Club Focus Essendon 2021 - Kelly, Hobbs, Lord, McDonagh

[HirdsTheWord]

There aren't too many attractive and gettable FAs, as per the post I was responding to

yeah no real need for us to chase anyone really in FA considering we have a young list. We already have a good mix of senior & rookie players.

 

[eth-dog]

Seb Ross can do everything except kick the ball. The Saints certainly wouldn't stand in his way of leaving as a FA, just reading their board. If you want a tagger/run-with type he could provide some value.

Not necessarily as a tagger but someone who won't let players out the back of a stoppage, do the blocking required, that sort of thing.

 

[TheGrizz]

Mitch Wallis in the frame?
His dad owns a car dealership with an Essendon coterie member, super-solid citizen off field and can play a couple of roles.

Maybe. His contested ball winning ability is impressive, but i imagine the question is his ability to spread, which is key to how we move the ball by hand.

Very handy player, but he would have to dislodge a Parish or Caldwell (when he returns), which we may be hesitant to do.

Probably less to do with Wallis then it is the circumstance.

 

[carnthedons]

Mitch Wallis in the frame?
His dad owns a car dealership with an Essendon coterie member, super-solid citizen off field and can play a couple of roles.

I’m not sure he’s exactly what we need but bringing him in as depth for a couple of years wouldn’t be the worst idea. Professional, can play a couple of roles, good size. Along with the above he’s v close with Heppell (they used to be neighbours IIRC). Depends what Mitch wants though because I wouldn’t advocate him playing as a centre square mid over any of our core/developing guys (Merrett, Parish, McGrath, Caldwell, Shiel, Langford, Stringer, Perkins, whoever our r1 is this year)

 

[Lore]

hooker on a 1 year contract on way less money to just take the key forward whilst jones develops.

I think this will be the back-up option, depending on whether we can get someone in and also what happens with Hurley who was slated as a forward this year before that nasty infection killed his season.

It kind of sucks for Hooker as he’d probably like to go out with a bang and deserves to, not sitting there until the end of trade period wondering about his contract.

Might be that Dodoro gives him the year either way, if he can get enough spots on the list to do what he needs to without moving Chook.

 

[citizen-erased]

Qualty FA/OOC options are Crouch, Hopper, Bolton, Cerra, but outside Crouch, i reckon all come at a high price.

I like the idea of getting some or all of Hewett, Narkle and Lipinski, plus Lienert as a quality taller defender, and Lonie/Billings/Ronke to add to our small forward ranks
Always been a fan of Bonner too, but mid-sized defenders we have covered.

Also conscious of giving up picks. So FA or DFA/cheap signings need to be the priority.
Don't hold a 2nd rounder this year unfortunately. Wouldn't mind moving our F1 into a later 1st & 2nd to bring 3 sharper end kids in again and let them develop and impact the team together.

What we need is depth in the midfield we can call on, as injuries aren't going to go away.

Core group of Merrett, Parish, McGrath, Shiel, Caldwell w/Langford, Cox & Perkins rotating through is a good midfield
it falls off a cliff after that. 2 decent mids off the bench across a full list is not ideal.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

I think this will be the back-up option, depending on whether we can get someone in and also what happens with Hurley who was slated as a forward this year before that nasty infection killed his season.

It kind of sucks for Hooker as he’d probably like to go out with a bang and deserves to, not sitting there until the end of trade period wondering about his contract.

Might be that Dodoro gives him the year either way, if he can get enough spots on the list to do what he needs to without moving Chook.

Its not like he's going to get better from another club. He'd know he's pretty much over the hill. He is just so slow. Not sure many 33 year old's get much better than 1 year rolling contracts.

to be fair Hooker owes it to us. The contract he got after the drugs saga was well overs and he would know it.

He can just keep rolling on 1 year contracts if he's still preforming decently.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Maybe. His contested ball winning ability is impressive, but i imagine the question is his ability to spread, which is key to how we move the ball by hand.

Very handy player, but he would have to dislodge a Parish or Caldwell (when he returns), which we may be hesitant to do.

Probably less to do with Wallis then it is the circumstance.

Our mid is sorted.

Parish
Caldwell
Merrett
Sheil
Stringer
Langford

I don't see Wallis providing any benefit to that except to play VFL in the case we get mass injuries, which i'm not opposed too. As long as he is mega cheap.

 

[eth-dog]

Qualty FA/OOC options are Crouch, Hopper, Bolton, Cerra, but outside Crouch, i reckon all come at a high price.

I like the idea of getting some or all of Hewett, Narkle and Lipinski, plus Lienert as a quality taller defender, and Lonie/Billings/Ronke to add to our small forward ranks
Always been a fan of Bonner too, but mid-sized defenders we have covered.

Also conscious of giving up picks. So FA or DFA/cheap signings need to be the priority.
Don't hold a 2nd rounder this year unfortunately. Wouldn't mind moving our F1 into a later 1st & 2nd to bring 3 sharper end kids in again and let them develop and impact the team together.

What we need is depth in the midfield we can call on, as injuries aren't going to go away.

Core group of Merrett, Parish, McGrath, Shiel, Caldwell w/Langford, Cox & Perkins rotating through is a good midfield
it falls off a cliff after that. 2 decent mids off the bench across a full list is not ideal.

Lienart was fringe at Port with McKenzie taking power forwards for a reason. He's not a good player

 

[citizen-erased]

Lienart was fringe at Port with McKenzie taking power forwards for a reason. He's not a good player

he plays so infrequently i have little to base it off other than a handful of games where he looked alright.
I wonder how much is lack of continuity.

 

[eth-dog]

he plays so infrequently i have little to base it off other than a handful of games where he looked alright.
I wonder how much is lack of continuity.

If he were up to the level he would have had continuity in a team that had struggles defending big forwards.

 

[Ants]

Mitch Wallis in the frame?
His dad owns a car dealership with an Essendon coterie member, super-solid citizen off field and can play a couple of roles.

I'm not sure if he suits from an age demographic. And from his POV, he's probably coming as depth. Does he want that? I mean, there will be WAY less people in the queue ahead of him than at the Bulldogs, but still.

We're in a bit of an odd position where the best 22 on paper is solid in every position and young enough to have development, but with virtually nothing behind it. Which will make it harder to attract fringe players as who do you say they'll be ahead of? In Wallis's case Snelling & Walla are ahead up forward, and we'll play Caldwell and Shiel ahead of him in the middle. So he's waiting on injuries again.

About the only position who would walk into the side is a fringe winger.

More likely to be someone like George Hewett or Seb Ross. Cheap players who are defensively minded inside mids

No thanks. We're fine in the middle, the issue is turnovers and transition. Only players with good disposal should be chased, and having a big engine (and willing to work) should be the second criteria.

 

[eth-dog]

I'm not sure if he suits from an age demographic. And from his POV, he's probably coming as depth. Does he want that? I mean, there will be WAY less people in the queue ahead of him than at the Bulldogs, but still.

We're in a bit of an odd position where the best 22 on paper is solid in every position and young enough to have development, but with virtually nothing behind it. Which will make it harder to attract fringe players as who do you say they'll be ahead of? In Wallis's case Snelling & Walla are ahead up forward, and we'll play Caldwell and Shiel ahead of him in the middle. So he's waiting on injuries again.

About the only position who would walk into the side is a fringe winger.


No thanks. We're fine in the middle, the issue is turnovers and transition. Only players with good disposal should be chased, and having a big engine (and willing to work) should be the second criteria.

We're 14th and 15th for clearance and contested possession difference in the AFL this year respectively (which was massively boosted by being +13 in clearances and +19 in contested possessions on Sunday), last year 7th and 15th, the year before 12th and 15th. We've been top 8 in both once between 2015 and now, and bottom 4 in one of them for the vast majority of the time. It's a clear issue for us, especially defensively, and has been for a number of years. Our midfield is not balanced

 

[citizen-erased]

We're 14th and 15th for clearance and contested possession difference in the AFL this year respectively (which was massively boosted by being +13 in clearances and +19 in contested possessions on Sunday), last year 7th and 15th, the year before 12th and 15th. We've been top 8 in both once between 2015 and now, and bottom 4 in one of them for the vast majority of the time. It's a clear issue for us, especially defensively, and has been for a number of years. Our midfield is not balanced

balanced or deep

a blocker mid or two would be good.
Losing a couple of contested types early hasn't helped either. Add McGrath and we're down to our last 2 full time inside mids.

 

[Ants]

We're 14th and 15th for clearance and contested possession difference in the AFL this year respectively (which was massively boosted by being +13 in clearances and +19 in contested possessions on Sunday), last year 7th and 15th, the year before 12th and 15th. We've been top 8 in both once between 2015 and now, and bottom 4 in one of them for the vast majority of the time. It's a clear issue for us, especially defensively, and has been for a number of years. Our midfield is not balanced

So? Two of our best clearance players have been injured from midway in Round 2. Richmond was near the bottom as well. The team is fine from a clearances point of view. Its not scores from clearances that are our problem, its scores from turnovers.

 

[Ambrosia]

Wouldn’t want to over extend our cap at all but I don’t see why we wouldn’t make a solid offer to Billings.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Mitch Wallis in the frame?
His dad owns a car dealership with an Essendon coterie member, super-solid citizen off field and can play a couple of roles.

I wouldn’t be against Wallis would add some leadership and experience in what it takes to taste success. Only have Stringer who’s tasted the ultimate be nice or have another one

 

[Yoda_]

I'm not sure if he suits from an age demographic. And from his POV, he's probably coming as depth. Does he want that? I mean, there will be WAY less people in the queue ahead of him than at the Bulldogs, but still.

We're in a bit of an odd position where the best 22 on paper is solid in every position and young enough to have development, but with virtually nothing behind it. Which will make it harder to attract fringe players as who do you say they'll be ahead of? In Wallis's case Snelling & Walla are ahead up forward, and we'll play Caldwell and Shiel ahead of him in the middle. So he's waiting on injuries again.

About the only position who would walk into the side is a fringe winger.


No thanks. We're fine in the middle, the issue is turnovers and transition. Only players with good disposal should be chased, and having a big engine (and willing to work) should be the second criteria.

You could almost say, hitting the draft to develop depth should be our aim this off season?

 

[Yoda_]

Wouldn’t want to over extend our cap at all but I don’t see why we wouldn’t make a solid offer to Billings.

Because Will Snelling is a more consistent, albeit more limited version of Jack.

 

[Muddiemoose]

I wouldn’t be against Wallis would add some leadership and experience in what it takes to taste success. Only have Stringer who’s tasted the ultimate be nice or have another one

Apparently Richmond are also interested in Wallis
Could be an astute pick up from either club
Good amount of leadership, experience and can play mid or forward

Not going to be a top line player and isn’t overly fast but if deployed well could complement teams with guys that can also play mid forward rotations

Stringer the obvious one for Essendon without knowing what your other mids are like up forward

Dusty and Bolton for Richmond

 

[Ants]

You could almost say, hitting the draft to develop depth should be our aim this off season?

It may be our only option. It probably is also the correct one.

Because Will Snelling is a more consistent, albeit more limited version of Jack.

Not really a great argument. I'd take two Snellings right now in a heartbeat if they were available.

The bigger problem is that IMO any salary we should offer would be too low that St Kilda won't match. So I don't see it really going anywhere.

 

[Ambrosia]

Because Will Snelling is a more consistent, albeit more limited version of Jack.

Don’t think they are that similar at all. We definitely have room on the wing for him and I expect he’d fit in well with our other midfielders.

 

[eth-dog]

Wouldn’t want to over extend our cap at all but I don’t see why we wouldn’t make a solid offer to Billings.

Because is he the type we need to be spending money on?

 

[Ambrosia]

Because is he the type we need to be spending money on?

I’m assuming we have a huge amount of cap space.

 

[Vindicater]

Need to hit the draft.

Maybe sign a cheaper vet free agent who fits a role.

No need to reach for anybody. Still too early in the build.

Keep pumping games into Jobes, Perkins, Cox and Reid.