Essendon's options....

[ant555]

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.

You vastly overate the value of Johns, Bradley and Lee. Secondly the value of second and third round picks in this years draft is not quite as attractive this year.

 

[Eccles]

You vastly overate the value of Johns, Bradley and Lee. Secondly the value of second and third round picks in this years draft is not quite as attractive this year.

You may be right, but I think there are a few teams out there that would feel they're only a key forward away from challenging for a flag next year, particularly teams such as the doggies.

I think you may be underestimating how difficult it is for teams to find / develop big bodied forwards. While I would agree that Bradley may have limited appeal, I could certainly see CJ coming in for some serious attention at trade time.

From reading your posts here and on BB I know that you arent a CJ fan ant, and I definitely agree that he seems to lack natural smarts as a forward and desire to push himself to contests at times. However, a team like the doggies may look at his size and presence and feel that they can make something of him with their superior ball use and crumbing forwards, and ultimately, can they afford to wait and hope that someone like Andrej Everitt turns into the forward target they need? I'm sure they feel as though their premiership window is now...

I dont think its too much of a stretch to think they would be prepared to swap their first round pick for CJ and our second rounder...

 

[ant555]

You may be right, but I think there are a few teams out there that would feel they're only a key forward away from challenging for a flag next year, particularly teams such as the doggies.

I think you may be underestimating how difficult it is for teams to find / develop big bodied forwards. While I would agree that Bradley may have limited appeal, I could certainly see CJ coming in for some serious attention at trade time.

From reading your posts here and on BB I know that you arent a CJ fan ant, and I definitely agree that he seems to lack natural smarts as a forward and desire to push himself to contests at times. However, a team like the doggies may look at his size and presence and feel that they can make something of him with their superior ball use and crumbing forwards, and ultimately, can they afford to wait and hope that someone like Andrej Everitt turns into the forward target they need? I'm sure they feel as though their premiership window is now...

I dont think its too much of a stretch to think they would be prepared to swap their first round pick for CJ and our second rounder...

Hang on , i have been a fan but i am partial enough to see his weak areas so dont say i havnt been a fan just because i dont call him a god. I have always said we should give him enough time to see what we get.
Anyway back to the Bulldogs they gave away pick 34 for McDougal last year. What makes you think they are going to get even more excited about a player (Johns) who hasnt done as much for a weaker team?

 

[Merv]

You may be right, but I think there are a few teams out there that would feel they're only a key forward away from challenging for a flag next year, particularly teams such as the doggies.

I think you may be underestimating how difficult it is for teams to find / develop big bodied forwards. While I would agree that Bradley may have limited appeal, I could certainly see CJ coming in for some serious attention at trade time.

From reading your posts here and on BB I know that you arent a CJ fan ant, and I definitely agree that he seems to lack natural smarts as a forward and desire to push himself to contests at times. However, a team like the doggies may look at his size and presence and feel that they can make something of him with their superior ball use and crumbing forwards, and ultimately, can they afford to wait and hope that someone like Andrej Everitt turns into the forward target they need? I'm sure they feel as though their premiership window is now...

I dont think its too much of a stretch to think they would be prepared to swap their first round pick for CJ and our second rounder...

I have to agree with ant, you are dramatically over estimating the trade value of CJ, Bradley and Lee

There is no way the Bulldogs or anyone else for that matter would swap their first pick and any other combo for any of the above.

Now i am a CJ hater, i admit, BUT i also look at things with an open mind.

The only way you get first round selections in trades now is to trade something of value, we have very little.

The only senior players we could consider trading into a first round selection would be

Ryder, Lucas, Lloyd, Watson, Fletcher, Davey, McVeigh, Stanton

Would you like to trade any of them?

I think there are a couple there we should consider trading but Essendon won't do it.



ant, you stole my Mcdougall example, i had to edit it out....grrrrrrrr

 

[Eccles]

Hang on , i have been a fan but i am partial enough to see his weak areas so dont say i havnt been a fan just because i dont call him a god. I have always said we should give him enough time to see what we get.
Anyway back to the Bulldogs they gave away pick 34 for McDougal last year. What makes you think they are going to get even more excited about a player (Johns) who hasnt done as much for a weaker team?

I guess I can see where you're coming from, we may need to offer something a little more enticing, but I do think that the doggies are a good mark. The McDougal trade has not exactly been an amazing success for them, so they may need to up the ante in their trade targets, and we do have a surplus of key forwards. The other thing is that pick 34 last year had much more currency than this year.

I guess its just unfortunate this is a weak draft, trading keps or CJ for a second or third rounder probably wont benefit us much. I'll maintain that if we're serious about this rebuilding effort we will definitely need to get active during trade week.

 

[NathanS]

My biggest concern for trading someone like Prismall is that he's hardly a speedy midfielder. I wouldn't mind finding someone with a bit more pace.

I am a John's supporter as most people would know - but I can see the value in trading him (Gumby will soon fill his shoes). I don't think him and a second round are worth a first round pick though.

 

[David_Hilley#19]

Why is ther so much talk of trading JOhns, he has to be given more game time before we are sure he is a dud.