question is, WHY was he allowed free reign for so long?

 

[Lore]

He was the only man in a job that wasn’t even a full time job, then became a very small pyramid that then grew underneath him until it became an actual department with a GM to run it. Everyone liked him and he had more experience than others because he got in on the ground floor, so he kept being the best man for the job (at least when the race was run internally). He was good at selling his achievements. This is the end result.

 

[Zach Package]

He was the only man in a job that wasn’t even a full time job, then became a very small pyramid that then grew underneath him until it became an actual department with a GM to run it. Everyone liked him and he had more experience than others because he got in on the ground floor, so he kept being the best man for the job (at least when the race was run internally). He was good at selling his achievements. This is the end result.

Product of his time, 'The Wog Boy' killed it in theaters in the year 2000

 

[ant555]

My question is, WHY was he allowed free reign for so long?

He was a very good political operator. He learnt from the master. Knew who to align with and how to play the footy politics game.

 

[Phone]

My question is, WHY was he allowed free reign for so long?

because we sacked matthew knights

ok that's a bit of a reach, but ant555 can tell you the rest

 

[BomberManU]

He was a very good political operator. He learnt from the master. Knew who to align with and how to play the footy politics game.

The 'master' had genuine achievements to fall back on, this guy...not so much. Very frustrating.

 

[Agronomus]

He was a very good political operator. He learnt from the master. Knew who to align with and how to play the footy politics game.

He's the Elon Musk of Essendon

 

[Here_we_come]

I’m not a musk fanboy but comparing musk to dodo is very very flattering to dodo.

 

[eth-dog]

I’m not a musk fanboy but comparing musk to dodo is very very flattering to dodo.

I'm no Dodo fan but comparing Musk to Dodo is very flattering to Musk. Genuinely awful human being

 

[Old Campaigner]

There's an alternative universe where we had a competent list management and player development in the lead up to 2012 and no drugs were necessary to match those 'biologically advanced' opposition sides.