Essendon 2021

[Tasmanian saint]

Will 2021 be the weakest Essendon team in the afl era ? NO forward line extremely average midfield and an aging backline

 

[Milanista28]

You think it'll be worse than 2016?

 

[revival_mode]

lol

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The big question is, what blame does Adrian Dodoro carry for this?

 

[Tasmanian saint]

The big question is, what blame does Adrian Dodoro carry for this?

Think there is already a very long thread for that question

 

[Tasmanian saint]

You think it'll be worse than 2016?

That’s obviously very different circumstances due to the majority of your list being suspended. When I look at the performances from last season and the quality players you have lost over the offseason that’s were question comes from

 

[owen87]

That’s obviously very different circumstances due to the majority of your list being suspended. When I look at the performances from last season and the quality players you have lost over the offseason that’s were question comes from

Those 3 goals from Joe Daniher (all in the one game) will be pretty hard to replace. True.

 

[Milanista28]

That’s obviously very different circumstances due to the majority of your list being suspended. When I look at the performances from last season and the quality players you have lost over the offseason that’s were question comes from

Purely from a 2020 viewpoint... Saad was the only constant from the players we lost and Joe was responsible for the Hawks win. We lost talented players no doubt but they didn't contribute a tonne. Personnel isn't our weakness our game plan and mindset is.

 

[Jobe Watson]

I think we're a top 4 chance.

 

[Tasmanian saint]

Those 3 goals from Joe Daniher (all in the one game) will be pretty hard to replace. True.

Well you won that game didn’t you the guy is still a match winner on his day I would much rather play Essendon with out him then with him

 

[owen87]

Well you won that game didn’t you the guy is still a match winner on his day I would much rather play Essendon with out him then with him

Well for the last 3 years you've not played an Essendon side with him.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Think there is already a very long thread for that question

But can he ever be discussed too much?

I say no.

 

[SimpkinByTheDockOfTheBay]

Will be the weakest I can remember but hilariously Hawthorn will beat them in the crapness stakes and take pick 1.

 

[Kappa]

Not bottom 4 but not far off.

 

[Milanista28]

Will be the weakest I can remember but hilariously Hawthorn will beat them in the crapness stakes and take pick 1.

 

[JayJ20]

2006? We won 3 games. I think we'll win about 6-10 games so no.

 

[Ceehook]

I can see 2021 being a more compressed comp than people are predicting
in recent years we have had quite weak Gold Coast , Carlton, Lions and Essendon sides
Lions have transformed themselves and will rightly aim at finals again
Gold Coast have been improved under Dew and their young list should have further natural improvement
Carlton did start getting some wins on the board and a few wins had people taking notice
and Essendon were injury plagued last year but had promising younger player emerge
what looked like an uneasy partnership between Worsfold and Ratten is behind them now

The clean out at North would have most AFL followers tipping them to finish last

Who will partner them in the bottom four ? Essendon ?
From what I saw of the Essendon VFL side in 2019 I'd say no that side was very well drilled and looked full of promise
and without knowing the individual names of the young guys do think the likes of Hurley , Zaharakis & Hooker could get leap frogged

the drug suspension year was the weakest Essendon team of the last 50 years
2021 will bring fresh hope and yet more new faces will leave that era behind ,
they may not be great but not the worst Dons to go around

 

[JayJ20]

I can see 2021 being a more compressed comp than people are predicting
in recent years we have had quite weak Gold Coast , Carlton, Lions and Essendon sides
Lions have transformed themselves and will rightly aim at finals again
Gold Coast have been improved under Dew and their young list should have further natural improvement
Carlton did start getting some wins on the board and a few wins had people taking notice
and Essendon were injury plagued last year but had promising younger player emerge
what looked like an uneasy partnership between Worsfold and Ratten is behind them now

The clean out at North would have most AFL followers tipping them to finish last

Who will partner them in the bottom four ? Essendon ?
From what I saw of the Essendon VFL side in 2019 I'd say no that side was very well drilled and looked full of promise
and without knowing the individual names of the young guys do think the likes of Hurley , Zaharakis & Hooker could get leap frogged

the drug suspension year was the weakest Essendon team of the last 50 years
2021 will bring fresh hope and yet more new faces will leave that era behind ,
they may not be great but not the worst Dons to go around

Nailed pretty much everything.

 

[owen87]

I can see 2021 being a more compressed comp than people are predicting
in recent years we have had quite weak Gold Coast , Carlton, Lions and Essendon sides
Lions have transformed themselves and will rightly aim at finals again
Gold Coast have been improved under Dew and their young list should have further natural improvement
Carlton did start getting some wins on the board and a few wins had people taking notice
and Essendon were injury plagued last year but had promising younger player emerge
what looked like an uneasy partnership between Worsfold and Ratten is behind them now

The clean out at North would have most AFL followers tipping them to finish last

Who will partner them in the bottom four ? Essendon ?
From what I saw of the Essendon VFL side in 2019 I'd say no that side was very well drilled and looked full of promise
and without knowing the individual names of the young guys do think the likes of Hurley , Zaharakis & Hooker could get leap frogged

the drug suspension year was the weakest Essendon team of the last 50 years
2021 will bring fresh hope and yet more new faces will leave that era behind ,
they may not be great but not the worst Dons to go around

There's no obvious basket case side, things can occur during the season that result in appalling results, or teams mentally throwing in the towel. But I don't see any side that is clearly a level below the rest of the comp in terms of talent or experience. Just a handful of teams that should be around the Top-4 and another handful around the Bottom-4.

 

[Ceehook]

I'm hardly a genius by saying injuries will shape the season
they came damn close to derailing the Tigers the last two years
I could see last year injuries took their toll on the Blues & Bombers

Geelong look like they have gone "all in" during trading this year believing their premiership window is open
will the "young" Cats players all of a sudden succumb to a series of soft tissue injuries

Brayshaw said something interesting during the finals when Collingwood were stinking it up "the end can come quickly"
and any side with a number of guys over 30 are probably walking a tight rope

 

[Jaeger]

How interesting that their best player Joe Daniher who was their highest paid player wanted to go to Sydney then it fell through and he went to Brisbane. Then even when they knew he wanted out they didn't line up a gun forward to take his spot (not including 2 metre Peter who was in the ressies at the Suns). So they went after Dunkley but landed a fringe GWS mid in Caldwell who isn't going to start in their midfield.

 

[TheBigLeftBoot]

From a purely personnel perspective, losing 4 quality players in the prime of their careers (Saad, Daniher, Fantasia, McKenna) and replacing them with Caldwell, who's not ready to be a major contributor in 2021, will hurt any club. Yes those last three players didn't contribute much in 2020 but if they remained on the list they would represent huge upside for Essendon to push forward in 2021. I struggle to find upside to this Essendon list. Ridley and McGrath are genuine quality but played so well in 2020 it would require a little bit of luck (with injury, form) to maintain the standards set in 2020 let alone produce a level of performance that would deliver significant improvement. Unless I'm missing someone, the only upside I see in Essendon is potentially Draper (needs a big preseason and some luck) and players like Heppell and Stringer returning to fitness and form.

 

[owen87]

How interesting that their best player Joe Daniher who was their highest paid player wanted to go to Sydney then it fell through and he went to Brisbane. Then even when they knew he wanted out they didn't line up a gun forward to take his spot (not including 2 metre Peter who was in the ressies at the Suns). So they went after Dunkley but landed a fringe GWS mid in Caldwell who isn't going to start in their midfield.

From a purely personnel perspective, losing 4 quality players in the prime of their careers (Saad, Daniher, Fantasia, McKenna) and replacing them with Caldwell, who's not ready to be a major contributor in 2021, will hurt any club. Yes those last three players didn't contribute much in 2020 but if they remained on the list they would represent huge upside for Essendon to push forward in 2021. I struggle to find upside to this Essendon list. Ridley and McGrath are genuine quality but played so well in 2020 it would require a little bit of luck (with injury, form) to maintain the standards set in 2020 let alone produce a level of performance that would deliver significant improvement. Unless I'm missing someone, the only upside I see in Essendon is potentially Draper (needs a big preseason and some luck) and players like Heppell and Stringer returning to fitness and form.

It's almost like Essendon are a club going through a period of hitting the draft to build the list around young players.

 

[Off Tap]

Will be the weakest I can remember but hilariously Hawthorn will beat them in the crapness stakes and take pick 1.

Do you honestly believe that both the Hawks and Bombers are in worse shape than the Roos and will finish below your lot for 2021?

 

[SimpkinByTheDockOfTheBay]

Do you honestly believe that both the Hawks and Bombers are in worse shape than the Roos and will finish below your lot for 2021?

I believe us and and both of them will be bottom four and in the mix for bottom.

People are freaking out because we delisted the likes of Ben Jacobs who hadn't played in two years.

We also brought in multiple AFL players, two with recent grand final experience, and drafted an AFL ready gun mid.