Team Mgmt. Makeup of our team II - Strengths & deficiencies, player development

[ant555]

Voss's year wasn't anywhere near as bad as it's made out to be. Over the first 4 weeks of the season he had a bunch of AFL listed help and was shining. Injuries started to hit the AFL side and he was left without much support right as we proceeded to play 7 of the top 10 teams in a row. His form started to improve by the end of the year when we got more support back but got overshadowed by a few more mature players in Hunter and Stewart late in the year.

Is it the worst delisting ever, no, but it's kinda unfair to point to his form dropping. Prime Carey would have struggled with only Snelling, Narkle, Conforti, Cootee and Rasninac kicking the ball to you.

If he was up to it he would have played. Simple. There was nothing wrong with the delivery when the defenders ran past him to mark the footy. The simple fact is he is slow. Has an average footy IQ. Can not take a contested mark. His kicking also dropped away during the year as well.
His best goal haul of the season was against a GWS side fielding a bunch of inexperienced kids because of their injury list. It was not a great game for him despite kicking 5 goals. He made the most of an average opposition.
The next week against Sandy he was good with 4 goals and then his form fell in a bit of a hole.
Had opportunity against the Bullants but kicked 1.4.
Against Casey he kicked a goal early and then none until late in the last quarter.
One goal in three games against Collingwood / Werribee/Brisbane.
Good game against the Tigers with 3 goals.
One goal in 3 weeks against Box Hill / North / Carlton.
Good against Port Melbourne with 2.4
Okay against the GC with 2 goals in a win.
Average against Geelong with 1 goal.
Good against Williamstown.
Not sighted against Sydney but that game was a wipe out for us.
Good finish to the year against Southport and Coburg.
His form drop did not have a lot to do with the side on the park. A couple of his better games where later in the season plus the Richmond game in round 9.
He had an okay VFL season . Yes he won the B&F but when you play every game chances are if you do okay you will be at the top end of the B&F.
He was not overshadowed by Hunter late in the year. Hunter played round 11 and 12.
Stewart played against the Swans and had 1 kick. He kicked 5 goals against Coburg but Voss was also good that day with 2.3.
Will be interested to see if Fremantle take him. If they do not I think he will be a decent forward for Port as I think his level is VFL.

 

[Call Me Cake]

26 & Under:

 

[ghostdog]

25 & Under:

View attachment 1887602

No 23 year olds.
This ******* club.

 

[katana]

25 & Under:

View attachment 1887602

what's this meant to be? parish is 26? redman too? probably others but i dont know their ages...

 

[Call Me Cake]

what's this meant to be? parish is 26? redman too? probably others but i dont know their ages...

My mistake meant to say 26. Fixed.

 

[citizen-erased]

26 & Under:

View attachment 1887627

Langford and Wright in for the forward spine and merrrett for cox and i like that side.

 

[fairbump_playon]

No 23 year olds.
This ******* club.

What’s the best thing about having 23 year olds on your list?

.. There’s 20 of them

 

[ant555]

Strength: Controlling possession.

When the Bombers were flying in the early days of 2023, it was rare to see them without the ball in their hands.

Essendon finished fifth in both kicks per game and overall disposals last season, displaying their desire to play the game at their own pace and chip their way through an opponent’s defence.

With the bulk of their list remaining unchanged and Brad Scott at the helm for his second season, the Bombers look to be a possession-heavy team once more in 2024.

Weakness: Defensive issues.

Essendon was one of the worst defensive teams in the competition last season, conceding the fourth most points per game in the competition.

This was clearly an issue the Bombers were aware of, bringing in Ben McKay

32

Ben Mckay

Age

26

Ht

202cm

Wt

104kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.5

2star

K

3.7

1star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

1.7

4star

MG

77.2

1star

D

7.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

3.0

2star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.5

2star

MG

88.5

2star

D

7.0

2star

K

3.4

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.0

4star

MG

67.8

1star

to replace the undersized Brandon Zerk-Thatcher

25

Brandon...

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.5

3star

K

8.5

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.5

3star

MG

148.5

2star

D

12.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.0

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

0.0

1star

MG

124.0

2star

D

11.5

3star

K

8.5

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

4.5

5star

T

1.5

4star

MG

148.5

3star

as the primary key defender.

While this is clearly an upgrade, is McKay capable of singlehandedly bringing this backline up to scratch? Is this the year Zach Reid emerges?

Considering the Dons’ defensive woes cost them a finals berth in 2023, their fortunes this season may depend entirely on the answer to that question.

Jack Makeham

This was on the SEN website. Shows why you do not let the office juniors write stuff.

I will give you a tip Jack. Our defensive issues where not a result of who we had playing in the back six

 

[Bjchan13]

For me the biggest issue last year was injury to key players.

Games missed

Stringer 6
Setterfield 13
Parish 5
Ridley 6
Tippa 16
Draper 9
Wright 13
Shiel 11

Cox, Jones, Reid write offs

It'll be player availability that holds the key to the teams fortunes, rather than any major changes to a gameplan or the addition of 1 player.

 

[Mikevk123]

Apparently we have 12 top ten picks on on our list. Which is the most in the AFL.

 

[Maxabillions]

Apparently we have 12 top ten picks on on our list. Which is the most in the AFL.

Yeah but some of them are Weidman

 

[owen87]

Apparently we have 12 top ten picks on on our list. Which is the most in the AFL.

I assume it includes guys like Stringer, Setterfield and Weideman who were traded in for peanuts because well, reasons. And Heppell who's well past his best.

It's a bit of a misleading statement.

 

[sup3rfish]

For me the biggest issue last year was injury to key players.

Games missed

Stringer 6
Setterfield 13
Parish 5
Ridley 6
Tippa 16
Draper 9
Wright 13
Shiel 11

Cox, Jones, Reid write offs

It'll be player availability that holds the key to the teams fortunes, rather than any major changes to a gameplan or the addition of 1 player.

I do agree players missing played a part but for me the biggest thing will be game plan based. Scott into his second year id be hoping he has ironed out a few creases in his style and plan and has the players all in.
We will have injuries during the year but look at sides successful sides in the past, they have all found a way to win with injuries to key personnel.

 

[Bjchan13]

I do agree players missing played a part but for me the biggest thing will be game plan based. Scott into his second year id be hoping he has ironed out a few creases in his style and plan and has the players all in.
We will have injuries during the year but look at sides successful sides in the past, they have all found a way to win with injuries to key personnel.

We disagree then. Successful sides can normally cover a few injuries through strong depth yes. We are a young side still building our depth and still had long term injuries to up to 8 best 22 players and 4-5 young/depth players. That cant be covered by game plan. You need a decent injury run and your best players mostly on the park to be able to execute any game plan successfully. Yes Brad will make a few tweaks here and there but you wont see any major changes or backflips on what we tried to do last year. It comes down to who he has available to do what he wants done.

 

[Happyskeret]

Strength: Controlling possession.

When the Bombers were flying in the early days of 2023, it was rare to see them without the ball in their hands.

Essendon finished fifth in both kicks per game and overall disposals last season, displaying their desire to play the game at their own pace and chip their way through an opponent’s defence.

With the bulk of their list remaining unchanged and Brad Scott at the helm for his second season, the Bombers look to be a possession-heavy team once more in 2024.

Weakness: Defensive issues.

Essendon was one of the worst defensive teams in the competition last season, conceding the fourth most points per game in the competition.

This was clearly an issue the Bombers were aware of, bringing in Ben McKay to replace the undersized Brandon Zerk-Thatcher as the primary key defender.

While this is clearly an upgrade, is McKay capable of singlehandedly bringing this backline up to scratch? Is this the year Zach Reid emerges?

Considering the Dons’ defensive woes cost them a finals berth in 2023, their fortunes this season may depend entirely on the answer to that question.

Jack Makeham

This was on the SEN website. Shows why you do not let the office juniors write stuff.

I will give you a tip Jack. Our defensive issues where not a result of who we had playing in the back six

Totally agree how many times our back six worked the ball out only for it to come straight back in. it wears you out! This is why I can see Zerk having a successful career at Port if he is not the number one defender but more importantly get protected from the mids in the air! Don’t get me wrong the great fullbacks can cover that sort of Weakness like Rance, McGovern, Lake and the modern variant Moore but those players are rare.

I’m happy to see Caddy develop as a forward but there is a part of me with his aerial prowess would love to see him in the midfield one day. There was also one particular game when I seen Baldwin play in the ones where I thought he helped us in this aspect. He took a lot of intercept marks between half back to the wing and it was quite noticeable to me.

 

[bombreys]

We disagree then. Successful sides can normally cover a few injuries through strong depth yes. We are a young side still building our depth and still had long term injuries to up to 8 best 22 players and 4-5 young/depth players. That cant be covered by game plan. You need a decent injury run and your best players mostly on the park to be able to execute any game plan successfully. Yes Brad will make a few tweaks here and there but you wont see any major changes or backflips on what we tried to do last year. It comes down to who he has available to do what he wants done.

We our injuries worse than any other team? I feel like they were pretty standard.

 

[Beerfish]

We our injuries worse than any other team? I feel like they were pretty standard.

Well when you're an average team to start with..

 

[Bjchan13]

We our injuries worse than any other team? I feel like they were pretty standard.

Yes

 

[Beerfish]

Yes

Really? I feel they probably wouldn't have been. Given it's an average team to start with.

 

[bombreys]

Well when you're an average team to start with..

For sure… I definitely don’t think it was our “biggest issue” though.

I’d have guessed we’d have been middle of the road for injuries. No better or worse than others.

 

[bombreys]

Yes

Think you may be clutching at straws thinking we were a better than we were.

 

[Bjchan13]

Think you may be clutching at straws thinking we were a better than we were.

No im happy with my position that we had a bad season injury wise and that for us to improve it will be if we can keep our best players on the park for longer, rather than major changes to the gameplan.

 

[Bjchan13]

Really? I feel they probably wouldn't have been. Given it's an average team to start with.

Not saying we weren't/arent a middle of the road team to start with.

 

[Happyskeret]

You may ask yourself am right or am I wrong? But to me it’s the same as it ever was SAME AS IT EVER WAS!!!! but when I was younger stay a while and listen we won flags and no one wanted to mess with us!

 

[yodellinhank]

Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground