That's my point. Those guys can't get on the park and are breaking down. They are all 30 next year? Time to move on these champions of the club.

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Koperek.

..need jamo for a couple of yrs yet, no fb replacement..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

This replacement business has got me thinking.

Best 22 IMO (2016 Age)

FB: Buckley (23) Jamison (29) Tuohy (26)
HB: Simpson (31) Rowe (28) Docherty (22)
C: Graham (20) Cripps (20) Yarran (25)
HF: Menzel (21) Henderson (26) Bell (24)
FF: Everitt (27) Casboult (26) Thomas (28)
R: Kreuzer (26) Gibbs (27) Murphy (28)
Int: Jaksch (21) Boekhorst (22) Byrne (21) Armfield (29)

Assuming a three year rebuild...

FB: Buckley (26) Jaksch (24) Byrne (24)
HB: Docherty (25) xxxxxx Tuohy (29)
C: Graham (23) Cripps (23) Yarran (28)
HF: Menzel (24) Henderson (29) Boekhorst (25)
FF: xxxxxx Casboult (29) xxxxxx
R: Kreuzer (29) xxxxxx xxxxxx
Int: Gibbs (30) Everitt (30) Bell (27) xxxxxx

Retired

Jamison FB
Simpson HB
Rowe CHB
Thomas HFF
Murphy R
Armfield HFF

Need

FB / CHB - Giles a big maybe at this point? Does Jaksch have it?
CHF: To replace Henderson
FF: To replace Casboult
Mids Mids Goal Kicking Mids - Need some more stars to work with Cripps. (Need to draft or pick up some appropriate aged players via FA)
Third Tall - To replace Everitt.
Crumbing Forward - Does Smith have the goods?

I have hopes the following will make it (in that order).

Giles
Viojo-Rainbow
Holman
Smith
Foster
Fields

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dane's trolling again

We'd be looking for Jaksch, Foster & Giles to stake a claim for KP spots over the next few years, plus whoever we can get in this year's draft. The odds are that they won't all make it, but there's some talent there if their bodies and minds hold up.

Midfield depth, particularly outside run, is the major gap IMO.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

I think the biggest concern with Jaksch, Foster & Giles is whether their bodies hold up as they try to put on some size. Hopefully we don't ruin their career by getting them to a body shape their frame can't cope with under the pressures of AFL footy.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

Good list Dane!

It really shows KPP and midfielders are what we desperately need!

Like Graham and Holman. Their spots on the list should be safe.

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Essendon-Only team to have ever been found guilty of salary cap breaches in a premiership year!

Of all the players we brought in at the end of last year only Jaksch, Boekhorst, Foster & Fields look potential AFL players to me. I wouldn't classify any of them as "can't miss" prospects, but each have AFL attributes and should make it if they are prepared to work hard enough, have some luck with injury and are developed properly by the club.

DVR, Smith, Dick, Whiley, Tutt, Jones, Walsh, Gowers & Russell don't look likely to me.

DVR & Smith should have another year to prove me wrong, and I wouldn't mind if Walsh was given another year on the rookie list. Maybe Gowers too.

But Jones, Tutt, Whiley & Dick are looking like list cloggers to me. I think they all have contracts beyond 2015 so it will cost us to delist them at the end of season 2015. I would be looking to find a way to pay those 4 out and still balance the books. If that's not achievable, then we're really handcuffed in how much we can improve our list before 2016.

Contracts aside, my delistings from the primary list would be - Jones, Tutt, Whiley, Dick, Ellard, Watson, Warnock, Carrazzo (ret), Judd (ret). And trade Yarran if we can get a draft pick inside the top 20 for him.

That would create 10 vacant spots on our list. Wood gets one of those spots, Johnson might be a chance for another, and another couple are taken by a targeted delisted free agent and a PSD selection (hopefully we have the #1 PSD pick and can shake a quality Vic kid out of an interstate club).

That would give us 6-7 ND picks. That's a lot, particularly when the talent pool is reputed to be shallow, but I think it's the way to go.

Realistically though, when contracts and TPP are factored in, some - if not all - of the "pre-fab 4" (ie. Jones, Tutt, Whiley & Dick) will hang on and so we'll only have 3-5 draft picks to play with (unless we decide to delist Giles, which might be on the cards if he can't get back on the field before this season is over).

I would keep Sheehan, Byrne & Fields on the rookie list. Wood gets promoted to primary list. Johnson either gets delisted or promoted to primary list (that's still in the balance I reckon, it may come down to what happens with our other delistings). Russell probably gets delisted, while Walsh & Gowers probably just hang on for a 2nd year on the rookie list.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

Delisting giles before he has had a chance is pure folly. Sheehan and byrne have shown enough that they should both be elevated.
Carazzo could run around again, but on much less coin

Just when I thought we were over our list blunders we pull the epic fail to end all fails, Jones, Tutt, Whiley and Dick. WTF were they thinking, so obvious these guys aren't up to AFL standard yet for some reason we (probably on super duper Mick's advice) we picked them up. I think Jacksh will be ok but we probably could have bargained a bit better and swapped a second rounder for him. I'm not going to judge BB or Rainbow yet but some of the picks that went after them have already played senior footy this year and look quite good.....

I wonder if:

a) is it possible for us to create a trade for cap space, getting rid of Jones to someone in return for helping a team move up a few spaces or two. I wouldn't begrudge Essendon* such an opportunity.

b) Is it worth it in our current predicament?

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BLUES 2010: PAV AND JUDD = FLAGS. DOING IT FOR THE LOVE OF DICK PRATT.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR TALKINGCARLTON SUPERCOACH 2009 YET?

just repeating myself from the richmond game thread... but stevens said before our game that Carlisle isn't signing with the bombers and there is mutual interest with carlton.

if we got him, hopefully it'd be to anchor our defense and not spend a second forward for the centre circle.


my thoughts were if we got anyone from Essendon*, it should be cale hooker who's also outta contract at the end of the season. hooker is pretty elite at the back and could be our rance for the next 7-8+ seasons. imo

jamison looks like he's on his last legs (& shoulder), rowe and white just aren't going to be pieces you build a backline around and jaksch looks like his ceiling is somewhere between vanilla and ultra-ordinary.

..no bombres..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Mark Stevens said the same thing yesterday during the channel 7 Sunday show.
When is the WADA hearing? If it is after trade period I hope the club thinks carefully about any trade.
Knowing how Essendon* work they would want our first pick and Yarran.

i'm not absolutely sure of the FA rules ... but if neither player signs with them, other clubs can pick them up (for free) and the afl gives them a compo pick.

is that how it works?

International rookies can have 3 years on the rookie list, so I would be keeping Byrne & Sheehan as nominated rookies in 2016. It doesn't stop them from playing and it means a couple of more spots on our primary list are kept open.

From what I've seen of Giles, he looks to have some potential. But he hasn't played at any level for 14 months. If he can get back on the park and play the last month of this VFL season, then I would be inclined to keep him. If he can't do that and the medical opinion on his foot is bad, then we need to cut our losses. We might delist him and try to rookie him, but the risk with that is another club can pick him up as a delisted free agent or in the draft (if any other club is interested).

I think it's time we moved on from Carrazzo. From all accounts, he wants to get into umpiring next year anyway. Hopefully Simmo wants to play on for another season at least. The end might not be too far away for Walker & Jamo too, but they are unlikely to have trade currency, so hopefully their bodies can hold together for another year or two.

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

Tutt - I've seen enough of Tutt.

Jones - play him for a few more games to see if he improves under Barker, which might free up Hendo to go back and find some form.

Menzel - not sure what to do, but we need a strategy to get the best out of him. Whether that's VFL, a rest, being the sub, I don't know. I hope they are helping manage his gambling issues effectively.

Yarran - I was hoping that he would snap out of it once Malthouse got the sack, but he seems to be getting worse. He's not the type of player that we should be trading... but I can't see how he can turn it around.

Gibbs - WTF do you do about Gibbs? Does my head in.

Jamison - WHY are we still in a position where we have no replacement/backup for him ? Giles has to move to the rookie list and we need to move on. Give Jaksch until the end of the year to show some form... if not, then a KPB needs to be our focus. Would be happy to pay a bit of coin for Cale Hooker, but I think Carlisle is a bit of a risk to pay big bucks.

Everitt - Need to seriously think about whether his good points outweigh his dead weight. Could have trade value, which we could use to pick up more of a pure forward player.

Walker - Hasn't added much for quite some time. Not sure what to do with him.

Mark Stevens was ADAMANT Carlton would get Carlisle repeatedly stating that "you can lock it in".

Not sure how he can be so sure but take it for what its worth I guess.....

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Cripps is the man

With Carlisle being out of contract + our likely PSD slot, it's highly likely that if we wanted Carlisle, we wouldn't have to trade for him. Which is a good thing, given how unworkable Dodoro is with this stuff. Even considering his 80s approach to trading, the pressure for Essendon* not to be seen to be an easy target from whom players can be picked off will demand they exact a high price.

I would be hoping for someone a little higher calibre than Carlisle for the high PSD slot (eg Aish), but it's not a bad fall back position.

If the club commits to Carlisle playing down back, he should settle down and be an effective player. Seems like a type that needs a settled run in his preferred position, and if that's in place you'll get quality service from him. As long as the club has its eyes open he should add to the list.

I like a lot of that post, ABNS. Makes a ton of sense.

The only part I read which I had a double take on was Smith. You've obviously seen more of him at VFL level than me so I will defer, but the limited view I've had of him at AFL level was that while he had a lot of work in front of him, he didn't look out of place at the level. Neat skills, composure and seemed to find his way to the right spot.

Boekhorst will obviously get his chances but to date doesn't inspire confidence he'll make it. Lacks composure and is not instinctive. Tutt, Whiley, Dick don't seem to have anything to offer. Jones I would keep for next year (which as you point out is a given anyway given his contract status).