Club Focus Essendon 2023

[Lore]

Data from footywire. To check the draft order see the thread here.

Footywire says: "While we make every effort to keep up to date with player contracts, it is likely that our data may at times be out of date, incomplete or inaccurate. If you find any player contracts that need updating, please let us know using our brand new contract submission form."

 

[citizen-erased]

the deals are harmless from an Essendon perspective. Gave up nothing to bring them in and they can manage the cap. However these 3 or 4 players don't fix the key issue with Essendon, that being they're too easy to move the ball against and score. McKay helps with key forwards kicking bags but teams usually have 2-4 goal kicking options

Brad Scott and Co will need to overhaul their defensive system

we were too far back to fix overnight.
These guys will at least stabilise us as we continue to build.

fwd pressure is a big one. pressure between the arcs too.
Backline i think is ok. Baldwin really came on as the upgrade on Laverde and Mckays size is key. Redman, Ridley, McGrath and Cox round that out, though i'd love another runner. Bonner as a DFA perhaps. or Hardeman in the draft.

Rest is a bit of mindset from the group fwd of defence.

 

[citizen-erased]

Gotta hand it to Dodoro. 20th season in a row winning Trade Week and its not even close.

that record is surely paper thin by now.

 

[citizen-erased]

I had always thought stringer could be your game breaker, but it just doesn't seem to have panned out.

I don't see ridley or Langford as having another gear to go up to, but that may just be my own bias.

I am with you on merrett though.

lightning in a bottle season back end of '21. looked every bit Dusty of '17.
got his 3 year deal and that was the end of that.

safe to say Stringer, Shiel, Smith, Saad trade periods just didnt work in the end.
4 guys that are all AA quality, and we got maybe one season of that from each.....all at different times.

Even if Langford and Merrett don't get better (pretty damn good as is), its all about those behind them.
We also need a year of Parish not going down.

 

[Caligo]

lightning in a bottle season back end of '21. looked every bit Dusty of '17.
got his 3 year deal and that was the end of that.

safe to say Stringer, Shiel, Smith, Saad trade periods just didnt work in the end.
4 guys that are all AA quality, and we got maybe one season of that from each.....all at different times.

Even if Langford and Merrett don't get better (pretty damn good as is), its all about those behind them.
We also need a year of Parish not going down.

Agree with all of that. Was amazed by the output of Langford especially. Superb effort when you consider the ball probably wasn't coming into the forward line as well as he may have liked. (And yes, I know my club is even worse at effective f50 entries)

 

[citizen-erased]

Agree with all of that. Was amazed by the output of Langford especially. Superb effort when you consider the ball probably wasn't coming into the forward line as well as he may have liked. (And yes, I know my club is even worse at effective f50 entries)

always been a smart, quality forward. i think being the main target helped him this year.

 

[Caligo]

always been a smart, quality forward. i think being the main target helped him this year.

I have clearly underrated him. Always he thought he was just ok, nothing special.

Always nice to be proven wrong like that. Well done to him.

 

[citizen-erased]

I have clearly underrated him. Always he thought he was just ok, nothing special.

Always nice to be proven wrong like that. Well done to him.

favourite moment of the season was him working May under the ball during gather round, then dribbling the ball through from 40m.

felt he arrived as a seasoned player at that moment.
then we switched him backed for a few games

 

[Jeremias]

In: Xavier Duursma, Jade Gresham

11

Jade Gresham

Age

26

Ht

177cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.4

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

7.2

4star

M

3.2

3star

T

2.7

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

17.5

4star

K

10.8

4star

HB

6.8

4star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.0

3star

G

0.5

4star

D

11.8

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

5.8

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

3.4

5star

G

0.4

3star

, Ben McKay

32

Ben Mckay

Age

26

Ht

202cm

Wt

104kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.5

2star

K

3.7

1star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

1.7

4star

MG

77.2

1star

D

7.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

3.0

2star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.5

2star

MG

88.5

2star

D

7.0

2star

K

3.4

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.0

4star

MG

67.8

1star

, Todd Goldstein

17

Todd Goldstein

Age

35

Ht

201cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.2

3star

K

5.7

2star

HB

7.5

5star

CL

3.1

5star

HO

32.5

5star

D

16.7

4star

K

9.3

4star

HB

7.4

4star

CL

7.0

5star

HO

32.9

5star

D

5.2

2star

K

2.6

1star

HB

2.6

3star

HO

10.0

5star

Out: Massimo D'Ambrosio, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

25

Brandon...

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.5

3star

K

8.5

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.5

3star

MG

148.5

2star

D

12.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.0

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

0.0

1star

MG

124.0

2star

D

11.5

3star

K

8.5

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.5

5star

T

1.5

4star

MG

148.5

3star

Draft Picks: 9. 31, 35, 61, 88

One of the busier clubs over the trade and free agency period, the Bombers got their business done.

Haven't lost much but have brought in 3-4 best 22 players, and kept a relatively strong draft hand.

Happy, Dons fans?

 

[eth-dog]

In: Xavier Duursma, Jade Gresham, Ben McKay, Todd Goldstein

Out: Massimo D'Ambrosio, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

Draft Picks: 9. 31, 35, 61, 88

One of the busier clubs over the trade and free agency period, the Bombers got their business done.

Haven't lost much but have brought in 3-4 best 22 players, and kept a relatively strong draft hand.

Happy, Dons fans?

Yep. Can draft a half back that can reach Massimo's level, Duursma adds depth to our outside midfield rotation, Gresham, McKay* and Goldstein are upgrades on Snelling, Zerk-Thatcher and Phillips.

*Upgrade in the sense that he's better suited to taking monsters, in reality they're a similar standard of player.

 

[owen87]

In: Xavier Duursma, Jade Gresham, Ben McKay, Todd Goldstein

Out: Massimo D'Ambrosio, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

Draft Picks: 9. 31, 35, 61, 88

One of the busier clubs over the trade and free agency period, the Bombers got their business done.

Haven't lost much but have brought in 3-4 best 22 players, and kept a relatively strong draft hand.

Happy, Dons fans?

Reckon we've done OK here. I don't really buy the whole 'winning trade week' idea, but I think we've improved our list which is the main aim.

• BZT for McKay might be a similar standard of player but McKay is genuine KPP size which is useful structurally for guys like Ridley.
• Snelling (will be the one to go IMO) for Gresham is an upgrade.
• Phillips for Goldstein is much of a muchness, Goldy is at the tail-end but we needed ready to go ruck support given Draper is currently injured and Bryan isn't ready for 22 games as a one-out ruckman. If he can impart some wisdom in terms of doing the ruck basics well and getting their bodies on the park each week then that's a big win.
• Duursma a bit of a wild-card here, improves our running capacity on the outside and means Durham and Martin on the wings have some support.

Doesn't appear like we've overly compromised our salary cap in the process given the upcoming cap increases and that we usually seem to pay a slightly inflated fixed rate instead of including CBA increases in contracts.

Supporters who wanted the club to bottom out to get a high draft pick or two will be disappointed I assume, but otherwise we've upgraded the performance floor of our best-22 without compromising our draft hand, and mostly with guys that have 5+ years of AFL football ahead of them.

 

[Caligo]

Reckon we've done OK here. I don't really buy the whole 'winning trade week' idea, but I think we've improved our list which is the main aim.

• BZT for McKay might be a similar standard of player but McKay is genuine KPP size which is useful structurally for guys like Ridley.
• Snelling (will be the one to go IMO) for Gresham is an upgrade.
• Phillips for Goldstein is much of a muchness, Goldy is at the tail-end but we needed ready to go ruck support given Draper is currently injured and Bryan isn't ready for 22 games as a one-out ruckman. If he can impart some wisdom in terms of doing the ruck basics well and getting their bodies on the park each week then that's a big win.
• Duursma a bit of a wild-card here, improves our running capacity on the outside and means Durham and Martin on the wings have some support.

Doesn't appear like we've overly compromised our salary cap in the process given the upcoming cap increases and that we usually seem to pay a slightly inflated fixed rate instead of including CBA increases in contracts.

Supporters who wanted the club to bottom out to get a high draft pick or two will be disappointed I assume, but otherwise we've upgraded the performance floor of our best-22 without compromising our draft hand, and mostly with guys that have 5+ years of AFL football ahead of them.

Great write up. My question (which was my fear if we ended up with mckay) is do you think there is a risk of turmoil in the club when genuine stars like ridley see a distinctively average (at best) player like McKay earning more than them?

 

[owen87]

Great write up. My question (which was my fear if we ended up with mckay) is do you think there is a risk of turmoil in the club when genuine stars like ridley see a distinctively average (at best) player like McKay earning more than them?

I doubt they'll care too much, by the time Ridley is renegotiating his contract in 2026 the CBA will have gone up substantially and he'll be paid accordingly. Players are also not stupid, they know the FA market would usually allow them to be paid more elsewhere than the club they're coming from, and they would therefore know that players coming in via FA would be benefitting from that.

If a player earning > $650k / yr (of which Ridley certainly would) is upset that someone who's come in for 0 draft cost that improves the best-22 on the field and leaves our ability to draft high-end picks intact is earning more than them, I would doubt whether they're the kind of player that's going to take the club forward.

Players and player managers know how the industry works, they're mostly all earning 'enough' that money isn't a big issue for them. We're not talking minimum wage employees here.

 

[branedotorg]

Mild upgrades, Duursma is a talent but lost his way.

Huge salary cost but you have to spend it so...

pass mark for mine, no more.

 

[jdstorm]

In: Xavier Duursma, Jade Gresham, Ben McKay, Todd Goldstein

Out: Massimo D'Ambrosio, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

Draft Picks: 9. 31, 35, 61, 88

One of the busier clubs over the trade and free agency period, the Bombers got their business done.

Haven't lost much but have brought in 3-4 best 22 players, and kept a relatively strong draft hand.

Happy, Dons fans?

It’s pretty sensible all around.

Basically replaced Stuart, AMT and Flip with McKay, Gresham and Goldy. At No draft cost.

Swapped Zerk for Dursma which helps list balance and will now have 2-3 picks in the top 40 to replace Mass and sure up the VFL team.

It’s a conservative list consolidation that helps with depth and not being at such a financial disadvantage being 2+ M under the cap is nice.

Hard to get a read on the actual quality of the list but there are some nice pieces and some good opportunities for guys to grow into a role

 

[Wild Bill]

I’m generally quite negative about McGrath. Thing is he’s got good speed out of defence and stats seem to indicate hes quite good at creating scoring chains.


Langford was the AA medium forward and would be the best medium/tall forward on the pies by far. The only pies forward close to his level is Jamie Elliot.

Those “b graders” are all 22 or younger and were high draft picks. Lots of TBD but there’s a reasonable expectation that a few will be good.

Besides Collingwood is living proof you can win a flag with B graders ie Markov, Cox, Frampton/McStay, Lipinski all playing decent minutes

Langford was the AA medium forward?

In the real all Australian team or your own version?

 

[Lore]

Langford was the AA medium forward?

In the real all Australian team or your own version?

AA squad and talked up a lot by Brad Scott. Didn’t make the team

 

[jdstorm]

Langford was the AA medium forward?

In the real all Australian team or your own version?

Thought he made first team, turns out he was just in the squad of 44 which is a pretty fair effort considering he spent 1/3rd of the season in defence

 

[Ambrosia]

Our first round selection remains the most important decision for the club this off season. Just need more guys with genuine top 10ish in the AFL upside.

Think plenty of people are far too concerned at the money spent on McKay and Gresham I genreally trust clubs to correctly manage their salary cap until they prove they can't. Look at Carlton where people were extremely critical for 'wasting' cap space on guys like Martin, McGovern and Williams but they didn't lose anyone of significance.

I just hope they take a long term view at selection and prioritise playing the young blokes next season. I fear that in round 1 instead of the likes of Cox, Tsatas, Jones, Bryan, Reid, 2023 FRP ect we'll see known quantities like Heppell, Goldstein, Kelly, Hind, Laverde and Shiel be trotted out thus committing Essendon to another period of mediocrity.

 

[Wild Bill]

Thought he made first team, turns out he was just in the squad of 44 which is a pretty fair effort considering he spent 1/3rd of the season in defence

He kicked goals in all but 2 games - 8 games in defence? I think you like to put mayo on your posting.

 

[Wild Bill]

AA squad and talked up a lot by Brad Scott. Didn’t make the team

Larkey kicking 20 goals in his last 3 games knock Langford out IMO.

 

[owen87]

A Wild Bill appears in an Essendon related thread!

 

[Lore]

A Wild Bill appears in an Essendon related thread!

Mostly domesticated these days, soon may even get him into a nice black and red guernsey

 

[Yoda_]

In: Xavier Duursma, Jade Gresham, Ben McKay, Todd Goldstein

Out: Massimo D'Ambrosio, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

Draft Picks: 9. 31, 35, 61, 88

One of the busier clubs over the trade and free agency period, the Bombers got their business done.

Haven't lost much but have brought in 3-4 best 22 players, and kept a relatively strong draft hand.

Happy, Dons fans?

Serious question; are you The Nostradamus in disguise?

 

[Yoda_]

A Wild Bill appears in an Essendon related thread!

Who’d have thought, ey

 

[Yoda_]

He kicked goals in all but 2 games - 8 games in defence? I think you like to put mayo on your posting.

Imagine what he could do as the sole focal point in the worst side the open AFL era has ever seen?

He’d kick 100