Draft Picks

[macca69]

7 - Varcoe
19 - Dempsey

apparantley you guys are very keen on these 2 players. Both have a heap of potential, but Varcoe has a few injury concerns and Dempsey has a major attitude problem. Good luck

 

[mcphee_is_a_gun]

7 - Varcoe
19 - Dempsey

apparantley you guys are very keen on these 2 players. Both have a heap of potential, but Varcoe has a few injury concerns and Dempsey has a major attitude problem. Good luck

wheres that come from?

 

[macca69]

wheres that come from?

The Varcoe rumour is very strong I have heard it from a number of sources. The Dempsey one is just one I have read on the draft board, probly not all that accurate, but it wouldn't surprise me if true, they're both Sheedy types of players IMO.

 

[boms]

umm i dont think we will get Varcoe at no.7. No.19 thats better along with Clarke at no.7

 

[boms]

ESSENDON - 7, 19, 39 (Jay Neagle), 51
Adrian Dodoro, Essendon's recruiting manager, says coach Kevin Sheedy has made no requirements that a certain type of player be selected.
"We have two early selections, at seven and 19 so they are both in the first round, and they will be good players.
"We have no pre-conceived ideas. Pick 39 is a father-son pick in Jay Neagle, and we will see what falls out at 51."
They will pick Scott Camporeale and Chris Heffernan in the pre-season draft.
What the Bombers need: Forwards, midfielders.

is Dempsey a forward?

 

[Schopp]

i am hoping that we get any of the following types with our first two picks:
- Varcoe, Oakley-Nicholls, Pendelbury, Lucy, Drum, Swallow, Richie Douglas.

I know Ryder and Mitch Clarke sound like good athletic talls, but they both will wind up around the 200cm mark. I think in Laycock, Bradley, Hill and Cartledge we already have the future covered with talls who can play ruck and or forward.

However i feel that in the immediate term we do require a monster ruckman and Ash Eames sounds like he is our man. I hope we get him with 51. However the Saints and Hawks are really desperate for a ruckman so i imagine they may stiff us and pick him with their 3rd round pick.

With Eames and hopefully a fit and inform Johns, I think we'll have a team that once again intimidates. We do have Mark Johnson, Welsh, Solomon but these guys dont have the size to intimidate like a B hall or J Brown.

I would also like a couple of guys who can play on the small or midsized forwards, someone like Bolton from Sydney, i feel this is particularly important with Zantuck and Teddy Richards now out of the mix. Toovey from WA has the pace to do this very competently, but he'll probably be gone mid 2nd -3rd round i suspect. Perhaps we can uncover someone like the Bulldogs did with Dale Morris. Maybe we've hidden one or two, who knows?

So in summary I think we need:
- More quick and competitive midfielders/utilities so that we can match clubs who have great midfield depth like the West Coast and Bulldogs for pace and run;
- A big strong ruckman who can give us first use at stoppages; and
- Quick tight checking miserly defenders.

I know there is the best available term being used heavily these days. But i think that it will be difficult to split say a Mitch Clarke and an Oakley-Nicholls so that is when you have to go for a needs basis.

I feel that if we get Campo, Heff and Stevie Greene that we are back at square one in a sense after getting rid of a lot of guys that will not contribute to future premiership success. Roll along Saturday!

 

[blumfieldisback]

i am hoping that we get any of the following types with our first two picks:
- Varcoe, Oakley-Nicholls, Pendelbury, Lucy, Drum, Swallow, Richie Douglas.

I know Ryder and Mitch Clarke sound like good athletic talls, but they both will wind up around the 200cm mark. I think in Laycock, Bradley, Hill and Cartledge we already have the future covered with talls who can play ruck and or forward.

However i feel that in the immediate term we do require a monster ruckman and Ash Eames sounds like he is our man. I hope we get him with 51. However the Saints and Hawks are really desperate for a ruckman so i imagine they may stiff us and pick him with their 3rd round pick.

With Eames and hopefully a fit and inform Johns, I think we'll have a team that once again intimidates. We do have Mark Johnson, Welsh, Solomon but these guys dont have the size to intimidate like a B hall or J Brown.

I would also like a couple of guys who can play on the small or midsized forwards, someone like Bolton from Sydney, i feel this is particularly important with Zantuck and Teddy Richards now out of the mix. Toovey from WA has the pace to do this very competently, but he'll probably be gone mid 2nd -3rd round i suspect. Perhaps we can uncover someone like the Bulldogs did with Dale Morris. Maybe we've hidden one or two, who knows?

So in summary I think we need:
- More quick and competitive midfielders/utilities so that we can match clubs who have great midfield depth like the West Coast and Bulldogs for pace and run;
- A big strong ruckman who can give us first use at stoppages; and
- Quick tight checking miserly defenders.

I know there is the best available term being used heavily these days. But i think that it will be difficult to split say a Mitch Clarke and an Oakley-Nicholls so that is when you have to go for a needs basis.

I feel that if we get Campo, Heff and Stevie Greene that we are back at square one in a sense after getting rid of a lot of guys that will not contribute to future premiership success. Roll along Saturday!

hmm i hear what u are saying but i think footymans draft selections for essendon are fantastic.

Mitchell clarke at 7 then travis varcoe at 19, if this panned out our future would be back on track. Mitchell clarke may grow to 200cm but he is very athletic who can dominate games, he may come as a forward ruckman but so were dustin flecther and kepler bradley. I think with his athleticism they would groom him as another kpp backman.

with 10 players culled from the list and most of them were not hard working players, off the track anyway, you are going to need some experience to come into the side. Im not sure about steven greene although in that 2001 preliminary he was scintillating. But campo and heffernan can both offer us something. Heffernan is only 27 and can play as arun with player, his tackiling was always of top class during our halcyon days. Campo can run the lines and he knows how to kick goals. Dont think of them as premier players think of them as evening the side out from our best to worst performances.

Another player whom im warming too is dale thomas i havnt seen him play but even though he is a forward he looks like and sounds like gary ablett jnr. Very fast has good skills and can kick a goal in big games, he looks compact like gary ablettt jnr too.

 

[Longy413]

I posted this on the draft board.

Hurn, Clarke or Dowler with our first pick. One of those will fall through to 7. Clarke probably the most likely.

Varcoe, Pendlebury or Bower with pick 19.

Daniel Dzufer is listed at at 46 on Footy Draft. I think he could go a lot higher than that, but if he gets through to 51 he could be the steal of the draft.
I like Wall, don't rate Neaves.

Our last pick would probably depend on what we do with our other 3. I'd look at Eames, Heffernan would come into calculations and so would Doering and Thomas to some extent. I think with this pick we draft purely for need. It is going to be a complete raffle this late in the draft.

 

[DaSawx]

Geez Varcoe or Pendlebury would be nice at 19. I don't know why everyone is calling it a weak draft, no offence to Teddy Richards but i'm glad we traded you for pick 19

 

[Schopp]

I don't know why everyone is calling it a weak draft

Agree. It just seems very even, apart from Murphy and maybe Pat ryder there appear to be no real standouts in the 1st 20-25 picks. Hence someone like a Swallow could go anywhere from top 5 pick or pick 25. It is going to be a real test of the recruiters skill (and luck) come saturday.

 

[blumfieldisback]

who knows last year i was hopeful of getting jordan lewis to essendon and was wondering who in the hell monfries was. i was dissapointed at the time but now i couldnt be happier.

It was the same the year before when we got bradley instead of kane tenace, i thought gee we really do need midfielders and we passed on the best available option. But now i think bradley is streets ahead of tenace and we got stanton and dyson out of the draft.

Really I trust what Adrian Dodoro and Kevin Sheedy may have in plan afterall they are the experts. Sure they missed out on Shane Harvey, maybe winderlich, daniel Mcalister, bolton and james davies, but they got soloman at 20, stanton at 13, monfries at 14 and dyson at 40 something. They also got laycock at 10 with a few other ruckman namely hamish Mcintosh named ahead of him.

 

[Schopp]

Blumfieldisback i am also getting more confidence in the recruiting staff. I think that dordoro is also improving with time. I know he wanted Kane Cornes but Sheeds wanted Davies, so he could have looked a even better if Sheeds listened to him.

 

[eastaugh36]

Last year was the best I have ever felt post draft. To get Monfries and Slattery I was rapt, having seen them in the sanfl in 2004. I hope I feel similar come Saturday afternoon. Can't wait.

 

[mcphee_is_a_gun]

I wouldnt mind if we got Mckinley, a bombers supporter and really wants to play for us.

 

[Longy413]

I wouldnt mind if we got Mckinley, a bombers supporter and really wants to play for us.

Someone was watching Ch10 news

You can't draft on emotion. Cupido was a massive Essendon supporter as well.

Given we are already committed to taking Neagle, I'd say the likelihood of us taking another mid-sized forward is slim.

If he's the best player available and 19 and the recruiters think he can move into the midfield, then he'd be a shot. But there is likely to be better options available.

 

[mcphee_is_a_gun]

Someone was watching Ch10 news

You can't draft on emotion. Cupido was a massive Essendon supporter as well.

Given we are already committed to taking Neagle, I'd say the likelihood of us taking another mid-sized forward is slim.

If he's the best player available and 19 and the recruiters think he can move into the midfield, then he'd be a shot. But there is likely to be better options available.

yeah true im just hoping he's around at pick 51 but from what he was saying he knew if we didnt take him at pick 19 we wouldnt be ableto get him.

I've been thinking do we really need to draft a KPP with our first 2 picks? with drafting Neagle and Lee pretty much a new recruit im not sure we need to and with next years draft suppossedly a 'super draft' with many KPP options would it hurt to wait until next year because realistically if we drafted a KPP this year were not going to win a premiership next season and even in the off chance we did somehow manage too Clarke, Dowler or Kennedy arnt going to be a major reason in it.

 

[Schopp]

I've been thinking do we really need to draft a KPP with our first 2 picks? .

I agree. I would much prefer a tall midfield/utility in the mould of Embley/Hird/Goodes. Someone who can play tall or short. A rare commodity but invaluable. We need to nab a good one with Jim soon retiring.

Perhaps if we were going to get kpp i would look at fullback - a real quick off the mark, stingy fullback. Someone like a Lucy may not sound as exciting as a Varcoe but if he ends up like a Scarlett that would be most invaluable. But perhaps Lee could play in this role eventually, but i am not sure if he has even ever played at fullback in his life to date.

 

[ant555]

Just as a side issue can Gilham be picked up as a rookie? might be worth looking at.

 

[blumfieldisback]

yeah true im just hoping he's around at pick 51 but from what he was saying he knew if we didnt take him at pick 19 we wouldnt be ableto get him.

I've been thinking do we really need to draft a KPP with our first 2 picks? with drafting Neagle and Lee pretty much a new recruit im not sure we need to and with next years draft suppossedly a 'super draft' with many KPP options would it hurt to wait until next year because realistically if we drafted a KPP this year were not going to win a premiership next season and even in the off chance we did somehow manage too Clarke, Dowler or Kennedy arnt going to be a major reason in it.

you dont ever draft a player for next season though, even if we got a midfielder you wouldnt expect him to have an immediate impact. If we went for a kpp player it would be to mould someone who could make smooth transition into the position that fletcher plays in a few years time.

Clarke could have that potential, I mean I know he is a forward player but most young forwards end up being gun backmen, silvagni, fletcher, leppitsch, Mal Michael spring to mind.

Kpp players take much longer to mature then midfielders so why wait until next year we may not get a pick until 15, who knows.

I think we gamble on a clarke with pick 7 and hope to get varcoe with pick 19. Our future in 3 years time would still be rosey.

 

[Longy413]

Just as a side issue can Gilham be picked up as a rookie? might be worth looking at.

He can be and I reckon you could nearly pencil it in.

 

[eastaugh36]

He can be and I reckon you could nearly pencil it in.

I agree. I doubt we would draft him. He is the type of player (tall defender) that still needs time and he will learn in the vfl, similar to how Port had him in the sanfl, except he was listed with them. I reckon we will rookie him, have a look at him for 2 years and see how far he has come. I wouldn't expect him to play AFL until maybe 2007 if an injury comes up.

 

[Schopp]

Thank God with our recruiting policies and intelligence compared to what is happening with North Melbourne. Giving up 2 first rounders for J Hay, considering picking up one or a combination of Lokan, Woewodin, and Cupido after snagging Lance Piccione last year. Even us picking up Campo would seem like an act of genius compared to what they seem to have planned.

I like that we have a couple of taller defenders training with us. We need them.

 

[dave_27]

as much as we hate the thought of campo at windy hill, he is easliy the best available player in the PSD and we are getting him 4 picks down the line.

 

[eastaugh36]

as much as we hate the thought of campo at windy hill, he is easliy the best available player in the PSD and we are getting him 4 picks down the line.

I'd rather Kasey Green than him.

 

[foj1]

I have heard Higgins from the Geelong Falcons is on essendon's radar for pick 7. I only saw them play twice this year. he seems pretty quick and skillful. Has anyone seen him more regularly? My feeling closer to draft day is essendon would love Ryder to slip to 7 and I think they should go for a tall. Take an ob such as Douglas, Oakley-Nichols, Varcoe or Jones with 19 and get best player available pick 51. I would prefer Michael stevens or Green to campo. Bring on saturday I think the top 6 will go this way- Murphy, Ryder, Kennedy, Hurn, Ellis, Swallow and we will take Clark with pick 7.