Essendon's Greatest Draft Year

What year will prove to be the greatest in Essendon's recent history?


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Browne Eye

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#52
To me, it's absolutely 2008 at this stage. Two guns of our side in Hurley and Zaharakis.
2010 could bob up as better depending on this year: Heppell is there, and Browne + Steinberg could be something.
2009 with Melksham, Colyer and Carlisle could be anything.
 

Call Me Cake

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#53
1... 2008 - Hurley, Zaharakis
2... 2007 - Pears, Hooker, Myers, Bellchambers
3... 2005 - Ryder, Dempsey, Hocking
4... 2009 - Crameri, Carlisle, Hardingham, Melksham, Colyer
5... 2010 - Heppell, Howlett, Hibberd, Steinberg, Browne + remove Houli
6... 2012 - Goddard, J.Daniher, #48
7... 2006 - Davey, Jetta, Gumbleton
8... 2011 - Dell'Ollio, Kavanagh, Baguley, Hunter, O'Brien, Dalgleish, Merrett
9... 2002 - Watson, Winderlich
10. 2003 - Stanton

Hard to split 2009 and 2005, and it was equally as hard to judge 2011 still.

2008, so far, stands out to me as being the draft that will make the biggest developmental difference in the long run.

So yeah, off the top of my head, that's my Top 10.
 

BrunoV

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#54
As it stands we brought about 1/4 of our best side into the club in 2009. It is the best draft as far as I am concerned.

National 1 10 Jake Melksham Essendon 59
National 2 24 Jake Carlisle Essendon 28
National 2 26 Travis Colyer Essendon 27
Pre-Season 1 7 Kyle Hardingham Essendon 49
Rookie 2 30 Ben Howlett Essendon 57
Rookie 3 43 Stewart Crameri Essendon 41

In supplying Melksham, Crameri and Carlisle it can still produce the real star quality it currently lacks (that 2008 has).

I still think that by the end of 2013 with full years on the park from Myers, Pears, Hooker and Bellchambers 2007 could well be considered the best. It will be prime for one of those hindsight BS pieces in the Scum.
 

Browne Eye

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#55
1... 2008 - Hurley, Zaharakis
2... 2007 - Pears, Hooker, Myers, Bellchambers
3... 2005 - Ryder, Dempsey, Hocking, Lonergan
4... 2009 - Crameri, Carlisle, Hardingham, Melksham, Colyer
5... 2010 - Heppell, Howlett, Hibberd, Steinberg, Browne + remove Houli
6... 2012 - Goddard, J.Daniher, #48
7... 2006 - Davey, Jetta, Gumbleton
8... 2011 - Dell'Ollio, Kavanagh, Baguley, Hunter, O'Brien, Dalgleish, Merrett
9... 2002 - Watson, Winderlich
10. 2003 - Stanton

Hard to split 2009 and 2005, and it was equally as hard to judge 2011 still.

2008, so far, stands out to me as being the draft that will make the biggest developmental difference in the long run.

So yeah, off the top of my head, that's my Top 10.
Shocked to see just how good 2007 was though. I think that in 2013 Myers and Bellchambers will smash it and there might be more to debate about whether 2008 is the best year.
 

Call Me Cake

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#56
We've drafted well since 2007. The club has taken good measures to secure a spine for the future.

This was in an era when the club was constantly being criticised for having a non-existent midfield and pressured into trying to fix that first before we took care of anything else (i.e; the Carlton model, albeit non-existent tank picks)... but in the end, things are gelling well.

If anything, a spine of key-position players takes a lot longer to set up in just the right manner and a lot longer to develop. In subsequent years, I think the club has done enough to retain said talent and have turned their attention to beefing up the midfield and those that need to play their role. Heppell however, is just an all-round class act himself, so we definitely scored the icing on the cake with that one.

I don't think many people believed, after Hird's departure, that the Watson we had would one day end up winning the Brownlow or becoming the player and leader he has for our midfield and the club as a whole, nor did anyone see us ever landing a big fish.

Things change very quickly, but I'm happy that we stuck by with patience so that the core of the list could cement itself, no matter how displacing it may have seemed back then. Because the pay off, in recent drafts, has been very promising - if not the most promising for a long time. It's been a while, certainly before my short life, since the EFC has been down for so long and has had to pick itself up, but I think the risks taken by Dodoro have been transitioning from a work in progress to a well structured plan.

I have to admit, I've been critical of Dodoro in the past. Coaches, mentors, players, ect; left, but he was never pushed out the door. I guess it's different when the club is up the ladder so usually, it's difficult to work with what you have, but he's done a lot better recently than he's ever done in the past.
 

Walesy

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#58
1... 2008 - Hurley, Zaharakis
2... 2007 - Pears, Hooker, Myers, Bellchambers
3... 2005 - Ryder, Dempsey, Hocking, Lonergan
4... 2009 - Crameri, Carlisle, Hardingham, Melksham, Colyer
5... 2010 - Heppell, Howlett, Hibberd, Steinberg, Browne + remove Houli
6... 2012 - Goddard, J.Daniher, #48
7... 2006 - Davey, Jetta, Gumbleton
8... 2011 - Dell'Ollio, Kavanagh, Baguley, Hunter, O'Brien, Dalgleish, Merrett
9... 2002 - Watson, Winderlich
10. 2003 - Stanton

Hard to split 2009 and 2005, and it was equally as hard to judge 2011 still.

2008, so far, stands out to me as being the draft that will make the biggest developmental difference in the long run.

So yeah, off the top of my head, that's my Top 10.
Reckon 2005 drops below 2009 when you take out Lonners? :(
 

Call Me Cake

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#60
Reckon 2005 drops below 2009 when you take out Lonners? :(
I don't know why I included Lonergan to be honest, I just put the names that were in the draft. With that said, my assessment was more on Ryder and Dempsey V Crameri and Carlisle, as Colyer and Melksham are still proving themselves and Hardingham is as much of a needed role player as Hocking is.

While Crameri and Carlisle have the biggest scope of improvement, Ryder and Dempsey (who was going just as good last year before the injury) have shown the most at the moment. Ryder was the biggest factor. But yeah, both of those years were hard to split, it's all a matter of opinion really. Even Heppell, Howlett and Hibberd put up a good contest.
 
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