Progress this year

[s'dreams]

If I accept the many arguments that we have a young list - and that the loss of a number of experienced players means that the team would go backwards (though a counter argument is that this would provide opportunities for other players to step up) we should then measure "success" this year on the progress of the playing group.

I have taken the liberty of ranking the development of the list based on their progression from 2009. I have used a scale so that 0 = standing still, a negative score means going backwards (max of -3) and a positive score means improvement (max +3)

For first year players/ those not played before - I have ranked that player's year to date (n a zero to 3 rank) based on impact, potential, excitement and impact to date.

Of course - my rankings are entirely subjective.

Based on this subjective assessment - we have gone backwards bigtime!

Senior list
]No Player Games Age Position Advancement Comments]
1 Neagle, Jay 26 22yr 6mth Forward -1 Can't take a mark on the lead. Can't get the pill within his range on goal.
2 Dyson, Rick 95 24yr 10 Midfield -1 Accumulator at best
3 Gumbleton, Scott 22 22yr Forward +3 Lead up play is important. Great to get games into the lad
4 Watson, Jobe 113 25yr 5mth Midfield +1 Extra commitment with captaincy. Would play in a wheel chair if needed
5 Stanton, Brent 138 24yr 3mth Midfield -1 Searching for a purpose
6 Monfries, Angus 107 23yr 6mth Forward 0 One game great, the next invisible
7 Jetta, Leroy 37 22yr 1mth Forward -1 Potential, but not doing enough
8 Winderlich, Jason 93 25yr 9mth Midfield 0 Injuries have crueled
9 Prismall, Brent 51 24yr Midfield -2 Poor decision making
10 McVeigh, Mark 204 29yr 6mth Midfield -2 Still hasn't come back from his sabattical last year
11 Zaharakis, David 29 20yr 5mth Midfield -1 Hasn't delivered on the promise of last year. Club should work out if he is small forward or midfielder
12 Welsh, Andrew 156 27yr 5mth Midfield -3 sorry - the game has passed him by
14 Lonergan, Sam 51 23yr 4mth Midfield -1 No penetration. Flakey
15 Dempsey, Courtenay 47 22yr 11mth Defender -1 Midfielder played out of position in backline. Hasn't stood up.
16 Pears, Tayte 38 20yr 4mth Defender 2 Progressing well
19 Hille, David 162 29yr 2mth Ruck 1 Positive score by virtue of most of last season lost to injury. Important player who needs to be in leadership role.
20 Slattery, Henry 83 24yr 6mth Midfield -1 Out of his depth skill and decision making wise in backline. No doubting commitment
22 Hurley, Michael 26 20yr 2mth Defender 1 Slow start to season. Now going great guns
23 Myers, David 20 21yr 1mth Defender 0 Some very good games, some crap
26 Hooker, Cale 33 21yr 9mth Defender 0 Some very good games, some crap
27 Laycock, Jason 58 25yr 9mth Ruck NA Hard to see him playing for the club again
28 Daniher, Darcy 6 20yr 10mth Defender NA Given the outs and despite injury - hard to see him playing for the club again
29 Davey, Alwyn 55 26yr 2mth Forward 0 Not forward, not back. Lots of potential to improve
30 Ryder, Patrick 92 22yr 4mth Ruck -2 Looks lazy and disinterested. Ruckwork substandard this year, but can still take the occasional grab.
31 Fletcher, Dustin 328 35yr 2mth Defender 1 Apart from suspensions and a few games where he has been tagger (WTF … tadding a defender) has been magnificent!
33 Williams, Mark 115 27yr 3mth Forward -3 Wasted pick - the AFL deal didn't even buy us a decent draw or bettyer treatment from the umps
37 Reimers, Kyle 37 21yr 6mth Forward -1 Exciting player in 2009, only 2-4 decent games this year - tring too hard to be flashy. Must learn about team.
38 Atkinson, Jarrod 17 25yr 5mth Defender 1 I actually think he has improved - still has deficiencies in his game - but works hard
39 Hocking, Heath 42 22yr 7mth Midfield 2 Best improver of the established playing list - despite being played out of position
41 Quinn, Michael (R) 7 20yr 6mth Defender -2 OMG OMG OMG OMG
42 Lovett-Murray, N 111 27yr 8mth Defender -1 looks lost most weeks. Commitment there - perhaps trying too hard
43 Houli, Bachar 26 22yr 2mth Defender 1 Panics under the slightest pressure. Perhaps if ess players learn to sheppard and block….
44 Bellchambers, Tom 14 21yr Ruck 0 Doing OK without clear development

Newbies list
13 Long, Anthony 0 19yr 7mth Midfield NA
17 Melksham, Jake 11 18yr 11mth Midfield 1 Fantastic start to the season - skills and application dropped away
22 Carlisle, Jake 0 18yr 10mth Defender NA
24 Williams, John (R) 1 21yr 9mth Midfield NA
25 Still, Michael 0 19yr 4mth Forward NA
32 Colyer, Travis 9 18yr 11mth Midfield 2 Quick, hard working player. Has improved each game
34 Hardingham, Kyle 3 21yr 11mt Midfield 1 Great marking target. Makes oonents pay. Must practice kicking 200 goals a day!
35 Silverlock, Taite (R) 0 19yr 6mth Forward NA
36 Slattery, Tyson 1 19yr 8mth Defender 0 Hard to judge on one game
40 Howlett, Ben (R) 12 21yr 9mth Midfield 2 Looks the goods - hard working and determined.
45 Crameri, Stewart (R) 0 21yr 11mth Defender NA
46 Bock, Christian (R) 0 20yr 3mth Ruck NA

sti

[Mrs Mercuri]

Hmmmm its a huge worry when the only players that have shown anything this season are the first/second year players, the captain, the old legend of the backline and a ruckman that is on the comeback from injury.....

[BenDoolan]

Neagle should be - 3
Gumbleton + 2
Jetta + 1 (he's definitely improved from last year)
Zaharakis + 1 (isn't he the 2nd highest goal scorer?)
Davey + 1 (leading goal kicker and has improved from last year)
Ryder minus 2 WTF? Has probably broken even this year
NLM + 1 (has improved on last year and is stiff to be dropped)

The rest I can't argue with.

[s'dreams]

Neagle should be - 3
Gumbleton + 2
Jetta + 1 (he's definitely improved from last year)
Zaharakis + 1 (isn't he the 2nd highest goal scorer?)
Davey + 1 (leading goal kicker and has improved from last year)
NLM + 1 (has improved on last year and is stiff to be dropped)

All eminently defensible readjustments ... but they are after all subjective scores

Ryder minus 2 WTF? Has probably broken even this year

Ryder has probably broken even if he were a utility ... but as a ruck - going backwards

sti

[Windy_Hill]

PART ONE

1 Neagle, Jay +1 - has improved marginally. Is being too harshly assessed at the 26th game mark of his career - statistically, is ahead of Jack Reiwoldt at the same milestone.
2 Dyson, Rick -2 -was last years big improver and virtually done nothing this year
3 Gumbleton, Scott - +3 -18 games for the season and has shown he can be a player - will take 2-3 more years to fully reach his potential
4 Watson, Jobe +2 gone to another level this year and must be considered as one of the top 15 midfielders in the league (statistically maybe higher) Our only elite
5 Stanton, Brent 0 - more of the same although a late season switch to the backline may seem him reinvented as an Andrew McLeod like rebounding defender
6 Monfries, Angus 0 -One game great, the next invisible
7 Jetta, Leroy 0 - showed something mid season and then it went missing again (needs a shrink I reckon as this boy can play)
8 Winderlich, Jason +1 - still a smokey for our B&F - I was down on him early in the year but I reckon he has been very reliable for most of the season
9 Prismall, Brent -2 - Needs a shrink - has class written all over him but his confidence has been drained by bad player management
10 McVeigh, Mark -2 - was in the team yesterday but I didnt even notice him - Essendon's invisible man
11 Zaharakis, David +1 - definitely better than last year and has shown he is ready to switch to a permanent mid-field role - a class player
12 Welsh, Andrew -1 - very harshly judged on this forum - how I wish he was tagging Judd yesterday instead of Prismall - can still play a role
14 Lonergan, Sam -1 - has gone backwards
15 Dempsey, Courtenay +1 - I think Dempsey has improved but should not be played in defense
16 Pears, Tayte +1 - injury interupted season but when playing showed waht a class act he will become
19 Hille, David 0 - Made a difference when in the team but I would not think he has improved on what he has shown he is capabale of
20 Slattery, Henry 0 - Same old Henry, neither going back nor forwards
22 Hurley, Michael +1 - difficult start to the year but improving now and will be a superstar - perhaps an elite defender by the end of next year

[Windy_Hill]

PART TWO

(because for some reason I cant write more than so many lines in the posting box without the screen bouncing up and down!!!)

23 Myers, David 0 - like Jetta, showed us a glimpse mid season then went off the boil - mainly due to abysmal selection policy
26 Hooker, Cale +1 Has been pretty reliable throughout and has had to step up with Pears being out
27 Laycock, Jason N/A
28 Daniher, Darcy -3 - What happened to this kid
29 Davey, Alwyn +1 -I think he has grown with confidence this year and is definitely better than last year
30 Ryder, Patrick -1 Needs to dominate games - he simply isnt doing this often enough for a guy with his talent
31 Fletcher, Dustin 0 Neither forward nor back, still the same level of excellence he has displayed for a generation now
33 Williams, Mark N/A - cannot say he has gone forwards or backwards
37 Reimers, Kyle -2 -probably my bigget disappointment this year - as Shakespeare said "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"
38 Atkinson, Jarrod +1 - I like the look of this kid but he is another whose career is being destroyed by coaching mismanagement
39 Hocking, Heath +3 - Most improved player
41 Quinn, Michael -2 Less game time this year than last and oh boy , what a game it was. Experiment over!
42 Lovett-Murray, 0 Same as usual - neither forwards nor back
43 Houli, Bachar 0 - has lacked opportunities but I sense with persistence, he may pay off
44 Bellchambers, Tom +1 - Looked good in the ruck and as a tall forward - a real prospect for future years


I cant rate Newbies on the premis that this post is assessing improvment or progress being made over last year. Needless to say, Melksham, Colyer, Hardinham, Howlett and T Slattery have all showed great promise

[Windy_Hill]

PART THREE

Summary of my assessment

+3 - Gumby, Hocking
+2 - Watson
+1 - Neagle, Winderlich, Zaharakis, Dempsey, Pears, Hurley, Hooker, Davey, Atkinson, Bellchambers

0 - Stanton, Monfries, Jetta, Hille, Slattery, Myers, Fletcher, NLM, Houli

-1 Welsh, Lonergan, Ryder
-2 Dyson, Prismall, McVeigh, Reimers, Quinn
-3 Daniher (sorry Darce, you could probably be excused but gee, not a good year)

[Mrs Mercuri]

A bit hard to judge Darcy this year.... only had a handful of games at Bendigo before being injured.

[GoalSneak]

Gumbleton +2
Jetta +1
McVeigh -1
Zaharakis +1
Lonergan 0
H Slattery 0
Fletcher 0 (he hasn't got any better - how could he have?)
Quinn +1 (actually looks to have improved on last year based on VFL form)
Ryder -1
NLM 0
Bellchambers +1
Welsh -2

Otherwise, I agree with the original post.

[Gimps]

I agree with Neagle being plus one.. yeah, from -10000 to -9999!

[Windy_Hill]

I agree with Neagle being plus one.. yeah, from -10000 to -9999!

My thinking was/is that it would be imposible to go backwards against last years effort. That is after all the nature of this exercise.

However, if the point was to assess his season out of 100 - I would give him 24.6

[Ossie]

Any reason why Hurley isn't getting any marks from anyone?

[BenDoolan]

Any reason why Hurley isn't getting any marks from anyone?

Perhaps because most have agreed with the initial assessment....

[j-mac31]

Essendon Football Club -5

[BenDoolan]

Can I ask why Hurley is pegged in #22?

[s'dreams]

Can I ask why Hurley is pegged in #22?

My bad ... I used the Fan Footy stats (No, Age, Games) as a starting point ... he is listed as #22 there ... I did start to twig yesterday

sti

[little_ripper]

statistically in a few areas we are doing ok. tackles 1st, avg disposals 8th, 6th best attack
i think however we are still leaking goals the comps worst defense by a long way. we are also 10th for Marks. not a good sign.

However we have lots of good promising 1st year talent. hardingham, melksham, colyer come straight to mind, those three on their own are an excellent return from the 2009 drafts. all will be players.

we have gotten games into gumby which is excellent. he looks the goods.(basically another first year player).
Hurls has come on well after a disrupted start to the season. Hooker and Pears have had a bit of an interrupted season as well. both I think are players.

All in all I think the playing list is coming along nicely. We have glaring issues with consistency, unacceptable losses. However the right preparation and coaching will fix that.

In terms of the voting in this thread, I am not sold on Winderlich as a smokey for B&F. he has had more bad games than good this year.(even tho his good is great)

[Windy_Hill]

In terms of the voting in this thread, I am not sold on Winderlich as a smokey for B&F. he has had more bad games than good this year.(even tho his good is great)

If it was a 3,2,1 vote - he would come 12th

However he probably consistently gets in the top 6 on the ground - throw in a few top 3 performances and he is in with a shot. Still, I use the term Smokey at a stretch

[rockhole]

Overall, these assessments are really scary for the future, as, based on these assumptions, you could not expect any real improvement for several years.

I don't know if I could manage another year like this one!!!

[BenDoolan]

Haha...yeah...and to think back about aaaaaaaaaaaall those "fluff" piece article during the pre-season about how so and so has had their best pre-season yet, that so and so has put on some muscle, that so and so was looking forward to improving their endurance, that so and so was going to "tear it up" this year, and that so and so.....

Do me a favour please, don't bother posting any of that bullshit until they actually achieve something of significance.