Toast Our Recruiting

[Kaiser Powser]

In the post-Sheedy era it has been simply brilliant. With few early picks, we have managed to strike gold in the second and third rounds, the PSD and the Rookie draft. Also our use of the free agency rule (I'm including Chapman here) has been second to none.

We have even been in a position to lose quality players like Monfries and Crameri for little in return and also cop huge draft sanctions, but continue to refresh the list with quality kids and rookie gems.

When I compare the situation to when I first started on Bigfooty, the turn around is staggering.

I doff my hat to the Essendon recruiters and the clubs ability to make these kids into good players. We are in good hands guys.

 

[eth-dog]

Best 25-ish players drafted since post-Sheedy:

Hooker, Hurley, Baguley, Hibberd, Zaharakis, J Merrett, Carlisle, Heppell, Bellchambers?, Melksham, Myers?, Hardingham, Gleeson, Kommer, Howlett. Bolded are players taken outside of the first round

 

[fishardansin]

I am impressed with the drafting over the last few years while the new teams have picked the eyes out of the draft. Thompson has to take some credit for the drafting at the end of 2012 too and the fact that he got so involved means that their "coachability" was high and development has been quick. That said good kids who are not really beating the door down as juniors only come on like we've seen this year when they're playing among a well developed team with a game plan that they can trust.

I had an argument with a close Carlton mate 6 years ago about drafting strategy. I explained to him that Carlton would look better than Essendon over the next few years but would end up better. KPPs and big bodied mids take ages to develop, and are often not stand outs as juniors. This is because the quick growing holds them back. Then puting kgs on the big frame means it's years before they start to run properly again, see Hooker and Myers. The KPPs and the ball winning mids are the cake. The flashy flankers are the icing. Essendon put plenty of effort to bake a solid cake and are now starting to add the icing by cycling through potential outside players. Carlton had more draft picks to spend but spent them all on icing and Judd. That they didn't put all their focus on KPPs and big bodied mids when they had Judd, Gibbs and Murphy as inside/outside mids and Kruezer, Hampson and Jacobs as ruckmen is just staggering.

I actually think that Matthew Knights can take some of the credit. For the reasons I said earlier Carlton was considered an better team than Essendon when he took the helm. However, we beat them in all but his last game coaching against them. That was done with the blistering run of players like Lovett. They were blinded by that razzle dazzle and invested in a game like that.

 

[Smokin]

I doff my hat to the Essendon recruiters and the clubs ability to make these kids into good players. We are in good hands guys.

and it feels like we are just starting to scratch the surface with the fruits of the Bomber football factory development side coming through now.

As good a match day tactician he is, he is just as good at identifying and developing talent like few others regardless of draft position.

 

[fishardansin]

Regarding our list development I think for the next two years we need to split the outside player cycling, because we'll get enough there with Ashby and Gleeson showing plenty and Edwards and Aylett in the bests for VFL last week, with getting young big bodied mids that will take time. In four years time Watson and Goddard will most likely be gone, if they aren't they wont be dominant, so we need to look for a real bargin in the late first and second rounds as we'll have three or four years to develop him with heaps of time in the gym and minimal games in the firsts.

Also Winderlich, Chapman and Dempsey will most likely be gone in that time. It looks like Gleeson + Ashby means that Dempsey isn't a big loss long term, though they don't quite have his height and pace. I feel cheeky talking about replacing Chappy, but certainly with him and Winderlich in we're a different team. That duo effect means they're more than their sum when together. Perhaps Edwards is in line for that.

Anyhow I am starting to think that Essendon has the best developed midfield in the game right now, though by next year the new teams will pass that.

 

[Kaiser Powser]

I am impressed with the drafting over the last few years while the new teams have picked the eyes out of the draft. Thompson has to take some credit for the drafting at the end of 2012 too and the fact that he got so involved means that their "coachability" was high and development has been quick. That said good kids who are not really beating the door down as juniors only come on like we've seen this year when they're playing among a well developed team with a game plan that they can trust.

I had an argument with a close Carlton mate 6 years ago about drafting strategy. I explained to him that Carlton would look better than Essendon over the next few years but would end up better. KPPs and big bodied mids take ages to develop, and are often not stand outs as juniors. This is because the quick growing holds them back. Then puting kgs on the big frame means it's years before they start to run properly again, see Hooker and Myers. The KPPs and the ball winning mids are the cake. The flashy flankers are the icing. Essendon put plenty of effort to bake a solid cake and are now starting to add the icing by cycling through potential outside players. Carlton had more draft picks to spend but spent them all on icing and Judd. That they didn't put all their focus on KPPs and big bodied mids when they had Judd, Gibbs and Murphy as inside/outside mids and Kruezer, Hampson and Jacobs as ruckmen is just staggering.

I actually think that Matthew Knights can take some of the credit. For the reasons I said earlier Carlton was considered an better team than Essendon when he took the helm. However, we beat them in all but his last game coaching against them. That was done with the blistering run of players like Lovett. They were blinded by that razzle dazzle and invested in a game like that.

Great post.

 

[Kaiser Powser]

Best 25-ish players drafted since post-Sheedy:

Hooker, Hurley, Baguley, Hibberd, Zaharakis, J Merrett, Carlisle, Heppell, Bellchambers?, Melksham, Myers?, Hardingham, Gleeson, Kommer, Howlett. Bolded are players taken outside of the first round

The really impressive part is that:

Hooker, Baguley, Hibberd, Bellchambers, Howlett and Ambrose were plucked from nowhere.

Add in Hocking, F/S Watson, Goddard and Chapman and you have half the side that has been constructed with nothing picks, PSD, Rookie or Free agency.

Brilliant work. All the while the compromised drafts have been weakening the draft pool.

 

[Kaiser Powser]

Anyhow I am starting to think that Essendon has the best developed midfield in the game right now, though by next year the new teams will pass that.

It will be disgusting if, after a decade in the wilderness, we are the team that is denied success by the franchisees.
God I hope they don't become a monster like people predict.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

It will be disgusting if, after a decade in the wilderness, we are the team that is denied success by the franchisees.
God I hope they don't become a monster like people predict.

They can't. Their depth will be poor due to salary cap restraints and having players outside the 22 who are more than good enough for other clubs. They'll feel the squeeze eventually. GC will feel it soon I imagine, with guys like Swallow signing their 3rd contracts now.

 

[Kaiser Powser]

They can't. Their depth will be poor due to salary cap restraints and having players outside the 22 who are more than good enough for other clubs. They'll feel the squeeze eventually. GC will feel it soon I imagine, with guys like Swallow signing their 3rd contracts now.

I hope you're right.

Although I can't see why you could not say the same things about us. We have a good deep list, that will surely feel cap pressure soon. We will have to trim a lot of fat to ensure we don't lose someone of real quality. Not sure why we signed guys like Kommer up to multi year new deals.

 

[eth-dog]

They can't. Their depth will be poor due to salary cap restraints and having players outside the 22 who are more than good enough for other clubs. They'll feel the squeeze eventually. GC will feel it soon I imagine, with guys like Swallow signing their 3rd contracts now.

And yet Tim Sumner continues to get games

 

[Pantsless]

And it was only a few years ago that the anti-Dodoro train was completely chockas, and I mean all 8 cars!

Some of the comments were unbelievable..

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I hope you're right.

Although I can't see why you could not say the same things about us. We have a good deep list, that will surely feel cap pressure soon. We will have to trim a lot of fat to ensure we don't lose someone of real quality. Not sure why we signed guys like Kommer up to multi year new deals.

They have the "I'm a first round pick, i haven't been given a crack" angle that we don't.

 

[thebigboy]

You'd have to think now having control of our own VFL side that this will only continue to improve the development of these kids. Add in the benefits of having arguably the best facilities in the AFL and you'd have to think that were giving each of our kids the best chance to develop to their full potential.

Whether they achieve that will come down to there own internal maturity and makeup, and it seems like we've gone out of our way to recruit high character, disciplined kids coming through the draft.

 

[silk]

And it was only a few years ago that the anti-Dodoro train was completely chockas, and I mean all 8 cars!

Some of the comments were unbelievable..

People were suckered by the low picks era where the media would rabbit on about how you had to have a few bad years and get really low draft picks then build your way back up.

 

[Kaiser Powser]

People were suckered by the low picks era where the media would rabbit on about how you had to have a few bad years and get really low draft picks then build your way back up.

Hawthorn and Collingwood started this in 05, when the dipped (read tanked) to get some good picks when they actually had a pretty decent list. Carlton and Melbourne then all took it to the next level. Carlton, for a while, made it look to be a winning strategy, when they started to show immediate improvement.

But wow, looking at those clubs, compared to Geelong, Freo, Sydney and even Essendon you can see how flawed a system it was.

It will be interesting to see if GWS's extreme version of this will pay dividends.

 

[Whispering_Jack]

You'd have to think now having control of our own VFL side that this will only continue to improve the development of these kids. Add in the benefits of having arguably the best facilities in the AFL and you'd have to think that were giving each of our kids the best chance to develop to their full potential.

Whether they achieve that will come down to there own internal maturity and makeup, and it seems like we've gone out of our way to recruit high character, disciplined kids coming through the draft.

I don't think there is any argument in this, our facilities are now not just best in the league, but world class.

 

[Rack Watts]

Dudoro lul

 

[Jesse Custer]

Maybe its got more to do with how we develop our players these days.

 

[rines]

Couple of things:

• We changed our recruiting team and gave Dodo more support.
• We created a stand alone VFL team that has helped with development
• We got Skipworth on board to manage youth.. and has been fantastic
• We are a better team. I have zero doubt this helps younger guys coming in. They have less pressure, more support and better team structures.
• We have not recycled 'mid range' players. We have picked up two older guys, both of whom would be classed as 'A graders'. No more Zantuck thank you.
• We have recruited to a plan, which has meant that the players match the game plan
• We have excellent training facilities and processes

All round great job by the club.. again. We have completely turned it around and the results are showing. Although most of us have seen this coming for a couple of years now. Fantastic to see it come to fruition. Let's hope we have a small window while GC and GWS still perfect their list.

 

[rines]

Maybe its got more to do with how we develop our players these days.

Bit like the 'Melbourne' argument.. there is no doubt that they recruited highly rated youngsters.. yet all of them have gone as 'unfulfilled' talent. Recruiting is the first step, development decides whether or not ANY player is a success, pick 1 or pick 100.

 

[Matthew_Lloyd]

2010-2012 was just growing pains for our team. We've done a very good job at rebuilding following the Sheedy era and have nurtured our young talent, who are now becoming solid/very good/gun mature players.

Still, imagine if we didn't piss-fart around with our drafting/recruiting from 2002-2006 and went straight into a rebuild. Our window would have been open earlier, and we wouldn't be worrying about the prospect of competing with GC and GWS

 

[GUMBLETRON]

Still, imagine if we didn't piss-fart around with our drafting/recruiting from 2002-2006 and went straight into a rebuild. Our window would have been open earlier, and we wouldn't be worrying about the prospect of competing with GC and GWS

Just Geelong.

 

[fishardansin]

They can't. Their depth will be poor due to salary cap restraints and having players outside the 22 who are more than good enough for other clubs. They'll feel the squeeze eventually. GC will feel it soon I imagine, with guys like Swallow signing their 3rd contracts now.

I don't agree with this. They already have the stars at the club, this is half the battle. While the success continues many will stay for unders because most humans would prefer earning enough money for 2 life times in a decade while enjoying themselves than earning enough money for three live times (actually 2.5 when tax at that income is factored in).

Yes they will lose fringe players also GWS will probably trade a star forward and GCS a star midfielder. These wont weaken their premiership credentials though because they'll still have twice the star power that most/all teams will. In fact it will help them elongate their period of dominance because GWS will trade one of those gun forwards just before their peak begins and probably get overs for him. This will give them another 2 first round picks 4 years younger than their main bunch.

As I've said the only way to curtail this is that all the other clubs get together and continually whine about it publicly but privately collude in a morally dubious way so there is coordinated targeting of players so that we can weaken their list enough to bring them back to the bunch. The public bleating is all about getting public opinion on side so that if it becomes obvious what's happening the AFL will turn a blind eye.

 

[cAsEy_18]

I love that we don't have to get hung up on one guy. When Kavanagh was drafted, we knew he'd take time but thought he'd be a star. Hasn't worked out that way (yet, plenty of time) but we're not pinning all our hopes on one guy because we've had J. Merrett, Z. Merrett, Gleeson, Ashby, Edwards to keep us excited in the meantime.

You're not going to nail every draft pick, but we're batting well above average the past few years.