Zaharakis...making an impact early in his career

[Hencho]

Is it me or is Zaharakis the first player in quite a bit of time that Essendon has drafted and received an impact from virtually straight away. It got me to thinking who else in more recent times has done this at the EFC.

I know Stanton received consistent game time early in his career but he wasn't as impressive straight away.

Sheedy wasn't all too keen on trying young talent straight away though so that may have been a contributing factor.

 

[SirJimi05]

Stanton was as good but generally speaking most of our youngsters have been getting injured so can't really make an impact.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Is it me or is Zaharakis the first player in quite a bit of time that Essendon has drafted and received an impact from virtually straight away. It got me to thinking who else in more recent times has done this at the EFC.

I know Stanton received consistent game time early in his career but he wasn't as impressive straight away.

Sheedy wasn't all too keen on trying young talent straight away though so that may have been a contributing factor.

Misiti, Mercuri, Fletcher, Jetta, Ryder, etc, etc.

Sheeds gave a lot of kids a chance. I'm not sure where this theory comes from.

 

[daffo]

Stanton was all class, he was 2nd or 3rd in the B/F in his 2nd year. Zaha has had two great games, an ok game and two average games.
IMO he will settle now and play 15+ games for us this year and finish top 5 in the rising star.

 

[Mad Bomber Sean]

Zaha's goal against the Pies to win the game made a HUGE impact.
Overall, more solid than spectacular. Shows composure and grace under pressure.

His impact & his tank will grow the more he plays. Baring injuries will become a very good consitant player for us.

 

[warney7]

Misiti, Mercuri, Fletcher, Jetta, Ryder, etc, etc.

Sheeds gave a lot of kids a chance. I'm not sure where this theory comes from.

Nah, I agree with mark1881 on this one.
You're going back a long way for Mercuri, Misiti and Fletch.

Kevin Sheedy might have given kids a game, but if they didn't play well, they'd be gone the next week. Joel Reynolds was one, Ted Richards is another one who clearly was never given his deserved shot. Lonergan played what, 1 game under Kevin Sheedy and then come straight in last year with effect. He may have been injured but not for 2 years!

There's no way Kevin Sheedy would be keeping the faith with Zaharakis, Pears, Myers, Daniher etc. He'd be bringing in Nash and NLM would be a walk up start......and we'd have Cousins, to force out Lonergan or Hocking.

If he'd given kids a chance, we probably wouldn't still be rebuilding to such a degree.

Oh and yeah, Zaharakis will have his ups and dows, but played a great match against Freo, stood up when he needed to on ANZAC day and played very well against Hawthorn, and probably should have kicked 3 or 4 goals.

 

[SirJimi05]

Misiti, Mercuri, Fletcher, Jetta, Ryder, etc, etc.

Sheeds gave a lot of kids a chance. I'm not sure where this theory comes from.

Sheedy was well known for and openly stated that he didn't like playing kids too much early on. He prefered to give them a sniff for a couple of weeks and then send them back to the magoos. He believed this kept them hungry and was better for their develpment. Sheeds also worked with much stronger teams so it was harder for the kids to get a game.

There are always exceptions to the rule but generally this was the case.

Mark was spot on with his post.

 

[Hencho]

Misiti, Mercuri, Fletcher, Jetta, Ryder, etc, etc.

Sheeds gave a lot of kids a chance. I'm not sure where this theory comes from.

I think you've misunderstood what I meant. I understand that during 1999-2001 there wasn't much room for young kids but in more recent times bar Stanton I can't remember any new recruit having an impact so early in his career. And when I say early, I mean borderline cementing his spot in the side within his first few games.

You see teams with guys like R.Palmer and J.Selwood and its nice for Essendon to have something sort've similar, maybe not as good just yet but showing real promise straight away.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Nah, I agree with mark1881 on this one.
You're going back a long way for Mercuri, Misiti and Fletch.

Kevin Sheedy might have given kids a game, but if they didn't play well, they'd be gone the next week. Joel Reynolds was one, Ted Richards is another one who clearly was never given his deserved shot. Lonergan played what, 1 game under Kevin Sheedy and then come straight in last year with effect. He may have been injured but not for 2 years!

There's no way Kevin Sheedy would be keeping the faith with Zaharakis, Pears, Myers, Daniher etc. He'd be bringing in Nash and NLM would be a walk up start......and we'd have Cousins, to force out Lonergan or Hocking.

If he'd given kids a chance, we probably wouldn't still be rebuilding to such a degree.

Oh and yeah, Zaharakis will have his ups and dows, but played a great match against Freo, stood up when he needed to on ANZAC day and played very well against Hawthorn, and probably should have kicked 3 or 4 goals.

What does it matter how far I go back. History tells us that Sheeds blooded a lot of kids and he always liked to give a kid a go in a big game.

Joel Reynolds was a dud and Teddy was no good. He made the right call on both.

I doubt Sheeds would be playing Nash. He didn't give him much of a go early and rightly so. Again, he made the right decision.

He'd be playing NLM and deservedly so. The guy deserves a game and is a better option than Myers, Daniher and a few others.

Cousins would be forcing out someone like Dyson. Meh, makes us a better side so I can't see your point.

People are quick to bag Sheeds but the truth of the matter is he turned over a lot of senior players in his last few years and we drafted and played a lot of kids.

 

[Mad Bomber Sean]

Nah, I agree with mark1881 on this one.
You're going back a long way for Mercuri, Misiti and Fletch.

Kevin Sheedy might have given kids a game, but if they didn't play well, they'd be gone the next week. Joel Reynolds was one, Ted Richards is another one who clearly was never given his deserved shot. Lonergan played what, 1 game under Kevin Sheedy and then come straight in last year with effect. He may have been injured but not for 2 years!

There's no way Kevin Sheedy would be keeping the faith with Zaharakis, Pears, Myers, Daniher etc. He'd be bringing in Nash and NLM would be a walk up start......and we'd have Cousins, to force out Lonergan or Hocking.

If he'd given kids a chance, we probably wouldn't still be rebuilding to such a degree.

Yeah that really highlights the short term nature of Sheedy's recruiting & selection policy after we won the 2000 flag.

Some congratulations must go to the Essendon board for having faith in Knights and giving him the space to rebuild ( play the young guys ) and pursue what was a radical game plan at the time.

 

[Hencho]

Meh....blah blah blah...Sheedy isn't what I'm talking about. I'm just saying its a pleasant feeling to have a first year player performing very well IMO. You see other kids doing it at other teams (i.e Beams, Rance, Ziebell) and it's great that Essendon finally has one too because it sure does feel like it's been a long time between drinks.

Especially given our more recent Round 1 draft picks have started their careers at the club with injury (Gumbleton, Myers and Hurley)

I sure prefer guys like Zaka playing ahead of hacks like R.Cole and T.Zantuck and every other hack brought into the club instead of playing young kids!

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

I think you've misunderstood what I meant. I understand that during 1999-2001 there wasn't much room for young kids but in more recent times bar Stanton I can't remember any new recruit having an impact so early in his career. And when I say early, I mean borderline cementing his spot in the side within his first few games.

You see teams with guys like R.Palmer and J.Selwood and its nice for Essendon to have something sort've similar, maybe not as good just yet but showing real promise straight away.

I can't read your mind.... you actually mentioned Sheedy.

I agree it's great to finally see a kid make an immediate impact - allthough you could say Jetta made an immediate impact in 06 before injury.

 

[Zaka11]

what about alwyn davey! straight into the side in his first year and apart from the injuries he has cemented his spot for years too come!

 

[LukeParkerno1]

what about alwyn davey! straight into the side in his first year and apart from the injuries he has cemented his spot for years too come!

He was a mature age recruit though, a bit of a difference

 

[Hencho]

what about alwyn davey! straight into the side in his first year and apart from the injuries he has cemented his spot for years too come!

Yep, I'd agree with that one. Regardless of his age, he became a great contributor very quickly!

 

[Longy413]

Lovett won an Anzac Day Medal in his third or fourth game.
Davey and Jetta were straight in.
Bradley was playing key back (Sheedy was hung because of it).
Slattery was tagging Ablett/Hayes in his first two games.
Ryder was straight in.
Stanton, Watson, Dyson, Haynes, Bullen, Richards played finals in their first couple of years.
McPhee was only a 20 year old. Cupido was a kid as well.

Stop this Sheedy didn't play kids crap.

Remember Sheedy coached pre-rotations. When midfielders could run out whole games, remember we had some good ones.

Warney - Lonergan was injured for most of his first two years. You need to earn a game.
Richards played the last 10-12 games in the seniors before he left. He wanted to play as a forward, Sheedy wanted to keep him, he decided to go. We had Lloyd, Lucas and Hird. Yep, lets drop one of them so we can play a kid. **** me dead.

 

[Mad Bomber Sean]

Yep, I'd agree with that one. Regardless of his age, he became a great contributor very quickly!

Davey's first 14 games in 2007 were electrifying. Our season was badly effected when he went down. Had he not injured himself he would have polled very well in our B&F - So good to have him back in the side

 

[BrunoV]

Joel Reynolds was a dud

It is all about considered comments.

Reynolds was a dud was he? So do you base you assessmet on the time he played in position at full back on Fevola? Or are you basing that on all the injury free years Joel had? Maybe it is all of the game time you got to witness.

You can really only call someone a dud if they are given opportunity to perform and they don't. Bolton comes to mind here.

Reynolds could not have been that bad if Geelong threw him a lifeline.

 

[anf06]

Anybody remember Kepler's first 3 or so games?
Marking machine.

 

[abers47]

Andrew Welsh is one that came straight in and never looked back!

 

[stay true]

Anybody remember Kepler's first 3 or so games?
Marking machine.

Oh yes, I remember lol. The good ol days when he had soo much promise.