Essendon - where are they at?

[Macpie]

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the names of Jetta, Gumbleton, Houli, J. Johnson put up their hands, whilst the likes of Bolton, Bradley and Heffernan provided very telling back up.

there's a list of names to make the opposition shake in their boots

Watson, who is closing on AA

dear God! i think he is serious!

 

[rancidpants13]

Yawn. Ill give you Harry and Heath but you are putting your hopes on two players who have never played. We have players who haven't played much either but I am not going to claim them as certainties. When your midfield depth dwindles your defenders will be put under real pressure and will probably fall apart as what happened in the 3rd quarter.

goldsack is outstanding, apparently anthony is as good, if not better

 

[rancidpants13]

We're still going alright - with the competition as even as it is and 13 (that's right 13!!!) teams capable of making the 8 right now - to be in amongst it is still important.

To those saying the depth isn't there - we played a number of senior listed players in a winning side up at Bendigo today (over Werribee) - the names of Jetta, Gumbleton, Houli, J. Johnson put up their hands, whilst the likes of Bolton, Bradley and Heffernan provided very telling back up.

Essendon for a while has had a problem with not putting 4 quarters together - but, every other club bar Geelong and North have had that problem this year. The pleasing bit from yesterday was that McVeigh and Ramanauskas stepped up to match the efforts of Watson, who is closing on AA based on his sheer number and quality of centre clearances - and Peverill, who is having his best year this year.

There's a number of worse teams than us right now - check out the mob from the Whitten Oval as an example.

"telling" back-up, as in "telling" essendon fans to forget about playing finals footy in 2007

 

[Chewy]

I truly see them becomming like Richmond after 1982.

Cheer up, Mero. I know you lost to Collingwood, but stay away from bridges and tall buildings.
The future isn't that bleak, is it?

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

To those saying the depth isn't there - we played a number of senior listed players in a winning side up at Bendigo today (over Werribee) - the names of Jetta, Gumbleton, Houli, J. Johnson put up their hands, whilst the likes of Bolton, Bradley and Heffernan provided very telling back up.

Guys in bold are past it - they can't play anymore.

The guy in red...well, the less said the better.

 

[eastaugh36]

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there's a list of names to make the opposition shake in their boots


dear God! i think he is serious!

Gumbleton - Number 2 selection in one of the best drafts ever. Bring him in.

 

[Shane Hird]

I remember I dared suggest that Essendon were not part of the flag contenders group as recent as 3 rounds ago and you should have seen the crying.

Has the penny dropped yet Bomber supporters?

For some of us.....it really has dropped. For me,it was last week watching Footscray run over the top of us.


We will be back though....in 2011.

 

[Macpie]

For some of us.....it really has dropped. For me,it was last week watching Footscray run over the top of us.


We will be back though....in 2011.

this probably didn't have to happen you know - the decision to re-sign Sheedy was always going to haunt the club and his influence in drafting has-beens instead of quality youth will take a heavy toll on the club. Sheedy should be remembered as the man who brought Cupido, Cole, Campo, Zantuck, Murphy, Allan & Michael to the club and sunk it for a generation

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

For some of us.....it really has dropped. For me,it was last week watching Footscray run over the top of us.

We will be back though....in 2011.

You must be a treat at home with all that pessimism.

Well against the Doggies we had no McVeigh, Winderlich, Davey - our quickest players and no Fletch or Hird. Which teams have won this year with 5 of their best out?

No midfield depth at the moment. Our problems lie in these 4 players Dyson, JJ, Heffernan and Bolton. Four Midfielders with experience on our list that can't contribute enough and help out the ones that can play.

We'll be ok because Hislop, Houli, Dempsey, Jetta will take over from them next year.

 

[Shane Hird]

this probably didn't have to happen you know - the decision to re-sign Sheedy was always going to haunt the club and his influence in drafting has-beens instead of quality youth will take a heavy toll on the club. Sheedy should be remembered as the man who brought
Cupido, Cole, Campo, Zantuck, Murphy, Allan & Michael to the club and sunk it for a generation


You're probably right there you know.......f--k it!




I hear we are gunna pick up Shaun McManus for next year...

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Sheedy should be remembered as the man who brought Cupido, Cole, Campo, Zantuck, Murphy, Allan & Michael to the club and sunk it for a generation

I feel like I'm stuck in Groundhog day. It's the same bleating discussion.

You mention Sheedys older recruits and we'll mention Malthouses - Williams, Morrison, Medhurst, Bryan, Steinfort, Molloy,Woewoeful...

 

[Longy413]

this probably didn't have to happen you know - the decision to re-sign Sheedy was always going to haunt the club and his influence in drafting has-beens instead of quality youth will take a heavy toll on the club. Sheedy should be remembered as the man who brought Cupido, Cole, Campo, Zantuck, Murphy, Allan & Michael to the club and sunk it for a generation

None of them were taken in at the expense of quality youth.

Three were taken in the preseason draft at 80 kids had been drafted.
Cupido was traded for in a deal that involved us getting McPhee and pick 17 for Caracella. So we traded away an older for two 20 year olds and a first round draft pick.

Murphy for McGrath.
Allan late in the draft.

Cole for pick 23, the only one were we could genuinely have taken a reasonably highly rated player, but we already had two first round picks in that draft.

Only Hawthorn has drafted more first year players in National Drafts since 2002 than Essendon.

 

[Mero]

this probably didn't have to happen you know - the decision to re-sign Sheedy was always going to haunt the club and his influence in drafting has-beens instead of quality youth will take a heavy toll on the club. Sheedy should be remembered as the man who brought Cupido, Cole, Campo, Zantuck, Murphy, Allan & Michael to the club and sunk it for a generation

That's ignorant of the facts though, isn't it?

Cupido was a gun in his first season, then started believing his own publicity.
Cole can't stop from getting injured, and is now the size of a decent house.
Zantuck was a PSD pick, who else was available instead? No-one of any note.
Murphy was good his first season.
Allan was a mistake, as his knees were rooted.
Michael has been good in defence, and freed up Fletcher.
(You missed Mark Alvey, who never came up after a knee op)

But none of this is relevant regardless.

All these blokes, except Cole, were picked up for nothing.
Late picks where the kids available weren't up to it.
I don't see the difference between drafting Ty Zantuck & Mark Alvey, and drafting Austin Lucy & Paul Thomas.
All were late picks, none worked out.
Of them, I'd say Zantuck was the best player, but you'd sense his head wasn't quite in the game.
Or is there some sort of magic wand that makes pick 60 in the National Draft better because Sheedy picks him?

 

[drewie_rama]

None of them were taken in at the expense of quality youth.

Three were taken in the preseason draft at 80 kids had been drafted.
Cupido was traded for in a deal that involved us getting McPhee and pick 17 for Caracella. So we traded away an older for two 20 year olds and a first round draft pick.

Murphy for McGrath.
Allan late in the draft.

Cole for pick 23, the only one were we could genuinely have taken a reasonably highly rated player, but we already had two first round picks in that draft.

Only Hawthorn has drafted more first year players in National Drafts since 2002 than Essendon.

shhh facts dont apply, we're spiralling remember, only essendon draft recycled players

 

[Shane Hird]

You must be a treat at home with all that pessimism.

Well against the Doggies we had no McVeigh, Winderlich, Davey - our quickest players and no Fletch or Hird. Which teams have won this year with 5 of their best out?

No midfield depth at the moment. Our problems lie in these 4 players Dyson, JJ, Heffernan and Bolton. Four Midfielders with experience on our list that can't contribute enough and help out the ones that can play.

We'll be ok because Hislop, Houli, Dempsey, Jetta will take over from them next year.

So what you're saying is this.....take our 'top 5' out and we never look like winning? Thats not good enough in my book.

It's about staying in front and dominating most of the play..we are not doing that at all.

I wish i could share your kind of level of postive thinking.....but it won't be as easy as waiting for these very,very young players to save our @rses in the the middle next season.

 

[Fastback]

None of them were taken in at the expense of quality youth.

Three were taken in the preseason draft at 80 kids had been drafted.
Cupido was traded for in a deal that involved us getting McPhee and pick 17 for Caracella. So we traded away an older for two 20 year olds and a first round draft pick.

Murphy for McGrath.
Allan late in the draft.

Cole for pick 23, the only one were we could genuinely have taken a reasonably highly rated player, but we already had two first round picks in that draft.

Only Hawthorn has drafted more first year players in National Drafts since 2002 than Essendon.

Have drafted/elevated a truckload of rookies instead of proven duds too..

 

[windyhill]

Have drafted/elevated a truckload of rookies instead of proven duds too..

As you do when you get the cream of the picks for a few years.

 

[Macpie]

Only Hawthorn has drafted more first year players in National Drafts since 2002 than Essendon.

yeah but they managed to snag the odd good one!

 

[Mero]

Have drafted/elevated a truckload of rookies instead of proven duds too..

Mark Johnson, Dean Rioli, Gary Moorcroft, Cory McGrath, Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Ben Jolley, Courtney Johns & Ben Haynes have all come off the Rookie List and played seniors.
Adam Ramanuaskas too, but that's not really the point is it?

 

[Longy413]

yeah but they managed to snag the odd good one!

Yep, they've drafted extremely well.

Mark Johnson, Dean Rioli, Gary Moorcroft, Cory McGrath, Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Ben Jolley, Courtney Johns & Ben Haynes have all come off the Rookie List and played seniors.
Adam Ramanuaskas too, but that's not really the point is it?

Pev....

 

[Oxygeneral]

If they sneak into the 8 at the end of the year, good luck to them. I reckon they'll be a kind of 10-12 (wins/losses) team for the next couple of years and that's about it. If Sheedy does go, they really have to be aggressive with their recruiting. They should put 5-6 guys up for trade before the window is closed. I.e they should've gone ahead with a Jason Johnson trade when the opportunity arose. There are a few guys in that team that just don't do it for me. Essendon should be corageous and really look at their list at the end of the year and get on the front foot.

 

[Shane Hird]

You could sit here all night going through each AFL team's bad draft choices over the years...but it gets boring pretty quicking.


I just want the new coach (oops,I mean Sheeds) to make some hard decisions and let half a dozen players go after August.

If they do that,I can handle another 'middle of the ladder' position next year.. but vast improvement needs to be made by heaps of our younger brigade to make me believe we are going to be any sort of threat in 2009.

 

[Fastback]

As you do when you get the cream of the picks for a few years.

what, you elevate rookies?

 

[Fastback]

Mark Johnson, Dean Rioli, Gary Moorcroft, Cory McGrath, Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Ben Jolley, Courtney Johns & Ben Haynes have all come off the Rookie List and played seniors.
Adam Ramanuaskas too, but that's not really the point is it?

the key word was "proven duds".

 

[Longy413]

the key word was "proven duds".

Two premiership players there turbo, would have been three if injury didn't end Rioli's season in 2000.