Essendon's options....

[David_Hilley#19]

Nearing the end of the year now and Essendon bombers will need to make some very big choices. Will they clear out the list or wait till a strong draft, how will they go about fixing the bombers list, draft or trade. But i believe we have come to a point where Essendon can either completely give up and play all youngs, completely give and play all our olds for the last time, or we can continue trying and play our best possible list. All these things are quite possible options. What do you think?

 

[Daytripper]

Play the best possible team each week. I haven't completely given up on the season yet.

Losing breeds a losing cultuure - you only have to look at Carlton and Richmond to see that.

Young players must be made to earn their place in the side. I have no objection to perhaps giving one place a week to a young player who may be just on the cusp of selection but any more and it is just belittiling to those older players who are trying their guts out for Bendigo and who are still quite serviceable players.

 

[hulld]

there is no point playing guys who won't be there next year so play a couple of kids and if we happen to win 2 or 3 games they will be better for the run

 

[monty1104]

agreed. I think the next 4 weeks will tell us alot about the look of our list next year.

 

[wazzabp]

there is no point playing guys who won't be there next year so play a couple of kids and if we happen to win 2 or 3 games they will be better for the run

Agreed.

 

[VanDerHaar]

Agreed.

Lets be fair dinkum - we just aren't really up to it. It's time to assess whether certain players will be/would be part of our next premiership tilt:

JJ
MJ
Pev
Kep
CJ
Lee
Bolts
Campo
Cole

etc

JJ I think has a contract, but outside of that (as much as I love 'em), it's time to rebuild. Clearly that's the message the board is saying so I suggest we:

Play;

Houli
Gumby
Promote Hocking and play him in Paul Chambers type role

then:

Turnover list and go for picks and SERIOUS trading as per Hawthorn...target a

Prismal
Rosa
Drummond
One of Cats many on-ballers
Green

type player to bolster Midfield and maybe even Chalmers from Bris Vegas also. Strong body ruckman and key midfielder...

Build from there.....

 

[angus6]

Promote Hocking and play him in Paul Chambers type role

then:

Turnover list and go for picks and SERIOUS trading as per Hawthorn...target a

Prismal
Rosa
Drummond
One of Cats many on-ballers
Green

type player to bolster Midfield and maybe even Chalmers from Bris Vegas also. Strong body ruckman and key midfielder...

Build from there.....

who is paul chambers?
who is Chalmers?
why green? another ordinary footballer.

 

[wazzabp]

Absolutely.
Houli, Jetta, Reimers, Gumbleton, Dyson, Bradley, Johns and others need to be thrown into the side and given every opportunity to win the ball on their own accord, even if it costs us games.
I see no point in playing older fringe players that come into the side and can't win the game for us anyway.

 

[VanDerHaar]

who is paul chambers?
who is Chalmers?
why green? another ordinary footballer.

Let me put the Bundy down and start again...

Paul Chapman and Jamie Charman......

Green I dont believe is an ordinary footballer...his skills are probably better than at least half our team and 90% of our midefield. At 26 he still has a good 5 or 6 years left in him and has probably averaged about 25 posessions in a poor team this year. I think in one game had nearly 40 possies. Michael Quinlan (Ex EFC Football Manager) is his player manager who has strong links to Essendon (Mal, Solly, Rioli, MJ etc)....

 

[Boris_Bewick]

Green I dont believe is an ordinary footballer...his skills are probably better than at least half our team and 90% of our midefield. At 26 he still has a good 5 or 6 years left in him and has probably averaged about 25 posessions in a poor team this year. I think in one game had nearly 40 possies. Michael Quinlan (Ex EFC Football Manager) is his player manager who has strong links to Essendon (Mal, Solly, Rioli, MJ etc)....

Agree he's not that bad a footballer. But not good enough to make any impact in a rebuilding side and too old in my opinion

 

[VanDerHaar]

Dont forget rebuilding doesnt mean you stack you team with kids...you need a good mix of kids/pace/enthusiasm and a good balance of more mature players 23-30...Who will be our leaders in 3 years when LLoyd, Lucas and Fletch will be gone (25-28 Y/O top line players?)....

 

[billylid]

Absolutely.
Houli, Jetta, Reimers, Gumbleton, Dyson, Bradley, Johns and others need to be thrown into the side and given every opportunity to win the ball on their own accord, even if it costs us games.
I see no point in playing older fringe players that come into the side and can't win the game for us anyway.

agree with 5 of the 7 how can you suggest play bradley adnd Johns both have been given ample opportunity and continue to fail (more so bradley then johns). For those who say its time to give MJ and DP the chop must be out of there minds both have proven there worth in the past month or so.. Id be looking at McPhee who could be anything but continues to cough up the ball through arrogrance .....

 

[wazzabp]

agree with 5 of the 7 how can you suggest play bradley adnd Johns both have been given ample opportunity and continue to fail (more so bradley then johns). For those who say its time to give MJ and DP the chop must be out of there minds both have proven there worth in the past month or so.. Id be looking at McPhee who could be anything but continues to cough up the ball through arrogrance .....

Bradley must be played up forward, hes played really well there for Bendigo for about 2 solid months, he gets recalled and our coach goes and throws him down back. Absolute idiocy if you ask me.
Johns has had about 20 games of senior football, I wouldn't really say thats ample opportunity, he also needs to be played regularly in a positionand in the same position, not just bought in and out of the side.

 

[DaSawx]

CJ and Keps shuld be kept imo for their potential.

Hird, Campo, Bolton, Heffernan, Cole and maybe MJ should open enough spots.

I'm hoping JJ can bounce back and have a good year also.

 

[Bombs Away]

JJ Has a contract so we can only hope he bounces back. Had a lull last season and might be carrying some injury. Pretty sure Lee has a contract but all that info is on the sticky thread about contracts.

 

[Merv]

Lets be fair dinkum - we just aren't really up to it. It's time to assess whether certain players will be/would be part of our next premiership tilt:

JJ
MJ
Pev
Kep
CJ
Lee
Bolts
Campo
Cole

etc

JJ I think has a contract, but outside of that (as much as I love 'em), it's time to rebuild. Clearly that's the message the board is saying so I suggest we:

Play;

Houli
Gumby
Promote Hocking and play him in Paul Chambers type role

then:

Turnover list and go for picks and SERIOUS trading as per Hawthorn...target a

Prismal
Rosa
Drummond
One of Cats many on-ballers
Green

type player to bolster Midfield and maybe even Chalmers from Bris Vegas also. Strong body ruckman and key midfielder...

Build from there.....

I am definately one for cutting deep at years end also but i certainly wouldn't chop Pev.

He absolutely butchers the ball no doubt, but if you think we can just slot in young, inexperienced unseasoned bodies into the midfield and be competitive, you are wrong.

Pev should be retained as our workhorse, the guy that tags the gun from the other team, wins hard balls and our younger guys need to be instructed to work hard to run past and take a handball off him.

It looks as if JJ is finished now but i would like to retain Bradley and Lee, but can also see some merit in delisting/trading them.

I would be very happy to trade into Prismall, but not Rosa, i think he is more of a front runner and i think Green could be handy if we could get him cheaply enough.

Prismall should be made as our key target.
Hard at it and great disposal, just not sure Geelong will wan't to trade him.

We don't need to trade for a ruckman, we need a couple of mids that are ready to play, to help us EASE our youngsters into it, not throw them to the wolves like carlton have had to.

 

[DaSawx]

Pev should be retained as our workhorse, the guy that tags the gun from the other team, wins hard balls and our younger guys need to be instructed to work hard to run past and take a handball off him.

Agree 100%. He runs so hard he should stick to the #1 match winning midfielder and limit him as much as possible, getting the ball should be priority #2.

 

[hulld]

Prismall should be made as our key target.
Hard at it and great disposal, just not sure Geelong will wan't to trade him.

geelong may not have a choice. reports coming from down the highway are that he is fed up with not getting a chnace to impress. and with their midfield being quite young he may not see himself getting much of an opportunity in the near future.

what about our 2nd & 3rd picks for
prismall and their 3rd pick

 

[ant555]

geelong may not have a choice. reports coming from down the highway are that he is fed up with not getting a chnace to impress. and with their midfield being quite young he may not see himself getting much of an opportunity in the near future.

what about our 2nd & 3rd picks for
prismall and their 3rd pick

not planing on taking Daniher under F/S ?

 

[RED AND BLACK SOLDIER]

geelong may not have a choice. reports coming from down the highway are that he is fed up with not getting a chnace to impress. and with their midfield being quite young he may not see himself getting much of an opportunity in the near future.

what about our 2nd & 3rd picks for
prismall and their 3rd pick

I would love for that to happen come trade week. If we picked up Masten and Prismall at the end of the year i would be jumping for joy for weeks. Shame our 3rd pick has to be used on Daniher though.

 

[Merv]

I would love for that to happen come trade week. If we picked up Masten and Prismall at the end of the year i would be jumping for joy for weeks. Shame our 3rd pick has to be used on Daniher though.

We don't know what pick will be used on Darcy yet.

I wonder if Geelong would have any interest in Mcphee?

 

[RED AND BLACK SOLDIER]

We don't know what pick will be used on Darcy yet.

I wonder if Geelong would have any interest in Mcphee?

I don't think they would, well the Geelong Board wasn't very keen on the idea when i suggested it to them because they have Milburn who they are happy with off the half back line, and when he retires they have Mackie aswell which is why i doubt they'd want him. Im not sure if we should get rid of him either, because he adds depth to our list and with NLM the only other good running half back the can defend on our list i'd hesitate on trading him away. But it all depends on if we are going to have a cleanout and start the rebuilding phase IMO, because if we were to start rebuilding i wouldn't mind getting rid of McPhee, but if the club thinks the list that we have ATM can deliver us a premiership then i guess we should just keep him.

 

[hulld]

not planing on taking Daniher under F/S ?

i'm not fussed if we don't get him, put it that way. i've seen him play 3 times and he is a good plaer but by no means a standout. it's not like we will be getting him as a bargain. i wouldn't be using our second round pick on him

although if were to get him with our third pick a trade could be:
our 2nd & 4th picks for prismall

although in this year's draft a 4th round pick isn't really worth much

 

[ant555]

i'm not fussed if we don't get him, put it that way. i've seen him play 3 times and he is a good plaer but by no means a standout. it's not like we will be getting him as a bargain. i wouldn't be using our second round pick on him

although if were to get him with our third pick a trade could be:
our 2nd & 4th picks for prismall

although in this year's draft a 4th round pick isn't really worth much

Well i think you had better hope the Swans dont bid on him becasue it looks pretty certain we will take him

 

[Eccles]

Its fun to speculate on this.

Personally, I think we need to trade one (or more) of our underperforming key talls (bradley, CJ, Lee) and package them to get ourselves another top 10 draft selection.

We could (for instance) package CJ or Bradley and our second (or third) round pick for the doggies first rounder (probably top 10). The Doggies are desperate for a big key forward, and dont have the time in their premiership window to wait for another draft pick to develop.

So we take Masten with our first pick (4 or 5) to give us the classy ball extractor we're craving to assist Jobe, and then Grimes with the doggies pick (8 or 9) for the running key defensive back that we're also in desperate need of. We should then also still be able to select Daniher with our third rounder.

Most draft watchers are predicting the talent will drop away dramatically after the first 10 or so selection, but that there are gems to be had in those first 10 or so.

I dont think we can afford to trade away our draft picks for 25/26 year old discards from other clubs, its that kind of mentality (coupled with poor drafting between 1999 and 2003) that has caused the huge holes in our list.

In modern football there are no guarantees that a player will be able to maintain the physical condition necessary to compete at the top level into their 30's, and trading for 25/26 year olds could well mean that we pay a premium price for a player in the prime of their career who then drops away rapidly and retires at age 29. Just look at JJ for example... the Robert Harveys / Craig Bradleys of this world are as rare as hens teeth.