I hate Essendon!
I take no pleasure whatsoever in watching any Essendon player succeed.
However…I have to admit that Dustin Fletcher was one of the best players of the past 25 years. Watching him destroy us for so many years pissed me off no end. That’s what makes this next bit so hard: Ryan Garthwaite from the Bushrangers for some reason reminds me of Fletcher, the very player that frustrated, rankled and antagonised me on so many occasions. I have to admit Garthwaite really impresses me, to the point where I am willing to forgive him for reminding me of Fletcher and believe we should make a bid on him.
Garthwaite reads the play beautifully, has a bit of pace for a bigger bloke, marks well and spoils well. Okay, his kicking style is rather ‘unique’ but he still seems to hit his targets. And his thirty metre handballs are also pretty accurate. (Did I see a 40m handball amongst his highlights?) The added bonus in bidding on Ryan would be ‘stealing’ one of GWS’s academy boys (or at the very least forcing them to pay a bit more for him). He is from Corowa which is closer to Melbourne than Canberra (let alone Sydney) so there wouldn’t be the negative ‘go home factor’ if we got him down to the Bayside area.
With Fisher and Dempster close to the end, and Roberton looking to play further up the field, Garthwaite would be an excellent third tall for us in years to come. I’m sure we could get him at pick 23, but he could still be a possibility at 36 where he would be a really good value pick.