Recruiting List Development 2017 - How do we develop our list?

[Towno78]

Can't see Jackson Merrett, Shaun McKernan or Alex Morgan continuing. Jake Long is in the promote/delist category and I suspect one of Howlett and Bird will be discarded.

Takes it up to 6/7 and 3 dependent on Long. I'm going with Long promotion.

Not sure we can clean out too many mature bodies in one hit. Bird, Howlett, McKernan all get 1 more imo. Unless we pick up a trade/fa to replace 1 of their spots.
Agree with the rest. 6 & 1/2 list changes is about right in our position
imo

 

[Lore]

With Bird still under contract (for whatever reason he's on a long term deal which doesn't expire until the end of 2019)

Huh? I thought he got two years at the end of 16? So 17 and 18?

 

[WEEVZ]

Huh? I thought he got two years at the end of 16? So 17 and 18?

Nope, according to the player contracts thing on Footywire his contract expires in 2019. It could be wrong but I dunno.

 

[eth-dog]

I'll do one of my "list breakdown's" now because I have time to kill. This will address where each player has played predominantly this season in the seniors or reserves, Kelly, Watson and Eades excluded:

Defence

Key defenders: Michael Hurley, Mitchell Brown (fwd), Patrick Ambrose, Michael Hartley
General defenders: Andrew McGrath (mid), Brent Stanton, Martin Gleeson, Mark Baguley, Jordan Ridley, Alex Morgan, Mason Redman (fwd), Heath Hocking, Ben McNiece, Conor McKenna (mid), Matt Dea

Midfield

Inside midfielders: Zach Merrett, Brendan Goddard (def), Dyson Heppell, David Myers (def), Craig Bird, Kyle Langford (fwd), Dylan Clarke, Ben Howlett (fwd)
Outside midfielders: Darcy Parish (fwd), David Zaharakis (fwd), Kobe Mutch (def), Travis Colyer (fwd), Jake Long (fwd),
Rucks: Tom Bellchambers, Matthew Leuenberger, Sam Draper (fwd)

Forward

Key forwards: Joe Daniher, James Stewart, Cale Hooker (def), Shaun McKernan (rck)
General forwards: Aaron Francis (def), Orazio Fantasia (mid), Josh Green, Josh Begley, Jackson Merrett (mid), Jayden Laverde (mid), Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (mid)

With the likely trades/retirements/delistings of Stanton, Morgan, Hocking, Bird, McKernan and Merrett, that takes it up to 9 list spots that need filling. For me we need:

1x key defender/3rd tall
2x key forward
2x ruck
3x inside midfielder
2x outside mid

I suspect we'll trade for a couple of them, hopefully Hopper and a Balic/Webb type. What I hope to see:

1. Pick 11 for Hopper
2. Future 4th round for Webb

Pick 28: Noah Balta (dreamin)
Pick 47: Cassidy Parish
Pick 65: Alex Boyse
Pick 83: Tom De Koning

RD11: James Ferry
RD29: Kieran Strachan
RD47: <insert outside midfielder here>

 

[eth-dog]

Not sure we can clean out too many mature bodies in one hit. Bird, Howlett, McKernan all get 1 more imo. Unless we pick up a trade/fa to replace 1 of their spots.
Agree with the rest. 6 & 1/2 list changes is about right in our position
imo

I think we can really only afford to keep one of Bird or Howlett (I prefer Howlett) and you can fill Smack's role with any 22 year old stat league player.

 

[Towno78]

I think we can really only afford to keep one of Bird or Howlett (I prefer Howlett) and you can fill Smack's role with any 22 year old stat league player.

In what way can we not "afford" to keep both? What does that even mean?
As to your other point, more than happy to delist all 3 if we can replace them with mature players as opposed to 18yos. 10 18yos is too many.

 

[eth-dog]

In what way can we not "afford" to keep both? What does that even mean?
As to your other point, more than happy to delist all 3 if we can replace them with mature players as opposed to 18yos. 10 18yos is too many.

Slow inside midfielders with poor skills and don't find a lot of the ball.

I wasn't proposing getting all 18 year olds. I was thinking Hopper and someone like Webb or Balic via trade, Alex Boyse as a key forward, James Ferry as a key defender and Kieran Strachan as a ruck. Then four 18 year olds on top of that.

 

[Lore]

Nope, according to the player contracts thing on Footywire his contract expires in 2019. It could be wrong but I dunno.

Hm yep, you seem to be correct. For some reason our contracts thread (which I didn't update, so the information came from somewhere else) and my spreadsheet both have 2017, and I can't find any reference to it in his player thread or on the Essendon website. The only thing with a year on it is footywire

2018 would make sense though I guess, because he had a year to run at the Swans when he came to us so we had to have some sort of incentive. Perhaps 3 years was that.

 

[Towno78]

Slow inside midfielders with poor skills and don't find a lot of the ball.

I wasn't proposing getting all 18 year olds. I was thinking Hopper and someone like Webb or Balic via trade, Alex Boyse as a key forward, James Ferry as a key defender and Kieran Strachan as a ruck. Then four 18 year olds on top of that.

All 3 are in the VFL, so hardly a problem for our AFL team. Just a break in case of emergency really, which we need until we have better depth.

 

[Vindicater]

With the news of Kelly and Watson

I would like these changes

Out: Watson, Kelly, Stanton, Hocking, Morgan and J Merrett (Plus Long and Eades as rookies)

Everyone else comes back.

We then add

4 players via the draft
2 players via trade/free agency
2 players via the RD

 

[blitzer]

With the news of Kelly and Watson

I would like these changes

Out: Watson, Kelly, Stanton, Hocking, Morgan and J Merrett (Plus Long and Eades as rookies)

Everyone else comes back.

We then add

4 players via the draft
2 players via trade/free agency
2 players via the RD

I think this is decent but I would prefer that we cut one further and get rid of one of Howlett/Bird/McKernan. These 3 are purely on the list for depth. None of them are even particularly likely to change matches if they did come into the side upon injuries. McKernan I would particularly like to get rid of in favour of someone who is actually ruck sized - particularly with the development of Draper and Bellchambers return to form leaving me less concerned about our ruck division. Bird is my preferred keep option of the 3.

Not sure whether Long should get a bit more time on the flip side. He sounds kind of borderline from the VFL reports I've read.

 

[darrenbewick#8]

Morgan is Gone along with Jerrett, Jobe, Kelly, and 2-3 others on the list, Goddard should go too but will invoke trigger Clause to hangon for another year of turnovers unfortunately, so that's at least 6-7 list changes, and freeing up a lot of salary cap.

 

[Towno78]

Morgan is Gone along with Jerrett, Jobe, Kelly, and 2-3 others on the list, Goddard should go too but will invoke trigger Clause to hangon for another year of turnovers unfortunately, so that's at least 6-7 list changes, and freeing up a lot of salary cap.

No, Goddard has been excellent.

 

[eDPS]

I'll do one of my "list breakdown's" now because I have time to kill. This will address where each player has played predominantly this season in the seniors or reserves, Kelly, Watson and Eades excluded:

Defence

Key defenders: Michael Hurley, Mitchell Brown (fwd), Patrick Ambrose, Michael Hartley
General defenders: Andrew McGrath (mid), Brent Stanton, Martin Gleeson, Mark Baguley, Jordan Ridley, Alex Morgan, Mason Redman (fwd), Heath Hocking, Ben McNiece, Conor McKenna (mid), Matt Dea

Midfield

Inside midfielders: Zach Merrett, Brendan Goddard (def), Dyson Heppell, David Myers (def), Craig Bird, Kyle Langford (fwd), Dylan Clarke, Ben Howlett (fwd)
Outside midfielders: Darcy Parish (fwd), David Zaharakis (fwd), Kobe Mutch (def), Travis Colyer (fwd), Jake Long (fwd),
Rucks: Tom Bellchambers, Matthew Leuenberger, Sam Draper (fwd)

Forward

Key forwards: Joe Daniher, James Stewart, Cale Hooker (def), Shaun McKernan (rck)
General forwards: Aaron Francis (def), Orazio Fantasia (mid), Josh Green, Josh Begley, Jackson Merrett (mid), Jayden Laverde (mid), Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (mid)

With the likely trades/retirements/delistings of Stanton, Morgan, Hocking, Bird, McKernan and Merrett, that takes it up to 9 list spots that need filling. For me we need:

1x key defender/3rd tall
2x key forward
2x ruck
3x inside midfielder
2x outside mid

I suspect we'll trade for a couple of them, hopefully Hopper and a Balic/Webb type. What I hope to see:

1. Pick 11 for Hopper
2. Future 4th round for Webb

Pick 28: Noah Balta (dreamin)
Pick 47: Cassidy Parish
Pick 65: Alex Boyse
Pick 83: Tom De Koning

RD11: James Ferry
RD29: Kieran Strachan
RD47: <insert outside midfielder here>

I'm being a little nit picky but we would most likely take De Koning at 47 and Parish at 83

Personally I'd be shocked if we picked 3 of our VFL guys we seem to always just take 1 if any. If we are getting Hopper and Webb I'd rather we pass on Parish and go for an outside type.

 

[eth-dog]

I'm being a little nit picky but we would most likely take De Koning at 47 and Parish at 83

Personally I'd be shocked if we picked 3 of our VFL guys we seem to always just take 1 if any. If we are getting Hopper and Webb I'd rather we pass on Parish and go for an outside type.

We've never had 3 draftable players from the VFL before.

 

[eDPS]

We've never had 3 draftable players from the VFL before.

Cant argue with you there

 

[eth-dog]

Cant argue with you there

Plus we've shown that in shallow underage drafts we're more than happy to draft multiple mature agers. Brown/Hartley/Walla in 15, Thurlow/Ambrose in 13, DVU/Kommer in 12, Dell'Olio/Baguley in 11, Hibberd/Jenkins in 10, Hardingham/Silverlock/Crameri/Howlett/Marigliani in 09.

 

[GUMBLETRON]

We've never had 3 draftable players from the VFL before.

Dickson/Dunell/Biggs/Campbell, 2011.

 

[eth-dog]

Dickson/Dunell/Biggs/Campbell, 2011.

******* Bulldogs/Sydney/St. Kilda

 

[BrunoV]

2. Future 4th round for Webb

Come on eth-dog.

 

[Vindicater]

I think this is decent but I would prefer that we cut one further and get rid of one of Howlett/Bird/McKernan. These 3 are purely on the list for depth. None of them are even particularly likely to change matches if they did come into the side upon injuries. McKernan I would particularly like to get rid of in favour of someone who is actually ruck sized - particularly with the development of Draper and Bellchambers return to form leaving me less concerned about our ruck division. Bird is my preferred keep option of the 3.

Not sure whether Long should get a bit more time on the flip side. He sounds kind of borderline from the VFL reports I've read.

I just don't think we can drop all the older bodies at once.

With Watson, Kelly, Stanton and Hocking going out and being replaced by youth we still need some professionals around the club leading the way at training and helping devlop kids at the VFL level.

Bird and McKernan do that so happy to keep them around.

 

[Killer_Mike]

I just don't think we can drop all the older bodies at once.

With Watson, Kelly, Stanton and Hocking going out and being replaced by youth we still need some professionals around the club leading the way at training and helping devlop kids at the VFL level.

Bird and McKernan do that so happy to keep them around.

If they are on minimal contracts and they have no offers I would keep Smack and Bird. They have shown they can contribute enough.

 

[Killer_Mike]

The Footy Panel with Paul Corrigan

http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2017-08-30/the-footy-panel-ep-26

• Impressed with Stewart against Freo. Each goal was kicked in different ways. (Scott Lucas)
• Hooksey has had an excellent year (Scott Lucas)
• Baggers has had an exceptional year after a slow start. Has allowed for McGrath to play up on a wing the last couple of weeks (Scott Lucas)
• Zaka's contract was always about contract length (Scott Lucas)
• VFL team started slowly but building nice (Paul Corrigan)
• Kobe Mutch has impressed from the young guys. Big engine and great ability to win ball. Contested and Uncontested. (Paul Corrigan)
• Dylan Clarke has great running ability and size. Can play different roles. (Paul Corrigan)
• Alex Boyse can be drafted. Is athletic and can influence a game. (Paul Corrigan)
• Aaron Francis has progressed well. Has potential to play forward or back. Has a lot of natural talent. Requires patience. He understands where he's at and is doing the work. (Paul Corrigan)
• VFL program is in place for development purposes. Results come second. Structures are the same as the seniors to prepare the players. (Paul Corrigan)
• Kyle Langford is playing VFL to get experience playing predominately as a mid. At senior level he just hasn't been able to get the same exposure. This preseason was his first training as a midfielder. this year has been all about learning the running patterns for a mid and how to influence a game both attacking and defensively. (Paul Corrigan)
• Sees Laverde as being a powerful mid in time. Somebody that can impact in midfield and also up forward. Rotations are key to getting players into the game. (Paul Corrigan)

 

[eDPS]

The Footy Panel with Paul Corrigan

http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2017-08-30/the-footy-panel-ep-26

• Impressed with Stewart against Freo. Each goal was kicked in different ways. (Scott Lucas)
• Hooksey has had an excellent year (Scott Lucas)
• Baggers has had an exceptional year after a slow start. Has allowed for McGrath to play up on a wing the last couple of weeks (Scott Lucas)
• Zaka's contract was always about contract length (Scott Lucas)
• VFL team started slowly but building nice (Paul Corrigan)
• Kobe Mutch has impressed from the young guys. Big engine and great ability to win ball. Contested and Uncontested. (Paul Corrigan)
• Dylan Clarke has great running ability and size. Can play different roles. (Paul Corrigan)
• Alex Boyse can be drafted. Is athletic and can influence a game. (Paul Corrigan)
• Aaron Francis has progressed well. Has potential to play forward or back. Has a lot of natural talent. Requires patience. He understands where he's at and is doing the work. (Paul Corrigan)
• VFL program is in place for development purposes. Results come second. Structures are the same as the seniors to prepare the players. (Paul Corrigan)
• Kyle Langford is playing VFL to get experience playing predominately as a mid. At senior level he just hasn't been able to get the same exposure. This preseason was his first training as a midfielder. this year has been all about learning the running patterns for a mid and how to influence a game both attacking and defensively. (Paul Corrigan)
• Sees Laverde as being a powerful mid in time. Somebody that can impact in midfield and also up forward. Rotations are key to getting players into the game. (Paul Corrigan)

 

[Killer_Mike]

Let's hope so.

For our sake he needs a really good run with injuries so he can focus on developing his game.

The interesting question for next year is whether he will have to learn at VFL level like Langers has had to.

I think competition for spots in midfield next year will be hot so I think he may have to.