Opinion Unpopular Opinions: Dons Edition

[The Devils Advocate]

We'll only sign one of Redman or Parish. One of them will leave for a better contract elsewhere. Don't know why but I have a feeling it'll be Redman.

If I had to choose, I'd rather us lose Redman as much as I genuinely love him.
We actually have a really good history of recruiting, and developing solid to borderline AA half-backs.
Heppell, Dempsey, Hibberd, Baguley, Saad, McKenna, Redman, Hind etc. etc.
Top 30 midfielders do not grow on trees.

 

[thaibomber]

Baldwin will play in the 2's again this week.

 

[owen87]

Baldwin will play in the 2's again this week.

ooft this hurts

 

[brain taylor]

My unpopular opinion is that we'll never see an Essendon team like the 99/2000/01 side ever again. They were like watching the harlem globetrotters and were the perfect list!! It was peak Essendon. We had young players that were also great at basketball, hence why most of the team were strong at marking and were good at the flick to the side pass or the tunnel through the leg passes. The fast tap-on passes. They had it all. Now that's over and done with, we now have a team who don't even know what "taking a mark" means. I'm not even sure they are aware that's a skill of playing football.

does basketball help with marking though? different shape/size ball coming in at a different angle/velocity usually. could just be me though, i had an incurable case of concrete hands in footy despite being pretty clean on the basketball court

 

[Nifft]

If I had to choose, I'd rather us lose Redman as much as I genuinely love him.
We actually have a really good history of recruiting, and developing solid to borderline AA half-backs.
Heppell, Dempsey, Hibberd, Baguley, Saad, McKenna, Redman, Hind etc. etc.
Top 30 midfielders do not grow on trees.

I don't disagree, but it'll hurt because he embodies the kind of attitude we want from our players. Anyway, fingers crossed we can sign both Redman and Parish before the year is out.

 

[Pweter]

does basketball help with marking though? different shape/size ball coming in at a different angle/velocity usually. could just be me though, i had an incurable case of concrete hands in footy despite being pretty clean on the basketball court

Not really with respect to marking given it's a far different shaped heavier ball coming over a far shorter distance at a far different trajectory. If someone has soft hands playing basketball they probably have soft hands when catching any ball. There are plenty of footballers without a basketball background who also have soft hands when marking.

The basketball thing usually gets brought up with respect to ability to move and find space in traffic and release an open man.

 

[fanuch]

James Stewart

17

James Stewart

Age

30

Ht

199cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.4

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

4.7

3star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.9

4star

MG

193.5

3star

No current season stats available

D

12.4

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

0.8

3star

MG

200.4

4star

has talent and deserves another year.

But then I rated Pears and Hennerman too.

 

[eth-dog]

James Stewart has talent and deserves another year.

But then I rated Pears and Hennerman too.

His talent isn't the issue. The issue that between AFL and VFL he's played 39 games since the start of 2019. Out of over 100 games in that period.

 

[fanuch]

So what’s one more year

 

[Big Slam]

1) When all is said and done, Nick Bryan will have a better AFL career than Sam Draper.


2) Trade Draper and add on’s for Harley Reid.

 

[P Money]

If I had to choose, I'd rather us lose Redman as much as I genuinely love him.
We actually have a really good history of recruiting, and developing solid to borderline AA half-backs.
Heppell, Dempsey, Hibberd, Baguley, Saad, McKenna, Redman, Hind etc. etc.
Top 30 midfielders do not grow on trees.

Baguley was a solid half back? Interesting take. Slow as treacle and got turned around and burned back to oppo goal by every half decent small fwd he played on. Don't disagree with your main point, just do not understand how people rated Baguley AT ALL

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Baguley was a solid half back? Interesting take. Slow as treacle and got turned around and burned back to oppo goal by every half decent small fwd he played on. Don't disagree with your main point, just do not understand how people rated Baguley AT ALL

Played 135 games for us though. Getting 100 games out of anybody is solid! Considering where he was taken, a rookie from Frankston. By all reports a really good bloke too.

 

[ant555]

Essendon supporters are no better than the Richmond supporters of the nineties.

 

[doug85]

Essendon supporters are no better than the Richmond supporters of the nineties.

In what sense?

 

[ant555]

In what sense?

Outrage at pretty much everything.

 

[Kong]

Outrage at pretty much everything.

* off it is.

Kidding. I admit to being cynical in my posts, and often facetious.

Largely because I think football's taken way too seriously and I instinctively try to balance that by being a smart alec, not caring about things like losing, and at times jarringly forcing focus onto something that others disagree with (see the club nickname).

Maybe that just makes me a contrarian, but in a roundabout way I do agree with you. There's too much outrage over something so trivial (sport).

 

[Wilson Berger]

Tsatas will be this board's whipping boy by the end of 2024.

I thought he already was

On SM-A336E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[doug85]

Outrage at pretty much everything.

Agree.

Some of the melts from some usually level headed folks on this board are a bit sad.

 

[citizen-erased]

Essendon supporters are no better than the Richmond supporters of the nineties.

in our defence, we've gone past richmond levels to plumb our own new depths.

next step, Carlton and GCS

 

[Happyskeret]

We haven’t dumped manure at the club yet.

 

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

in our defence, we've gone past richmond levels to plumb our own new depths.

Not sure we're that bad yet. Richmond missed the finals in 28/30 seasons between 1983-2012. They made 3 elimination finals in a row 2013-2015 but lost them all. 2 finals wins and 5 finals appearances in 33 years. They were also bottom 4 regularly whereas we've been mostly middle of the road in our drought years.

 

[citizen-erased]

Not sure we're that bad yet. Richmond missed the finals in 28/30 seasons between 1983-2012. They made 3 elimination finals in a row 2013-2015 but lost them all. 2 finals wins and 5 finals appearances in 33 years. They were also bottom 4 regularly whereas we've been mostly middle of the road in our drought years.

middle of the road is no man's land though. we aren't cutting edge enough in recruitment to sustain staying away from bottom 4 and moving up into a finals spot.

we also have the finals win drought record. so for all the making/missing talk, whats the point when you always get pumped.

 

[windyhill]

Adrian is misunderstood.

 

[Mikevk123]

Nik Cox, Zach Reid and Harrison Jones will all not make it due to their bodies failing and lack of mongrel at the contest.

Elijah Tsatsas looks extremely outside and looks to lack the killer instinct to play as an inside midfielder. Alwyn Davey has half the talent his father has.

Archie Perkins will never become a full time inside midfielder. 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

and Jayden Laverde

15

Jayden Laverde

Age

28

Ht

193cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.8

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

5.4

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.8

4star

MG

152.8

2star

D

8.8

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

3star

MG

116.5

2star

D

11.2

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

5.8

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

3.6

5star

MG

141.2

3star

are both average. Matt Guelfi

35

Matt Guelfi

Age

26

Ht

184cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

8.1

3star

HB

6.1

4star

M

3.2

3star

T

2.9

4star

G

0.2

2star

D

10.5

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

5.5

3star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.5

2star

G

0.0

1star

D

17.2

5star

K

11.0

4star

HB

6.2

4star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.0

5star

G

0.2

3star

, Will Snelling

11

Will Snelling

Age

26

Ht

175cm

Wt

79kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

4.7

2star

HB

9.4

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

4.8

5star

G

0.8

4star

D

12.6

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

8.3

4star

M

1.3

1star

T

5.6

5star

G

0.4

3star

D

16.2

4star

K

5.2

2star

HB

11.0

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

3.8

5star

G

1.2

4star

and Jake Kelly

29

Jake Kelly

Age

29

Ht

190cm

Wt

90kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.5

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

2.6

4star

MG

157.8

2star

D

8.1

2star

K

6.3

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.6

4star

MG

104.1

2star

D

14.8

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

5.8

4star

M

6.0

5star

T

4.2

5star

MG

107.0

2star

are lost cloggers.

Sam Weideman

10

Sam Weideman

Age

26

Ht

197cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.6

2star

K

4.7

2star

HB

4.9

4star

M

3.7

4star

T

1.5

3star

G

1.0

4star

D

7.0

1star

K

4.3

2star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.8

4star

T

0.5

1star

G

1.8

5star

D

9.2

3star

K

3.6

2star

HB

5.6

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.4

3star

G

1.2

4star

has the best chance of making it as a key Defender.

 

[Lore]

Nik Cox, Zach Reid and Harrison Jones will all not make it due to their bodies failing and lack of mongrel at the contest.

This isn't unpopular, in the sense that most of the forum seems to believe it. But it does make me sad.

Elijah Tsatsas looks extremely outside and looks to lack the killer instinct to play as an inside midfielder.

What's your sample size? One game?

Alwyn Davey has half the talent his father has.

Neither here nor there, don't think anyone has really made up their minds yet given lack of evidence on Jr so it's neither popular nor unpopular

Archie Perkins will never become a full time inside midfielder.

Agreeeee. He's another Langford. Will be competent to play there if needed and is reasonably strong to tag or something, but he's not a clearance mid.

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher and Jayden Laverde are both average.

Average by AFL standards, yes.

Matt Guelfi, Will Snelling and Jake Kelly are lost cloggers.

Not that unpopular, although I'd call them 'reliable depth' more than 'list clogger' (what the * does an unclogged list even look like anyway? s**t just flowing out of it?)

Sam Weideman has the best chance of making it as a key Defender.

Also not that unpopular.