Core 15 Players

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

1. Jobe Watson
2. David Zaharakis
3. Brendon Goddard
4. Brent Stanton
5. Dyson Heppell
6. Dustin Fletcher
7. Michael Hurley
8. Paddy Ryder
9. Jake Carlisle
10. Ben Howlett
11. Courtenay Dempsey
12. Tom Bellchambers
13. Stewart Crameri
14. Michael Hibberd
15. Heath Hocking

STRONG CORE: Forgetting the order for a minute, what a strong, core group of players that we now have at Essendon. To me, that group has what it takes to push the Bombers to a top 4 spot.

ORDER: This is my opinion of our best, core group of players. To me, there is very little between Zaharakis, Goddard, Stanton and Heppell at the moment. If fit, I think Zaka will become a clear second best player this year and I think throughout the season Heppell will pass Stanton and maybe Goddard. I would rate Zaka ahead of Heppell too, which is saying something about how highly I rate Zaka. Goddard is difficult ot judge. Deserves to be at about 2 or 3 for now. Hurley should be higher than 7th, but at the moment doesn't deserve to be ahead of any of the others ahead in my list. If he goes to CHB, I feel he will push close to number 2 or 3.

FORWARD LINE ISSUES:

The majority of our better players are mids, backs and rucks. Crameri can play but battled a bit in the second half of last year and looks out of sorts early on this year. Then there is Hurley and the great debate of where he should play. I have him as our 7th best player as a forward. He would be much higher as a defender. If Hurley goes back though, suddently Crameri is left as our only forward in our best 15 players, at a lowly 14th, leaving the forward line looking really weak. Daniher needs time, but IMO the Bombers don't have a lot of time. Gumby isn't the answer, Davey and Winderlich are okay short term, but certainlty coming to the end of their careers. Jetta underperforms and should go at year's end, unless something changes quickly. On talent, he should easily make our best 15 players, let alone the 22. Hopefully Kommer and O'Brien can come on and be handy players, but I don't see a lot of star factor coming through into the forward line, apart from Daniher and maybe Merrett is he plays forward. Finally with midfield depth, we need to focus on the forward line at the next draft.

Mids:
Jobe Watson #1
David Zaharakis #2
Brendon Goddard #3
Brent Stanton #4
Dyson Heppell #5
Ben Howlett #10
Heath Hocking #15

Defence:
Dustin Fletcher #6
Jake Carlisle #9
Courtenay Dempsey #11
Michael Hibberd #14

Forwards:
Michael Hurley #7
Stewart Crameri #13

Rucks:
Paddy Ryder #8
Tom Bellchambers #12

 

[matty lloyd the champ]

I think your overrating Heppell a tad, much like a lot of other Essendon supporters on this site. I can see him definitely overtaking Stanton and Goddard in the future but I wouldn't expect that to happen this year or even the next.

 

[Doss]

Fletcher is higher than seventh, in my opinion.

He is still unbelievably crucial for us.

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

Fletcher is higher than seventh, in my opinion.

He is still unbelievably crucial for us.

I had him at 6th, but I see your point. I think 2nd to 6th is very even.

Got to be the best core group we have had in the last 8 - 10 years though?

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

I think your overrating Heppell a tad, much like a lot of other Essendon supporters on this site. I can see him definitely overtaking Stanton and Goddard in the future but I wouldn't expect that to happen this year or even the next.

I disagree. I think Heppell will be nearing his peak next year and will be comfortably ahead of those two.

 

[Doss]

I had him at 6th, but I see your point. I think 2nd to 6th is very even.

Got to be the best core group we have had in the last 8 - 10 years though?

Apologies, got Fletcher and Hurley mixed up.

I probably have him as third most important, personally. I agree with Watson and Zaharakis being first and second.

 

[blitzer]

Firstly I'd like to say that's a pretty reasonable approximation of our 'core' and there's no one on that list that really should not be there and likewise no one I can think of of the top of my that really should be on the list at this moment.

Rankings are always difficult and in reality the difference between players ranked 2-12 is not particularly large in terms of performance or importance to the side.

That said if I was doing rankings for the current side, Stanton would be 2nd, Zaharakis would be 4th, Ryder and Bellchambers would be a few spots higher and Heppell would be a few spots lower. But all up the overall feel is pretty spot on.

I totally agree about the forward line issues, there is no one currently who stands out as being ready to enter that core group of players from a forward line perspective (aside from Winderlich who has the quality but no durability). Everyone else like Davey/Jetta/Kommer/Merrett/Obrien/Daniher either has significant deficiencies in their game/aren't ready/will be developed in different positions anyway. I think honestly the only thing our forward line really has going for it is our ruck combination which is seriously a terrific combo in terms of forward line presence, with 2 ruckman that can genuinely rotate forward and kick goals. Hurley/Crameri are very competitive in terms of making contests, but they simply don't kick enough goals as our #1/#2 forwards which means that someone else has to, although interestingly we've never really struggled to kick big scores despite that.

I've thought for a while now that our midfield is quite underrated and we are now starting to bat fairly deep. I think our midfield/rucks will be our areas of strength whilst our backs and forwards are generally only OK (with strength in the KP's). The good thing is that we will be able to use our resting midfielders/rucks to assist the forward line. What we really need is 1 quality small foward, 1 small/medium forward, 1 quality defender with line breaking ability whether through disposal/pace to round out the core.

 

[Zach Package]

Fletcher ----------- Hibberd
Dempsey Carlisle ----------
Stanton Goddard Heppell
--------- Hurley Zaharakis
Crameri Ryder ---------
Bell'bers Watson Howlett

Hocking ------- --------- --------

Depth tier would be
Hooker
Davey
Lovett-Murray
Melksham
Pears
Myers
Hille
Jetta
Dell'olio

The rest are kids, promising kids, but kids none the less.

 

[NAB777]

I disagree. I think Heppell will be nearing his peak next year and will be comfortably ahead of those two.

Heppell is 5-7 years from his peak. He will be a very, very good player.

 

[daffo]

Agree with that Heppell is still just a boy. He won't reach his peak for another 4-5 years.

 

[lamaros]

Depth tier would be
...
Dell'olio

He is on the fricking ROOKIE LIST.

Why do people keep mentioning him? He wasn't considered important enough to promote and is very possibly getting delisted in 7 months, yet people still list him before guys that actually get games and are on the senior list?

 

[Tommy08]

No issue with Heppell being that high. There's a reason why he's done so well in the B&F in his two seasons of AFL.

 

[Zach Package]

He is on the fricking ROOKIE LIST.

Why do people keep mentioning him? He wasn't considered important enough to promote and is very possibly getting delisted in 7 months, yet people still list him before guys that actually get games and are on the senior list?

i only put him up there because he's mature aged really. notice the rest of them are 22ish and have also played at least 40-50 games (except for him obviously)

 

[monty1104]

Lack of love for Winderlich in this thread. Body permitting, he would be in our "core" for sure.

 

[GUMBLETRON]

i only put him up there because he's mature aged really. notice the rest of them are 22ish and have also played at least 40-50 games (except for him obviously)

Could also argue he provides bit of "depth" in that he plays a particular structural role that might not otherwise be fillable while most of the kids are shaping up as running defenders or bonafide midfielders.

If we assume that small forwards must be crumbing short people, that is.

 

[Slattery_20]

I worry about Crameri sometimes. Needs to get consistently fit, and even then, he's got the goalkicking to worry about.

 

[Phone]

a fit heath hocking who isn't doing dumb shit on the field is just so important for this side

 

[Zach Package]

I worry about Crameri sometimes. Needs to get consistently fit, and even then, he's got the goalkicking to worry about.

Seems to cop so many corkies and impact injuries, I agree his fitness isn't he best it could be.
But I reckon its just the way he plays

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

Firstly I'd like to say that's a pretty reasonable approximation of our 'core' and there's no one on that list that really should not be there and likewise no one I can think of of the top of my that really should be on the list at this moment.

Rankings are always difficult and in reality the difference between players ranked 2-12 is not particularly large in terms of performance or importance to the side.

That said if I was doing rankings for the current side, Stanton would be 2nd, Zaharakis would be 4th, Ryder and Bellchambers would be a few spots higher and Heppell would be a few spots lower. But all up the overall feel is pretty spot on....

Thanks mate, agree with your synopsis of the forward line.

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

a fit heath hocking who isn't doing dumb shit on the field is just so important for this side

Looks likely to return to his form of a couple of years back when most people had him ahead of Stants as our second best mid. If he can do that, along with the improvement of Howlett, Zaka, Hepp and even Stants, suddently its a bloody good midfield when you add in the rucks.

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

Lack of love for Winderlich in this thread. Body permitting, he would be in our "core" for sure.

Considered him, but how can you possibly list him as a core player when he is rarely there? You may as well put Gumby in. When Winderlich can string 6-8 games together, then he can be considered a core player.

 

[monty1104]

Considered him, but how can you possibly list him as a core player when he is rarely there? You may as well put Gumby in. When Winderlich can string 6-8 games together, then he can be considered a core player.

That is as good a case of reductio ad absurdum if I've ever seen one.

Winderlich has proven his is a core player, even a match winner when he is fit and playing. Gumby has not. Being constantly injured is where the similarities end.

 

[ghostdog]

I disagree. I think Heppell will be nearing his peak next year and will be comfortably ahead of those two.

With another pre-season it's highly possible. Probably worth waiting to see how he goes shaking a hard tag first. If his numbers stay high or climb you'd think that will come sooner rather than later.

 

[MAAAATTDAAAAMON]

That is as good a case of reductio ad absurdum if I've ever seen one.

Winderlich has proven his is a core player, even a match winner when he is fit and playing. Gumby has not. Being constantly injured is where the similarities end.

My point was that Winderlich has to be on the park to be considered a core player. Gumby wasn't a serious comparison.

 

[fishardansin]

Seems to cop so many corkies and impact injuries, I agree his fitness isn't he best it could be.
But I reckon its just the way he plays

I'd prefer to see him drop a kilo or two and become a very strong running half forward rather than the running power forward that he is now.

Re Winderlich is absolutely core player and will transform our forward line if he gets back to full fitness. I see him being a blistering quick version of the defensive forward, who will also lead up. No reason he can't dob 3 goals a game AND have the pace to completely blanket the attacking run of oppositions most creative defender. However, it is the "if" that stops him from being a core player now. It's been a long road for him with this knee injury.

Gumby remains a sad story at this stage and I've nearly given up hope that he'll be anything other than very good depth as a KPF, especially with Daniher showing the talent he has.

Pears also has been a slight disappointment since getting injured. I was certain he was going to be a star.

That said the best long term hope for the bombers is Winderlich, Pears and Gumby all coming back to complete fitness and having top form. A forward line of Daniher, Gumby, Crameri, Winderlich, Davey and resting ruck is very exciting if they were all playing to near maximum capacity .....
nearly as exciting as a backline of Hurley, Carlisle, Pears, Hibberd, Dempsey and Goddard (post Fletch).