Which up & coming Victorian club will be next to win a flag?

[Bazzar]

Sorry team balance - Lids is going back.

Would you swap your under 23's for Essendon?

No.

Rance, Cotchin, Vickery, Martin, Grimes, Dea, Batchelor, Conca, Ellis, Elton no chance.

If the trade was good then Astbury or Griffiths.

If the trade was reasonable Post, Helbig or Ohanlin.

McDonald and Arnot yet to play a game so i wouldnt get rid of them yet.

The only Bombers i would want are Hurley, Zaharakis and Heppell.

 

[Ambrosia]

I think Essendon's strength is in it's 23-25 year olds.

Howlett, Belchambers, Ryder, Crameri, Dempsey, Myers, Hardingham, Hocking and possibly Gumbleton is a pretty strong core group of players. Many of those players only just completed there second or third season this year so have plenty of improvement.

The only under 23s who have got a regular game are Hurley, Pears, Zaharakis, Hibberd, Carlisle and Melksham.

 

[Teeko]

If we are including players like Rance born in 89 the list would be something like this:

BOMBERS: Zaharakis, Heppell, Hurley, Carlisle, Hibberd, Bellchambers, Kavanagh , Pears, Browne, Melksham, Myers
TIGERS: Cotchin, Martin, Vickery, Conca, Ellis, Grimes, Rance, Elton, Batchelor, Astbury, Griffiths

And next year we will get Daniher as well, but Richmond will have their first round pick to use of course.
Bombers list is much more impressive IMO.

 

[RAFIKI]

Essendon have a pretty ordinary list in my opinion.
Reason


Davey, Jetta, Monfries - 2 of these 3 are often in the same team, weak, sorft hearted players.
Fletcher - Age
McVeigh - Ret
Hille - over
Lonergan
NLM
Reimers
Dyson
Slattery
All the above are going nowhere

Colyer - can't kick, Melksham - can't kick
Hocking, Hooker, Pears all 3 have gone backwards
Myers / Gumbleton? who knows what the future holds with these 2.

Reality is regarding Essendon they are relying on KPP to take them to the top, IF

Hurley
Carlilse
Bellchambers
Crameri - Ryder
Daniher

all put it together, if not Essendon will not be going very far into finals.
harder knowing the best 2 KPP for us are known as inconsistent, Hurley and Ryder.
Gumby I have alot of doubt with.

 

[Shadeeq]

Essendon have a pretty ordinary list in my opinion.
Reason


Davey, Jetta, Monfries - 2 of these 3 are often in the same team, weak, sorft hearted players.
Fletcher - Age
McVeigh - Ret
Hille - over
Lonergan
NLM
Reimers
Dyson
Slattery
All the above are going nowhere

Colyer - can't kick, Melksham - can't kick
Hocking, Hooker, Pears all 3 have gone backwards
Myers / Gumbleton? who knows what the future holds with these 2.

Reality is regarding Essendon they are relying on KPP to take them to the top, IF

Hurley
Carlilse
Bellchambers
Crameri - Ryder
Daniher

all put it together, if not Essendon will not be going very far into finals.
harder knowing the best 2 KPP for us are known as inconsistent, Hurley and Ryder.
Gumby I have alot of doubt with.

A lot of the players you have listed wont be a part of our next premiership team and I agree most have question marks. But most of them aren't even best 22 anymore. I agree about Jetta/davey but not Monfries. Has a real crack at least still tries even in bad losses like the Carlton final last year where he was one of our best.

Fletcher - still a gun but not long left
Mcveigh - non factor he has retired
Hille - not best 22 - only offered a one year contract because we need a backup ruckman obviously
NLM - versatile player makes a decent SUB rarely starts
Lonergan - limited player probably gone, only played so many games due to injuries
Reimers - not best 22 probably gone
Dyson - not best 22 but decent depth player. stepped up this year when required
Slattery - not even worth mentioning hes gone
Colyer - not best 22 but has some attributes to work with if he can tidy up his disposal
Pears - anyone would of gone backwards with his injuries. He is still young so theres time left
Hocking - not his best year
Myers - injury concerns but he has played some quality footy in the midfield
Gumby - worth keeping with our lack of KPF

 

[brett15]

wow this is a s**t fight worthy of being moved to bay13

Fact is all of North, Essendon and Richmond are capable of making huge leaps next year with the right balance of draw, injuries and end of year recruiting/trades.

I listed Melbourne as my team to rise up but clearly got that wrong, but I still believe they have upside and just need to adjust to a new coach coming in and putting the broom through their list.

Pretty good team my changes would be Hurley to FB Rance to CHB Grima out Petrie to CHF Thomas to FP.

Edit: Also not sure I like Tuck in the team with Watson but unsure of who comes in.

I'd replace Tuck with Foley. Foley is just as good in and under, but provides great burst run & carry from clearances and can be used as an outside link up player. Foley is way underrated and losing him along with Grimes really hurt us in the 2nd half of the season.

 

[RAFIKI]

A lot of the players you have listed wont be a part of our next premiership team and I agree most have question marks. But most of them aren't even best 22 anymore. I agree about Jetta/davey but not Monfries. Has a real crack at least still tries even in bad losses like the Carlton final last year where he was one of our best.

Fletcher - still a gun but not long left
Mcveigh - non factor he has retired
Hille - not best 22 - only offered a one year contract because we need a backup ruckman obviously
NLM - versatile player makes a decent SUB rarely starts
Lonergan - limited player probably gone, only played so many games due to injuries
Reimers - not best 22 probably gone
Dyson - not best 22 but decent depth player. stepped up this year when required
Slattery - not even worth mentioning hes gone
Colyer - not best 22 but has some attributes to work with if he can tidy up his disposal
Pears - anyone would of gone backwards with his injuries. He is still young so theres time left
Hocking - not his best year
Myers - injury concerns but he has played some quality footy in the midfield
Gumby - worth keeping with our lack of KPF

OK point taken
but the there is

Ross
steinberg
Davis
Merrett
Kavanagh
OBrien
Lee
DellOllio
Prismall

On top of those I mentioned who yes are young and unproven but also have shown very little, add them up and we have 27 odd players who are simply not good enough or we are totally relying on potential. to me this is not screaming out premiership list, yet

we are relying on too few at this stage, and with the last half of the 2012 season I am looking at things with my eyes open, and not being blinded by how good Heppell, Ryder or Hurley may become. fact is we have very few who have reached the AA level, 1 being 36 and the other being our courageous captain.

time for Hurley, Ryder, Gumby, Myers, Crameri, Stanton, Hocking to raise the bar and start performing week in week out.

some of the players on our list are simply weak as piss when the going gets tough.

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

Melbourne will become relevant in this discussion again if they can nail this draft. Picks 3, 4, 13 plus Viney. Nail those 3 and they've addded 4 potential/likely A graders in the one draft. That will create huge improvement as early as next year.

Also I like that their fans aren't getting carried away like they did in 2009 too.

 

[Bazzar]

Melbourne will become relevant in this discussion again if they can nail this draft. Picks 3, 4, 13 plus Viney. Nail those 3 and they've addded 4 potential/likely A graders in the one draft. That will create huge improvement as early as next year.

Also I like that their fans aren't getting carried away like they did in 2009 too.

Pick 3 or 4 could be for Viney if as reported GWS express interest in him. And according to recruiters he is rated in the 6-8 in this years crop. So Melbourne might have to get him first or second time.

 

[Ambrosia]

.....

That's why this season was so disappointing. Largely due to injury not one of our potential stars stepped up this year. When you add in that the players from the 2010 draft who the club supposedly rates highly in Browne, Davis, O'Brien and Ross all had there season ruined by injury. Which forced us to give games to proven spuds.

 

[Bazzar]

I bet the Bombers would love a AA CHB in their team.

 

[pacman]

Tigers or the Roos but they're both 2-3 years away yet.

 

[Ambrosia]

I bet the Bombers would love a AA CHB in their team.

Similarly Richmond wouldn't mind big Shultz running their forward line.

 

[Bazzar]

Similarly Richmond wouldn't mind big Shultz running their forward line.

Richards >>>>>>> Schulz.

 

[Ambrosia]

Richards >>>>>>> Schulz.

Maybe but Dempsey >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Farmer and Nason

 

[Bazzar]

Maybe but Dempsey >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Farmer and Nason

Thats true. They were two terrible picks, but Dempsey is just a good handy player, nothing special.

 

[Ambrosia]

Thats true. They were two terrible picks, but Dempsey is just a good handy player, nothing special.

We'll see. I reckon big year next year.

 

[Slattery_20]

McDonald and Arnot yet to play a game so i wouldnt get rid of them yet.

You do know McDonald's been delisted, right?

 

[Slattery_20]

wow this is a s**t fight worthy of being moved to bay13

As soon as people start making lists... FWIW I thought mufassa's effort was actually pretty much OK.

Fact is all of North, Essendon and Richmond are capable of making huge leaps next year with the right balance of draw, injuries and end of year recruiting/trades.

IMHO this is not quite right (for Essendon) - the major thing we really can't predict is development from within. Will Kavanagh come through? Do Howlett & Zaharakis continue their improvement? Can Myers continue with the same form? etc etc.
As many as half a dozen guys who started this year in our best 22 were done by rd 23, and it could be a completely different looking line-up by rd 1 this year.

I don't know if there really is a silver bullet type recruit that'll change things for us, although there's plenty who would be handy.

The variance of our draw is pretty limited - we'll have two games against Pies, Blues, only leaves 2-3 games to be decided as we have either Hawks or Tigs twice every year.

North could either get treated like a top 6 team or get the scraps no-one else wants as they did this year. Could make as many as 2-3 wins difference, crucial in the wash-up.

 

[Slattery_20]

I bet the Bombers would love a AA CHB in their team.

2005? Up-to-date, relevant stuff here.

 

[Bazzar]

You do know McDonald's been delisted, right?

I do now

 

[Bazzar]

We'll see. I reckon big year next year.

Going into his 8th season i would hope so.

 

[Slattery_20]

we are relying on too few at this stage

Clearly.
While I think you're being un-necessarily harsh on a few youngsters, the 15 proven players is about right - we need 6-10 consistent & consistently good players out of "the rest".
Enough talent to play AFL, but not fulfilled (anywhere near) that talent yet.

and with the last half of the 2012 season I am looking at things with my eyes open, and not being blinded by how good Heppell, Ryder or Hurley may become. fact is we have very few who have reached the AA level, 1 being 36 and the other being our courageous captain.

Not *massively* bothered by AA. Poor measuring stick IMHO.

Reality is regarding Essendon they are relying on KPP to take them to the top

and I reckon that much is actually rubbish.
As is any mention of NLM or Slattery or McVeigh being important at all.

They wanted to push young midfielders through this year - most of them got injured early on. Threw out the plans by a good 6 months - expect to see a lot more of Kavanagh, Davis & Browne next year.

 

[Slattery_20]

I do now

I know the Richmond supporters know little of him, but they will have a different opinion next year.

 

[Ambrosia]

Going into his 8th season i would hope so.

Has had a lot of injuries though. Played some absolute blinders this year but didn't finish the season well except for the Adelaide game.