Opinion I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way

[jmoo wan]

Its been a feature of Essendon for far too long that we don’t give our draftees a continued run of games. It’s bullshit. We collect draft picks, and with the exception of maybe one or 2 each year, leave them in the VFL so we can continue to pump games into our existing “AFL” players in the misguided belief that this year we are a contender. God forbid we actually play our kids, give them a run and see if they could actually be competent AFL footballers and improve our team. And we don’t cut them, because they’re ours and we like having them in our collection.

This was my rant. But now, I have data to back it up!

The table below from the AFL site shows how s**t we are at actually playing our draftees. Bear in mind we had a number one draft pick that has pretty much played every game since 2017.




http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-24/the-stats-files-geelongs-latest-litter-of-kittens#/

 

[DapperDon]

That's actually quite sad for a team with gaping holes like us.

What are we afraid of? Nice guy Myers might lose his position?

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

It’s really quite damning.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Gee and here I was thinking Lyon was the only coach to have that problem. But the data don't lie.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Embarrassing.

 

[DapperDon]

So Pidge has played what? 25 games?

That leaves 10 games for 3 other players over the past year and a quarter seasons for a lower/middle of the road team.

Either we are draft poorly, or we are developing shockingly.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

So Pidge has played what? 25 games?

That leaves 10 games for 3 other players over the past year and a quarter seasons for a lower/middle of the road team.

Either we are draft poorly, or we are developing shockingly.

But we don't know, as we haven't really had a good look at our kids

 

[Mootsy]

good lord!

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Seriously, the only thing I can think of is they think after 2016 that we still need continuity with the senior players playing together more as the other teams have had that, but it’s really not a good enough excuse.

 

[hotkorma]

This is quite frightening to read.

 

[Mootsy]

Seriously, the only thing I can think of is they think after 2016 that we still need continuity with the senior players playing together more as the other teams have had that, but it’s really not a good enough excuse.

This could very well be the case.

 

[Lore]

To be fair, if you sort them by games played we're not dead last. We hit a winner with McGrath and played him every week instead of giving four other players five games each.

 

[Burzum]

So Pidge has played what? 25 games?

That leaves 10 games for 3 other players over the past year and a quarter seasons for a lower/middle of the road team.

Either we are draft poorly, or we are developing shockingly.

whynotboth.png

 

[Doss]

To be fair, if you sort them by games played we're not dead last. We hit a winner with McGrath and played him every week instead of giving four other players five games each.

McGrath skews the numbers massively though, as DapperDon pointed out. Take him out and the numbers look very grim.

I'm not one who believes you should just play kids for the sake of it, but this current situation isn't really tenable in my view.

 

[yodellinhank]

So Pidge has played what? 25 games?

That leaves 10 games for 3 other players over the past year and a quarter seasons for a lower/middle of the road team.

Either we are draft poorly, or we are developing shockingly.

Man i could go for some tacos

 

[eDPS]

Its been a feature of Essendon for far too long that we don’t give our draftees a continued run of games. It’s bullshit. We collect draft picks, and with the exception of maybe one or 2 each year, leave them in the VFL so we can continue to pump games into our existing “AFL” players in the misguided belief that this year we are a contender. God forbid we actually play our kids, give them a run and see if they could actually be competent AFL footballers and improve our team. And we don’t cut them, because they’re ours and we like having them in our collection.

This was my rant. But now, I have data to back it up!

The table below from the AFL site shows how s**t we are at actually playing our draftees. Bear in mind we had a number one draft pick that has pretty much played every game since 2017.


View attachment 488154

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-24/the-stats-files-geelongs-latest-litter-of-kittens#/

I just posted about this on twitter and I think this should hopefully get some media attention, as someone who spends time watching these kids before they are drafted I love seeing them get a go and show why they got drafted in the first place.

 

[CBombers17]

At least we pumped another game into Jacko to see if we'd missed something - in the last 7 seasons....

 

[Lore]

McGrath skews the numbers massively though, as DapperDon pointed out. Take him out and the numbers look very grim.

I'm not one who believes you should just play kids for the sake of it, but this current situation isn't really tenable in my view.

Of course. I imagine we would've played Bird more last year if McGrath wasn't in, so the other kids still wouldn't have had a shot.

 

[Mr_McBoogerBalls]

Solid stats and glad they're being exposed.

I was saying to my Cats mate I went to the game with, that we are terrible when it comes to blooding youngsters; unlike his team where they still manage to win games and discover fresh talent; good to see some stats shortly after saying it.

 

[JT_the_Man]

The other 3 are Begley, Guelfi and McNiece.

 

[quotemokc]

You could probably include 2015/16 as well and the numbers would still be damning

 

[PhoenixBonez]

So this is just talking about the 2016/2017 drafts.

Of that we are talking about:
2016:
Pick 1: Andy McGrath - playing most games since drafted
Pick 22: Jordan Ridley - yet to debut, mainly due to injury and has had to be managed carefully (back injury 2017, ankle this pre-season)
Pick 31: Josh Begley - drafted with a low fitness base, spent his first year building this up and debuting last year. Played all games this year
Pick 42: Kobe Mutch - has been playing relatively well in the VFL without starring - due for a debut soon one would think
Pick 63: Dylan Clarke - has been working on his main deficiency, kicking, and seems to be making good head way on this. Expect a debut soon

Rookie:
Draper - Was always going to be a long term prospect
McKernan - depth (can't be counted as a "debut")
Eades - oops, but then again no one taken after him has been any good anyway
McNeice - has debuted and looked pretty good at times. Probably a bit stiff not to play a few more games

2017: Traded most of our picks for Smith, Stringer, Saad. As such we didn't have any top end talent to debut.
Pick 49: Jordan Houlahan - Building in the VFL, not ready for a debut.
Pick 66: Brandan Zerk-Thatcher - Has looked good in the VFL but building as a KPD
Pick 76: Matt Guelfi - Has shown good endeavor in the VFL and as such earned a call up.

Rookie:
Mynott - Building in the VFL.

I think this is quite reasonable given their individual circumstances to be honest, though Mutch is probably a bit rough not to have been seen in the seniors. I would expect to see Mutch and Clarke soon and would be disappointed if we didn't.

 

[ghostdog]

It means that our averageness isn't even sustainable. It means that after blokes like Goddard and Myers are gone we slide down quickly. Someone needs to send that table to Woosha.

 

[Mootsy]

It means that our averageness isn't even sustainable. It means that after blokes like Goddard and Myers are gone we slide down quickly. Someone needs to send that table to Woosha.

ummm...
shouldn't they already sort of know this stuff, you'd hope!

 

[Lore]

McNeice - has debuted and looked pretty good at times. Probably a bit stiff not to play a few more games

Had a couple of injuries last year with I think it was a calf from memory, and then a whiplash neck injury that persisted for a long time. Then a hamstring this pre-season, he's played two VFL games this year (this week and last). I reckon he might come in sooner rather than later though, with so many other injuries atm.