The Tough Decisions

Windy_Hill · Post by **Windy_Hill** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:58 pm

David Hille is the sort of player who's talent always seems to be 'just around the corner'. Tantalising but never quite there.

I say we move him on and look for a proven, winning ruckman.

Rossoneri · Post by **Rossoneri** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:13 pm

AGree BD with your original post, but I think Rama still has something to offer.

I'd add McPhee as trade bait. Perhaps a team like the bulldogs would go for a guy who can play tall and small. They have enough skillful players, they can afford a soft cock who cant kick.

Post by **boncer34** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:34 pm

If I may make a suggestion. Get rid of our first draft pick, from all reports the draft is as piss weak as Lloyd's drink of choice. So do we use it to gain a half decent player that may take 5 years to develop or do we hope like hell that other clubs will let their guard down about trading with us now Sheeds is gone and throw it in for a top line player?

BenDoolan · Post by **BenDoolan** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:48 pm

Rossoneri wrote:AGree BD with your original post, but I think Rama still has something to offer.

I'd add McPhee as trade bait. Perhaps a team like the bulldogs would go for a guy who can play tall and small. They have enough skillful players, they can afford a soft cock who cant kick.

I think McPhee might have another couple of years on his contract. Pretty hard for the club to tear that one up. I reckon he he'll come good again. Young enough. Athletic enough. Just needs to switch his brain on.

jimmyc1985 · Post by **jimmyc1985** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:40 pm

boncer34 wrote:If I may make a suggestion. Get rid of our first draft pick, from all reports the draft is as piss weak as Lloyd's drink of choice. So do we use it to gain a half decent player that may take 5 years to develop or do we hope like hell that other clubs will let their guard down about trading with us now Sheeds is gone and throw it in for a top line player?

Clubs will be less willing to trade with us now that Sheeds is gone, i would've thought. With Sheeds over the last 6 or 7 years, Essendon has been a fantastic toxic dumping ground for other clubs to deliver their hazardous waste to.

That aside, i think we need to keep the pick, which at this very moment in time will be #5. Remember, if this draft is weak and you trade away, say, pick #5 or #6, your next pick doesn't come up until #21-22, which is where most ordinary drafts start becoming lotteries in which the chances of picking up a 10+ year player rapidly diminish.

Rossoneri · Post by **Rossoneri** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:02 pm

jimmyc1985 wrote:
boncer34 wrote:If I may make a suggestion. Get rid of our first draft pick, from all reports the draft is as piss weak as Lloyd's drink of choice. So do we use it to gain a half decent player that may take 5 years to develop or do we hope like hell that other clubs will let their guard down about trading with us now Sheeds is gone and throw it in for a top line player?
Clubs will be less willing to trade with us now that Sheeds is gone, i would've thought. With Sheeds over the last 6 or 7 years, Essendon has been a fantastic toxic dumping ground for other clubs to deliver their hazardous waste to.

That aside, i think we need to keep the pick, which at this very moment in time will be #5. Remember, if this draft is weak and you trade away, say, pick #5 or #6, your next pick doesn't come up until #21-22, which is where most ordinary drafts start becoming lotteries in which the chances of picking up a 10+ year player rapidly diminish.

I reckon teams will trade with us more often now. With Sheeds, he was really good at trading away duds (then recruiting more) and getting decent pick ups. Lately, teams didnt trade with us because they knew we would shaft them.
Now with Sheedy gone, opposition teams will trade with us a bit more.

In regards to the draft depth, is it possible that we are underselling the draft simply because of the depth of last years draft? The WA team is basically a team of midfielders who stiched up Vic Metro when they last played. If we could get our hands on a couple of them, it might not be so bad. Perhaps we could trade a player to the bulldogs (McPhee) for a 1st round pick (if the theory of the draft not being that deep is correct)

Windy_Hill · Post by **Windy_Hill** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:13 pm

jimmyc1985 wrote:
boncer34 wrote:If I may make a suggestion. Get rid of our first draft pick, from all reports the draft is as piss weak as Lloyd's drink of choice. So do we use it to gain a half decent player that may take 5 years to develop or do we hope like hell that other clubs will let their guard down about trading with us now Sheeds is gone and throw it in for a top line player?
Clubs will be less willing to trade with us now that Sheeds is gone, i would've thought. With Sheeds over the last 6 or 7 years, Essendon has been a fantastic toxic dumping ground for other clubs to deliver their hazardous waste to.

That aside, i think we need to keep the pick, which at this very moment in time will be #5. Remember, if this draft is weak and you trade away, say, pick #5 or #6, your next pick doesn't come up until #21-22, which is where most ordinary drafts start becoming lotteries in which the chances of picking up a 10+ year player rapidly diminish.

Hey, its not like we havent sent a fair bit of grabage in the other direction.

For every dud Sheedy has picked up over the years he has also managed to off load a fair bit for some decent returns

tonysoprano · Post by **tonysoprano** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:22 pm

swoodley wrote:
pevfan wrote:Apropos David Hille, he's had a reasonable season, is still capable of getting a fair bit of it around the ground but the thing about him this year is that he has stopped kicking goals. He used to good for at least one goal a game (average)sometimes 2 or 3 in prior seasons but not this year...Why, I don't know but again I suspect it may have something to do with coaching/game plan.
He kicked a rip snorter yesterday though...best goal we kicked all day imo

agree - one or two steps around a defender and snapped from just on 50 - brilliant goal - shame it was when we were something like 8 goals behind.

swoodley · Post by **swoodley** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:34 pm

tonysoprano wrote:
swoodley wrote:
pevfan wrote:Apropos David Hille, he's had a reasonable season, is still capable of getting a fair bit of it around the ground but the thing about him this year is that he has stopped kicking goals. He used to good for at least one goal a game (average)sometimes 2 or 3 in prior seasons but not this year...Why, I don't know but again I suspect it may have something to do with coaching/game plan.
He kicked a rip snorter yesterday though...best goal we kicked all day imo
agree - one or two steps around a defender and snapped from just on 50 - brilliant goal - shame it was when we were something like 8 goals behind.

By that stage I was happy for anything positive to brighten the day

Rossoneri · Post by **Rossoneri** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:44 pm

Gus has got to play in the middle. Always throws his body around and is able to get in and under and feed the ball out. His disposal is normally good, but when his confidence drops, his disposal turns to shit.

BenDoolan · Post by **BenDoolan** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:24 am

Rossoneri wrote:Gus has got to play in the middle. Always throws his body around and is able to get in and under and feed the ball out. His disposal is normally good, but when his confidence drops, his disposal turns to shit.

For the record, he has had stints in the centre but has done FA up until Freo. As he was "good" on Sunday, he still had a disposal effectiveness of 64% - just marginally better than Peverill. But without doubt, it was his best game for the year.