Rating Essendon going forward

[citizen-erased]

Really liking Knights so far. Cannot pick a fault from day 1.
I had doubts about letting Bradley go so young without trialling him in the new environment, but this draft has more than allayed that concern

The skills and fitness talk is promising. We have been pretty bad with delivery in the past few years.

good drafting.
i expect to see in the next year or so McPhee pushed into a wing role and his athleticism used to attack rather than defend.

Fletcher and Michael's retirement in the next 2 years has been covered if any 3 of Ryder, Danniher, Myer, Pears or Gumbleton can pull off the positions. We already have a good clue on two of them, plus Pears was rated the best defender of the draft, so thats gotta count for something.
The Johns experiment will be interesting.
A lot of mobility in our talls now. The only two i can think of who dont move much are Laycock and Mal.
Lloyd, Lucas, Fletch, Hille, Ryder, Gumbleton, Johns all move well, and reports are these kids do too.

i would have liked to have seen bellchambers taken with the last pick. unless we have something lined up in the next draft for another ruckman, but i cant think of who.

midfield will be fine if we work on skills over the summer.
McVeigh, Stanton, Watson, Winderlich, Davey, Lovett, Slattery and JJ will provide us with decent depth. nothing geelong or west coast style, but if we can pull off what the pies did this year with their unknowns, and get our back and forward lines firing, we may not have to win with run. Just make good with our delivery and let our fire power win it for us.

as stated earlier, my concerns over our ruck stocks havent abated since barnes' retirement. im not sold on Hille as a ruck (i do like his movement around the ground at times though) and laycock still seems a year off and lacks a lot of around the ground quality. But he is a great tall target when we need a mark.

Overall i would put us top 10 at the moment. Nowhere near top 4, and very shady for top 6.
We dont have the problems of culture and scoring/defending depth that the bulldogs, blues and tigers have.
I support the apparent one man view (mine) that adelaide are on thin ice.
Saints and Freo will compete with us for improvement. Lions will steam ahead methinks.
Swans are 50/50.
I can see us finishing above the blues, tigers, crows, swans, dockers and dogs next year.
Roos are an unknown quantity too.

 

[High Ryder]

We drafted 3 KP backmen i think maybe 1 too many.

 

[Schmick]

We drafted 3 KP backmen i think maybe 1 too many.

Probably, i would have rathered Bellchambers or even Gourdis with pick 54 but im not really fussed as hopefully our recruiters know what theyr'e doing.

 

[boms]

Probably, i would have rathered Bellchambers or even Gourdis with pick 54 but im not really fussed as hopefully our recruiters know what theyr'e doing.

Where going to take a ruckman in the PSD no doubt. We only have 2 on our list atm. Bellchambers might still be coming our way..

 

[High Ryder]

I think you'll find we have 3 ruckmen on our list. Knights suggested that by drafting these guys this year it gives us more freedom to play Gumbleton and Ryder elsewhere.

 

[Schmick]

Where going to take a ruckman in the PSD no doubt. We only have 2 on our list atm. Bellchambers might still be coming our way..

Hopefully. I don't see why we passed on our last pick when we could have picked up a ruckman such as Bellchambers, Sullivan ect ect. What would be the point of passing on a ruckman with our last pick if we were just going to use that pick in the PSD on a ruckman anyways.

 

[High Ryder]

Plenty of rucks still available, Bellchambers, Hille Smouha etc.

 

[bomba4eva]

Solid defence and forward line. We can only hope that the players develop as hoped and expected. Midfield will be most interesting to see which players step up and take us to our next tilt at the flag. We have certainly recruited to fill all positions nicely, and we can only hope that a few turn into superstars and the rest solid footballers. I see a bright future unlike many of the doomsayers from other teams. I certainly think we should be pushing for a top 8 position

 

[GoDons]

Plenty of rucks still available, Bellchambers, Hille Smouha etc.

I believe that David Hill (if that's the one you're referring to), is bottom aged and can't be rookie listed.

I suppose the PSD isn't out of the question, but it's unlikely nonetheless.

 

[BomberComfort]

I would have to disagree with most people on this. I dont think we did very well at all today. Pears was a good pick up (too bad selwood did not slip one more pick ) However Myers with Pick 6 was just silly. Why every single year do we get a tall player with our first draft pick. In fact this year we got 3 out of 3 tall players. Surely Palmer with Pick 6 would have made more sence as we need to inject class into our mid IMO. We have more tall players than we know what to do with now. Lets just hope that next year we finally use our first choice to get a quality mid!

 

[Burzum]

However Myers with Pick 6 was just silly. Why every single year do we get a tall player with our first draft pick. In fact this year we got 3 out of 3 tall players. Surely Palmer with Pick 6 would have made more sence as we need to inject class into our mid IMO. We have more tall players than we know what to do with now. Lets just hope that next year we finally use our first choice to get a quality mid!

OMG MYERS IS A MIDFIELDER

 

[NathanS]

While another ruck would be nice, you've also got to consider that a good backman is all that's needed to free Ryder up for ruck duties.

Myers is a genuine mid-fielder, although he can also play as a running half-back player as well. And coming from the large WA grounds, he'd probably have a decent engine.

 

[Schmick]

I would have to disagree with most people on this. I dont think we did very well at all today. Pears was a good pick up (too bad selwood did not slip one more pick ) However Myers with Pick 6 was just silly. Why every single year do we get a tall player with our first draft pick. In fact this year we got 3 out of 3 tall players. Surely Palmer with Pick 6 would have made more sence as we need to inject class into our mid IMO. We have more tall players than we know what to do with now. Lets just hope that next year we finally use our first choice to get a quality mid!

Are you aware that Palmer isn't really a "classy" midfielder and that he's more of a hard running player with flair who takes players on, and that Myers is actually a classy midfielder who reads the play superbly and has A grade disposal. Oh wait my mistake, he's 191 so he must be a KP tall just like Pendlebury, Judd ect

 

[loopy_cam]

I support the apparent one man view (mine) that adelaide are on thin ice.

I'd agree with that. I don't think they'll make the eight this year.

 

[AndyLesPaul]

new knighter was a good desicion from the start.

Woo.

 

[windyhill]

It`s simple, the young blokes have to step up. Lloyd, Lucas,Fletcher and Mal can not carry us week in week out they need help. I am very, very excited about the class of `06. Alot of ********s on this site enjoy bagging the shit out of us and they all miss the fact that we did manage 10 wins.
Just buy your memberships people and enjoy the ride.
"MATTHEW KNIGHTS`RED AND BLACK ARMY"

 

[Gus2Gumby]

as stated earlier, my concerns over our ruck stocks havent abated since barnes' retirement. im not sold on Hille as a ruck (i do like his movement around the ground at times though) and laycock still seems a year off and lacks a lot of around the ground quality. But he is a great tall target when we need a mark.

Good assessment...

The more i think about it, the less worried i am about the ruck...

I have confidence in Laycock. You're concerns about moving round the ground are valid... Bit of a dinosaur... However, Ryder and Gumby will be able to do ruck work in their respective 50's and this will assist him... As for the 2nd ruckman... I think Hille will be finished by 2010-11ish when we are at our peak... An early pick spent on a ruckman next year would be on the cards i think... And hopefully we rookie Bellchambers as a 3rd option...

 

[acursi08]

Are you aware that Palmer isn't really a "classy" midfielder and that he's more of a hard running player with flair who takes players on, and that Myers is actually a classy midfielder who reads the play superbly and has A grade disposal. Oh wait my mistake, he's 191 so he must be a KP tall just like Pendlebury, Judd ect

LMFAO. Some people have no clue. You need to point it out for them, dont you

 

[Charliebrow 16]

Good assessment...

The more i think about it, the less worried i am about the ruck...

I have confidence in Laycock. You're concerns about moving round the ground are valid... Bit of a dinosaur... However, Ryder and Gumby will be able to do ruck work in their respective 50's and this will assist him... As for the 2nd ruckman... I think Hille will be finished by 2010-11ish when we are at our peak... An early pick spent on a ruckman next year would be on the cards i think... And hopefully we rookie Bellchambers as a 3rd option...

I have to diasgree.
David Hille captained our side last year when Lloyd was sidelined with his hamstring injury.
Hille grew a lot in that season and with a full pre-season for both our ruckmen i look forward to them working in tandem for a good 5 years at least.
But in saying that i do hope that we take a ruckman in the Pre-Season Draft such as Bellchambers as that would help our short ruck stocks. Ryder is a good ruckman but i don't see him as playing there too often in his career.

 

[Gus2Gumby]

I have to diasgree.
David Hille captained our side last year when Lloyd was sidelined with his hamstring injury.
Hille grew a lot in that season and with a full pre-season for both our ruckmen i look forward to them working in tandem for a good 5 years at least.

Look, I hope you're right... But Hille is turning 27 this year. Playing till 'at least' the end of 2012 is fairly optimistic...

That is when our list should be at it's prime. I personally, don't want to have to be relying on a 32+ year old ruckman.

 

[The_Young_Gun]

Everything that knights has done so far has been great.

I don't really know about the taking Myres over Palmer thing but I guess his only obsticle know is to make sure Myres turns out a good quality footballer unlike our previous number 6 draft pick in 2003 (Kepler!!!!).

Did anyone see that AFL.com article about the #6 pick being the worst pick in AFL history. It was something like only 1/3 of the #6 pick players play over 100 games.

 

[Not a Wellman]

I think Hille will asked to be traded at the end of next year when he has to play second fiddle to the big ****. Laycock will be in the top 3 or 4 ruckmen in the comp next year no doubt in my mind about that and Hille just gona get stuck filling in for Laycock when he needs a breather.

Also i rekon Laycock drifting back into defence and taking a big pack mark saving us a couple of goals a game is something not that many ruckmen posses in their games these days and combined with his decent tap work in the middle he will be a massive part of our success.

 

[Charliebrow 16]

Look, I hope you're right... But Hille is turning 27 this year. Playing till 'at least' the end of 2012 is fairly optimistic...

That is when our list should be at it's prime. I personally, don't want to have to be relying on a 32+ year old ruckman.

I hope i'm right too becuase the simple fact is that if he cant consistently put good/great games together then he's not going to be in our long or short term future. Period.

Haha yeah maybe 2012 is going a bit too far isn't it...