Club Focus Essendon 2020 - Caldwell, Hund, Wright, Cox, Perkins, Reid, Eyre, Brand

[Lore]

Data from footywire. To check the draft order (updated weekly) see the thread here.

 

[Ambrosia]

Note sure if the contacts are up to date lore?

I think the kindest thing we can do is after using the broom to go though our club we can hand it over to our neighbour.

With 4 of the best 5 teams in the next 5 weeks it’s hard to see ess finishing any higher than the current 11th position.

I think there are some big calls on some of their players which has them stuck in mediocre land.

Apart from Ridley I can’t think of another player that has improved in 2020. Langford and Larverde maybe?

They have been crying out for a big bodied inside mid for years. Too many mids 5’11 or shorter. Shiel, Merret, Parish, McGrath, Smith, Ham & Zaka.

If Daniher leaves the forward line looks weak and Hurley and Hooker’s best days are along way behind them.

So who survives that doesn’t have a contract and who is expendable to get picks or players to help fill holes? 1 or 2 of the smaller mids that have currency could be used. Something has to give to break the middle of the road finishes.

Would say McGrath, Langford and Snelling have all taken steps forward plus Draper, BZT and Ham getting valuable experience. Laverde did his usual play a handful of games start to look decent then get injured and will be up against it to retain a spot on the list.

Daniher is gone imo

Resign: Saad, McGrath, Ham, Langford, Snelling, Gleeson, Mosquito,

Still undecided: Stewart, Begley, Laverde, Mckernan, Phillips, Crauford, Gown

Retire/Delist: Bellchambers, Townsend, Cutler, Mutch

Contracted but could leave: McKenna, Fantasia

 

[Yoda_]

It's funny that when you try to pot Dodoro and our recruiting team Teffy, most Essendon supporters will agree with you


nice effort though.

 

[Red Bull]

Merrett for Wines ?

 

[eth-dog]

Merrett for Wines ?

Can't afford to do it, Merrett is the only acceptable kick of our undersized midfield crew

 

[Red Bull]

Can't afford to do it, Merrett is the only acceptable kick of our undersized midfield crew

Got to speculate to accumulate.
If nothing changes ... nothing changes

 

[eth-dog]

Got to speculate to accumulate.
If nothing changes ... nothing changes

I'd offload Parish. Unpopular but he's the most expendable and he could garner a first if he gets sent to the right club.

 

[Lore]

Note sure if the contacts are up to date lore?

They look about right to me. I have a different version that I update manually and the only guys that footywire has out of contract that I don't are Cutler and Phillips, who may well be on one-year contracts I just don't know for sure either way.

We haven't announced any resignings since the contract freeze ended (we usually do the announcements after that player plays a good game but... well.? lol)

They have been crying out for a big bodied inside mid for years. Too many mids 5’11 or shorter. Shiel, Merret, Parish, McGrath, Smith, Ham & Zaka.

Agree we need a big mid – that's been a thing ever since Jobe retired.

Ham is a 10 game winger, Zaka has been moved to a defensive forward role in his twilight so wouldn't really count those.

Parish and Smith also rotate forward/wing quite heavily, and Smith doesn't have the legs he used to since his knee reconstruction last year.

Stringer sometimes plays the proper big mid role for a quarter at a time but he's injured atm, Langford and Heppell also chop out there, though they're not really big enough, they're just tall.

Dylan Clarke and Mitch Hibberd are the closest things we have to big inside mids, and for whatever reason both have been played on the wing/in defence/up forward/literally anywhere but at the coalface.

We have other taller kids + Cutler, but they're also wingers.

So who survives that doesn’t have a contract and who is expendable to get picks or players to help fill holes? 1 or 2 of the smaller mids that have currency could be used. Something has to give to break the middle of the road finishes.

We have Cody Brand and Josh Eyre in our academy and have to take our first rounder to the draft since we haven't used one for a while. Other than that it will depend on who is available and whether those players are an improvement on what we have. Right now I suspect most Essendon fans will be happy to throw 75% of the toys out of the cot, but the reality is we will probably have to keep more than they would like unless list sizes drop.

Not sure what else will be going on with our list atm, if we have list reductions or something we will have to cut harder than we otherwise might, and more might be available too depending on who is cut from other clubs.

Bellchambers should retire at the end of the year, he's done his job and Draper seems to be #1 ruck.

McGrath, Saad, Langford, Snelling, Ridley, should all be re-signed soon if they aren't already agreed in principle.

Townsend is coach's pet and I'd expect him to be retained. Both Snelling and Townsend are rookies, so delisting either doesn't do much draft wise anyway.

Laverde, Stewart and Begley are pretty good but injury prone. There's some talk on our board that we need to get some more durability into our forward line, so there could be some consideration given to their spots especially depending on what happens with Daniher.

Gleeson is commonly thought of as being surplus to requirements, we have quite a few medium sized defender types and Ridley has sewn up the intercept role.

Hibberd is a rookie, and is a big inside mid

Mutch is another one that's had his share of injuries. Not sure if he keeps his spot, he never really got much of a chance but as a 22yo with 5 games to his name, perhaps time is up.

Gown and Mosquito are at the end of their first contracts, dunno what happens there. Probably promising enough to retain but need to be blooded.

Crauford is a 200cm mature rookie. I don't know a thing about him, thought he was billed as a ruckman but might be a KPF. Again as a rookie it doesn't make a lot of difference to the senior list if we keep him or not.

If Phillips and Cutler are OOC then they're a chance either way too. Cutler isn't much liked by our club board but I think the coaches must see something in him. Phillips probably stays as ruck depth if Bellchambers retires, as I don't think we have a ready back up otherwise.

So the OOC ones with potential for FA/trade/delist one way or the other: Daniher obvs, Laverde, Stewart, Begley, Gleeson, Mutch, Cutler.

OOC Rookies: Snelling, Townsend, Hibberd, Crauford

Fantasia is contracted for 2021 but who knows lol. Adelaide isn't likely either to want him or for him to want to play for them atm, so it's just Port and I don't think they really want him either since he's so injury prone. I think he will eventually go back to South Australia but it's a matter of when the time is right.

McKenna is also contracted for 2021 and may or may not return to Ireland at the end of the year. He's a year-to-year prospect regardless of his contract status anyway.

 

[citizen-erased]

Saad, McGrath, Langford, Ridley - extend for 4+
Snelling, Ham, Laverde, Stewart - extend for 2
Daniher...gotta convince him to sign an extension.
Crauford, Mosquito - extend for 1 or more depending if we see anything from them this year
Gown, Mutch, Begley - need to see more of them, but borderline delist.
Phillips, TBC, Gleeson, Cutler, McKernan, Hibberd, Townsend - delist

 

[eth-dog]

Saad, McGrath, Langford, Ridley - extend for 4+
Snelling, Ham, Laverde, Stewart - extend for 2
Daniher...gotta convince him to sign an extension.
Crauford, Mosquito - extend for 1 or more depending if we see anything from them this year
Gown, Mutch, Begley - need to see more of them, but borderline delist.
Phillips, TBC, Gleeson, Cutler, McKernan, Hibberd, Townsend - delist

I'd give Saad 4, McGrath, Langford, Ridley 3.

Also Gleeson more likely to get 2 than Laverde and Laverde more likely to be delisted before Gleeson

 

[Wild Bill]

Saad, McGrath, Langford, Ridley - extend for 4+
Snelling, Ham, Laverde, Stewart - extend for 2
Daniher...gotta convince him to sign an extension.
Crauford, Mosquito - extend for 1 or more depending if we see anything from them this year
Gown, Mutch, Begley - need to see more of them, but borderline delist.
Phillips, TBC, Gleeson, Cutler, McKernan, Hibberd, Townsend - delist

Who backs up Draper? Wouldn’t that leave 1 ruck on the list?

 

[eth-dog]

Who backs up Draper? Wouldn’t that leave 1 ruck on the list?

You can easily DFA someone. Archie Smith seems destined to be cut, he's not great but he'd be okay.

 

[citizen-erased]

Who backs up Draper? Wouldn’t that leave 1 ruck on the list?

Crauford and Bryan
0 gamers backing up a 3 gamer
Still better than the prospect of naming McKernan, TBC or Phillips in the ruck.
Would bring someone in to back up Draper - i'm done with those 3.

I'd give Saad 4, McGrath, Langford, Ridley 3.

Also Gleeson more likely to get 2 than Laverde and Laverde more likely to be delisted before Gleeson

seen enough of Gleeson to know we can fill his position with just about anyone. Laverde gets off for being a foil at forward who isn't Townsend.

 

[eth-dog]

Crauford and Bryan
0 gamers backing up a 3 gamer
Still better than the prospect of naming McKernan, TBC or Phillips in the ruck.
Would bring someone in to back up Draper - i'm done with those 3.


seen enough of Gleeson to know we can fill his position with just about anyone. Laverde gets off for being a foil at forward who isn't Townsend.

Gleeson is an AFL standard defender that can play on mediums and smalls effectively. He's 26 and as such has probably 5-6 years left as an AFL standard defender. Given how many players that aren't AFL standard on our list it would be incredibly silly to just cut him. If he gets a better offer, fine, he can go there, but it's silly to cut someone because "we can fill his position" when he's the one playing it and playing it well.

Laverde is a forward who's shown signs but got injured, again. How many times do we need to go down this road? He gets a 1 year contract if he's lucky.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Crauford and Bryan
0 gamers backing up a 3 gamer
Still better than the prospect of naming McKernan, TBC or Phillips in the ruck.
Would bring someone in to back up Draper - i'm done with those 3.

It’s kind of amazing that we can have complete confidence in 0 gamers coming in and improving us such is the level Smack and Bellchambers have been playing at.

 

[Red Bull]

I'd offload Parish. Unpopular but he's the most expendable and he could garner a first if he gets sent to the right club.

Who do you see offering a 1st rounder for Parish ?

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Who do you see offering a 1st rounder for Parish ?

Geelong.

 

[eth-dog]

Who do you see offering a 1st rounder for Parish ?

Geelong have 3 first rounders, have been interested previously, and are pragmatic traders.

 

[Red Bull]

Geelong have 3 first rounders, have been interested previously, and are pragmatic traders.

Good points.
Was Parish a Geelong Falcon ?
Even if it’s a later 1st rounder, you can take it to the draft as required this year and then flip your own 1st to Port for Wines.

 

[Ambrosia]

I'd offload Parish. Unpopular but he's the most expendable and he could garner a first if he gets sent to the right club.

I think we have room for all of them. Smith becomes a permanent forward and Merrett moves to the wing. We just need to recruit/develop the big bodied mids to play alongside McGrath, Parish and Shiel.

 

[eth-dog]

Good points.
Was Parish a Geelong Falcon ?
Even if it’s a later 1st rounder, you can take it to the draft as required this year and then flip your own 1st to Port for Wines.

Yeah he was. I'd love to try to get pick 11 from them but more likely to be that 15 or 18. I'd rather keep both and try to get a Willem Drew or Will Brodie who seemingly can't get games

I think we have room for all of them. Smith becomes a permanent forward and Merrett moves to the wing. We just need to recruit/develop the big bodied mids to play alongside McGrath, Parish and Shiel.

Merrett is a first receiving centre square mid. Trade Parish, try to get a Drew or Brodie with a cheap pick and take two mids with our first two picks

 

[citizen-erased]

I think we have room for all of them. Smith becomes a permanent forward and Merrett moves to the wing. We just need to recruit/develop the big bodied mids to play alongside McGrath, Parish and Shiel.

Yeah
i'm loathe to lose Parish. We need to add to our midfield. not move one of the few good kids we have in there
McGrath, Parish, Merrett are yet to hit their peak years
Shiel will be 28 at the start of next season. Heppell's injury is a concern
After that, we're pretty garbage

Getting Draper in as #1 is a big step forward.
Keep those 3 and adding another 3 young quality mids to compliment them has to be a priority now.

Need to find a way to get some currency though.

 

[eth-dog]

Yeah
i'm loathe to lose Parish. We need to add to our midfield. not move one of the few good kids we have in there
McGrath, Parish, Merrett are yet to hit their peak years
Shiel will be 28 at the start of next season. Heppell's injury is a concern
After that, we're pretty garbage

Getting Draper in as #1 is a big step forward.
Keep those 3 and adding another 3 young quality mids to compliment them has to be a priority now.

Need to find a way to get some currency though.

This is the issue. It's "Oh we need to improve our midfield and get currency" but whenever someone suggests trading the one piece that doesn't fit well in there that has value people shake their heads and say "No, we can't trade Darcy".

Let's face the facts, Darcy is an undersized inside midfielder that isn't particularly quick and doesn't have particularly great skills and isn't strong enough over the ball to absorb contact and dish it to the outside but finds the ball. He's the perfect player to move on in our situation.

 

[Prochard123]

Don't forget the midfield group includes the ruck as well.

In 2018-2019 when our midfield was quite strong, we had Adams at 180 cm, Treloar at 181 cm, Sidebottom at 180 cm, only player who wasn't sure was Pendles. However, Grundy's physicality and ability to dish out hardball gets to others ensured that our midfield balance was fine. Similarly, Mcgrath, Shiel, Parish is a fine group, but you would need a player like Grundy/Goldstein/Naitanui to complement the group.

My opinion is that Mcgrath > Parish > Merrett > Shiel actually. Shiel and Merrett only play for themselves and their contribution in the contest is merely their disposal count. Except at least Merrett can kick whereas Shiel really cannot.

 

[Lore]

Don't forget the midfield group includes the ruck as well.

In 2018-2019 when our midfield was quite strong, we had Adams at 180 cm, Treloar at 181 cm, Sidebottom at 180 cm, only player who wasn't sure was Pendles. However, Grundy's physicality and ability to dish out hardball gets to others ensured that our midfield balance was fine. Similarly, Mcgrath, Shiel, Parish is a fine group, but you would need a player like Grundy/Goldstein/Naitanui to complement the group.

My opinion is that Mcgrath > Parish > Merrett > Shiel actually. Shiel and Merrett only play for themselves and their contribution in the contest is merely their disposal count. Except at least Merrett can kick whereas Shiel really cannot.

We're pretty optimistic about Draper, but having played only 3 games so far at AFL level I don't think he can be counted as a premier ruckman of the competition just yet haha.

 

[citizen-erased]

Don't forget the midfield group includes the ruck as well.

In 2018-2019 when our midfield was quite strong, we had Adams at 180 cm, Treloar at 181 cm, Sidebottom at 180 cm, only player who wasn't sure was Pendles. However, Grundy's physicality and ability to dish out hardball gets to others ensured that our midfield balance was fine. Similarly, Mcgrath, Shiel, Parish is a fine group, but you would need a player like Grundy/Goldstein/Naitanui to complement the group.

My opinion is that Mcgrath > Parish > Merrett > Shiel actually. Shiel and Merrett only play for themselves and their contribution in the contest is merely their disposal count. Except at least Merrett can kick whereas Shiel really cannot.

Honestly, if someone came to us for Shiel, i'd move him on.

Reckon we got a little blinded by the race for a big name.
Meanwhile, guys like Steele, Butler, Jones have gone to the Saints fairly cheaply and we could do with them more.

Kills me that we paid more for Cutler and Phillips than the Saints did for Butler and Ryder.