Opinion Unpopular Opinions: Dons Edition
- Thread starter The Devils Advocate
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doug85
Capo di tutt'i capi
Broken clock ‘ducks’
- Apr 26, 2015
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we're rapidly approaching a level of derangement that rivals the norf and saints boards
- Jun 27, 2014
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Our derangement should be at big brother levels by now
doug85
Capo di tutt'i capi
Not sure this is that unpopular. Our fans are ******* cooked
tim watson escaped enormous scrutiny in relation to the saga.
jmoo wan
Formally Mr Jmoo Wan
Walla doesn’t deserve to be selected this round
We're slowly becoming Richmond of 1980-2016
ant555
The Oracle
- May 4, 2004
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Slowly ?
I think we're beyond that now and setting new standards of low
Don’t think that view is unpopular.
DERO
Formerly "dero"
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Heppell will be a handy player next year both on and off the park.
If that’s the case, fine. But I’m sceptical. I reckon they’d want multiple high-ish first rounders and we currently don’t even have one in the top ten.
I guess it depends on all the rumoured stuff, like how much does he want out, and why do Melbourne (assuming they do) want to entertain the idea of trading him? Anyway let’s see.
- Aug 21, 2016
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Essendon is again doing the same old thing we’ve been doing for 22 years. Cutting corners trying to get up the ladder quickly by adding mature talent.
That's a popular opinion
I was going to post the opposite. Unpopular opinion: Essendon is finally learning from the failures of the last 20 years by addressing a big list need. It only took Dodoro 20 years to balance our midfield and make it competitive against the best mids.
- Aug 21, 2016
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There’s addressing a big list need and then there’s thinking that bringing in a couple of players is suddenly going to have you challenging late in September. It’s the same thinking that made us go backwards in 2018/2019
- Apr 26, 2015
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quick loss of several important senior players and hitting a cultural low point while proceeding with an i’ll-advised coaching succession plan?
- Aug 21, 2016
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We didn’t lose senior players in 2018 or 2019. That was the end of 2020
I’m more talking about at the end of 2017 where the club really screwed up believing they were way closer than what they were and topped up with 3 players, then again a year later gave away 2 1sts believing shiel was the missing piece.
Who says this is the last trade we'll ever make? Secure an elite player and continue trading. You simply don't win a premiership without an elite mid or two.
A couple of CHF will be available next year. Either trade out F1 2025 for a player like Naughton or trade out a good player that is surplus to our needs to balance the list. We have 12 months to determine what player we should trade out. Moving Parish on would have made sense.
We have to be more imaginative than going to draft and picking speculative late top 10-early teens that never work out for us. All of these mid-table finishes will eventually come to bite us like it always does. I'd rather be active in the trade period. Otherwise, sides like Adelaide will and we're screwed.
- Apr 26, 2015
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i'm not gonna pretend that they were great decisions that worked out well but you can see why they thought they were close, we had 3 AA KPPs and two very dangerous small forwards, merrett on the rise and a number 1 draft pick who'd just won the RS and was still projecting strongly. the three S's were all good pickups (dev smith was terrific before his knee exploded) and everything looked pretty good before it all fell apart (the club is responsible for a good chunk of this, to be fair). I think the shiel deal was a mistake but there were too many other moving parts to say that recruiting those players was the reason we moved backwards.
- Aug 21, 2016
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But again we went close and that was part depth and personal but mainly game plan and ability to defend. The same issue we have now. I’ve got issue with us chasing talent to make us better, but you want to make sure you have your game plan imbedded first as that’s what will take you deep into September.
- Apr 26, 2015
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I agree but I think there's a middle ground where to an extent, bringing in talent helps embed the game plan as better players will learn it faster/execute it better.
- Feb 14, 2023
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It’s a lot easier to be creative when you have trade capital to spend. While Essendon has a salary cap horde to spend it doesn’t have much in the way of expendable players that could be moved on or upgraded because it’s already -5 or -6 players in terms of needed depth
Step 1 is finding depth and development.
Then once you have a surplus you can begin to consolidate.
That our fans have a level of responsibility for the club being in the position that we're in now. There is a large portion of the fanbase that seems obsessed with the idea that the club must be run like it was in the past and must have past greats heavily involved in it and when things go wrong with "outsiders", the pressure that puts on the club makes the leaders that we have internally (who are weak for following this) panic and make fan appeasing decisions rather than the right decision.
