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

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  – 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.”​

 

[Burzum]

Well he's been promoted to the executive not that long ago, and I think someone else is doing more of the list management? So in a sense we are getting someone new.

Dodoro is still the general manager of the list so Rob Forster-Knight (that's whom I assume you're referring to) reports to him and it's likely that RFK's entire recruiting philsophy has been shaped by Dodoro.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

He would have to be the longest tenured list manager in the league, no? Even if one could successfully argue that he's done a good job, I think it would be healthy to have someone new in.

Stephen Wells from Geelong has been just as long I think

 

[citizen-erased]

The draftees are good based on what?

I should say, at the time they were good.
They were the kids widely touted to go where they went.

The big question for me isn't the list management, trading or drafting.
What are we doing with these kids?

I would bet all the money i have that Langford, Parish, Francis, Laverde & McGrath at a club like Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Adelaide, Sydney, etc would be ripping it up.

We don't develop players well.

 

[boncer34]

I should say, at the time they were good.
They were the kids widely touted to go where they went.

The big question for me isn't the list management, trading or drafting.
What are we doing with these kids?

I would bet all the money i have that Langford, Parish, Francis, Laverde & McGrath at a club like Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Adelaide, Sydney, etc would be ripping it up.

We don't develop players well.

So not really based on anything. Just because he's picked safe doesn't mean he's picked right.

It's not the bloke who's been here 20 years at fault? Its the multiple development staff? All of them?

 

[Beerfish]

So not really based on anything. Just because he's picked safe doesn't mean he's picked right.

It's not the bloke who's been here 20 years at fault? Its the multiple development staff? All of them?

Can it be both?

 

[boncer34]

Can it be both?

Absolutely.

But we've only done something about 1 half of the problem.

 

[citizen-erased]

So not really based on anything. Just because he's picked safe doesn't mean he's picked right.

It's not the bloke who's been here 20 years at fault? Its the multiple development staff? All of them?

If the list was terrible and bereft of options i would agree with you

If we didn't have multiple players who have shown they can play better but aren't - that's coaching.

Parish plays his best when Myers is out. Myers has shown us what he can do and it isnt enough. But when Parish gets a run on we bring Myers in and play Parish forward.
Does this make him a bad pick? or does it make our player management bad?

I really couldn't care less if we went out and replaced him or not.
But if we did, i don't expect much to change. We'll get good players in and turn them into soft lazy front runners if we don't change the culture of this club to accept that sort of standard.

 

[NAB777]

I think his efforts have been a bit better in the past few years, but our problems go beyond one person.

Development has been an issue for a while, but the biggest issue I see is that more than anything, we need to instil a ruthless culture.

That starts at the top of every department, including on the field.

 

[doug85]

Fact of the matter is we have been crap for a long time, it all trickles down, just because he hasn't been the problem doesn't mean he should be safe.

I too am sick to death of drafting flankers and trying to change them into midfielders instead of just drafting midfielders.

This is my biggest issue. We’ve been drafting blokes then playing them out of position. Goes all the way back to Keplar Bradley.

 

[TheGrizz]

His over-valuing of draft picks has seriously hampered our ability to trade and i have no doubt has affected our ability to enter a competitive period. We have been left with him mainly drafting (which I think he may be say a B- at overall) and if you arent going to trade and instead rely on your draft and development you need to be a consistent A level drafter. Although he seems to have changed his stance lately

His clinical obsession with drafting flankers who have 'scope' to be mids is a serious problem.
His record with KPPs is alright, but he doesnt take enough pure mids, and when he does they are late in the draft or undersized.

Overall I wouldnt mind a change but i dont know who is in the GM/list manager market haha

 

[Darealrath]

I should say, at the time they were good.
They were the kids widely touted to go where they went.

But any of us could do that from our sofa just by analysing the mock drafts. He fundamentally failed to understand what our list needed and/or had no appreciation for the difference between genuine mids and flankers who can run through the middle.

 

[The Donners]

Its hard to fault him
I can't think of many drafts i've walked away from thinking we ballsed up picks.
Steinberg over Parker i found odd. Morgan in general, but Redman has turned out well.

And we have been able to keep our best (that didnt want during the ASADA stuff) whilst landing the likes of Shiel, Smith, Stringer and Saad.

I would seriously question our development program.
We are, and have been for a while, poorly coached.

You don’t know until after the draft whether you ballsed up or not.

We are in the club’s longest premierships drought and he’s the one constant (other than Dr Reid).

 

[Red Black and Blue]

20 years and the only genuine stars he has drafted have been father sons. He has to go.

 

[eth-dog]

Think it's time to revamp the entire football department honestly. Get Gary Buckenara.

 

[quotemokc]

His over-valuing of draft picks has seriously hampered our ability to trade and i have no doubt has affected our ability to enter a competitive period. We have been left with him mainly drafting (which I think he may be say a B- at overall) and if you arent going to trade and instead rely on your draft and development you need to be a consistent A level drafter. Although he seems to have changed his stance lately

His clinical obsession with drafting flankers who have 'scope' to be mids is a serious problem.
His record with KPPs is alright, but he doesnt take enough pure mids, and when he does they are late in the draft or undersized.

Overall I wouldnt mind a change but i dont know who is in the GM/list manager market haha

At the same time I would say he is under valuing draft picks since he likes to trade them away.

 

[The Donners]

20 years and the only genuine stars he has drafted have been father sons. He has to go.

Hurley and Hooker are champions. Both also have reliable disposal. Bellchambers is a solid ruckman but most importantly has some mongrel. Fantasia has X factor. McGrath in a good side would be awesome.

I can see Redman in a premiership side, we’re near a full list overhaul away from even challenging sadly and Hurley, Hooker and Bellchambers won’t be around.

I am sick of Essendon being mediocre and not owning up to it.

 

[The Donners]

At the same time I would say he is under valuing draft picks since he likes to trade them away.

In Dodoro’s defense that’s more likely the coach over valuing the current playing list or Xavier not wanting to bottom out.

 

[Burzum]

In Dodoro’s defense that’s more likely the coach over valuing the current playing list or Xavier not wanting to bottom out.

Doesn't make sense for Dodoro to not be on the same page as them if he's making moves like that.

 

[Doss]

Think it's time to revamp the entire football department honestly. Get Gary Buckenara.

The same Gary Buckenara who reckoned we should have kept James Polkinghorne on the senior list after the top up year?

Not sure he's the answer. Not now anyway.

 

[Milanista28]

His inability to draft quality genuine midfielders when we were crying out for them for so long is damning.

Has done better on the trade front.

And when we do draft them we play them on the flanks/pockets like Parish and McGrath, Others like Mynott and Clarke won't even get a chance.

 

[The Donners]

Doesn't make sense for Dodoro to not be on the same page as them if he's making moves like that.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean. I would suspect Dodoro doesn’t get to make the captain’s call. I would assume that Dodoro is given an agenda. We’ve missed a big midfield bull since Watson left and frankly to say that he was the only midfield bull on our list before his retirement is beyond belief.

 

[TheGrizz]

At the same time I would say he is under valuing draft picks since he likes to trade them away.

I was referring to his overall tendency historically which means up until a few years ago we never really traded in anyone of note. I believe i put that caveat in there somewhere.

Bu yes, that is true lately.

 

[calyam]

He has done well recently with trades. No arguments there. He has arguably had only one truly great draft in the past decade (Merrett + Fantasia). Heppell was a good get although that draft was packed with talent. McGrath is a nice player but he is also tracking as the third best player picked in the top three.

His complete aversion to drafting a big bodied midfielder is simply damning. His obsession with tweeners or flankers he thinks might become midfielders also warrants criticism.

Most damning of all is that he hasn't managed to put together a list capable of winning a final in 15-years. That's a level of mediocrity that would get you sacked at most clubs.

 

[blitzer]

I'm a bit ambivalent about Dodoro to be honest. Don't think he's some kind of genius but also don't know if all our problems stem back to our drafting and list management rather than coaching and development. Its a tough one. Everything in footy is pretty well linked.

In terms of drafting he's about a B. Generally gets us good 200 gamers from first rounders and hits KPP's better than most list managers. I reckon he's done pretty good with flankers and pockets as well. Does a worse job with midfielders than most list managers, particularly bad at drafting quality inside midfielders and midfielders that can actually mark the ball.

Trade wise I feel about the same as the drafting. I've been a fan of his trading the last couple of years and even if we were to go down the ladder, the likes of Shiel, Stringer, Saad and Smith are all young enough that we have a few years to get things together without the trades being a waste so I'm pretty content with his recent work.

Hasn't done anything particularly badly but at the end of the day when I look at our list I don't see true out and out superstars. We do have some very good players but I don't reckon we've had a genuine top 10 player in the competition in a long time (I guess Watson brownlow was about the last time really). Daniher is the only guy with the potential and he was a father son gimme that any idiot would have snatched up. Guys like Shiel, Merrett, Fantasia are very good but probably not top 10 in comp good and would need to go up another tier to get there.

 

[The Donners]

I'm a bit ambivalent about Dodoro to be honest. Don't think he's some kind of genius but also don't know if all our problems stem back to our drafting and list management rather than coaching and development. Its a tough one. Everything in footy is pretty well linked.

In terms of drafting he's about a B. Generally gets us good 200 gamers from first rounders and hits KPP's better than most list managers. I reckon he's done pretty good with flankers and pockets as well. Does a worse job with midfielders than most list managers, particularly bad at drafting quality inside midfielders and midfielders that can actually mark the ball.

Trade wise I feel about the same as the drafting. I've been a fan of his trading the last couple of years and even if we were to go down the ladder, the likes of Shiel, Stringer, Saad and Smith are all young enough that we have a few years to get things together without the trades being a waste so I'm pretty content with his recent work.

Hasn't done anything particularly badly but at the end of the day when I look at our list I don't see true out and out superstars. We do have some very good players but I don't reckon we've had a genuine top 10 player in the competition in a long time (I guess Watson brownlow was about the last time really). Daniher is the only guy with the potential and he was a father son gimme that any idiot would have snatched up. Guys like Shiel, Merrett, Fantasia are very good but probably not top 10 in comp good and would need to go up another tier to get there.

I am taking your ambivalence as being you don’t want to be ruthless with your assessment.

You’ve basically said Dodoro has on the whole brought average players to the club via the draft except father and sons.

Since Dodoro has been at the club, McVeigh and Stanton are the only 2 non-father son draftees that have played 200 games* for Essendon with Zaharakis, Hooker, Hurley and Heppell likely to. That’s a poor record in itself after 20 something years in list management/recruitment roles.

* Ryder would have.