10 minutes ago, Davos said:

He'll play the Cam Pedersen role for us. Solid pick up.

Big shoes to fill.

I'm posting this article for the nice throwback to the 2008 guernsey.

 

24 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Langdon - nice winger, not skilled.

Tomlinson - depth type, not a long term fix, neither quick nor skilled.

Rivers - good half back until he builds his tank

Baker - currently walking laps

JJ - slow, an ok inside midfield option

 Nietschke - slow with the ball in hand and I kick better than he does. Half back depth. 

Langdon’s the only genuine linebreaker and there’s not a player you really want kicking the ball inside 50 from any of our mids.

Key forward depth would be nice but we already have a stack of options. We used pick 3 on a guy who can do something forward if needed. We didn’t use a single pick or trade for immediate midfield skill. 

I'm not saying you don't have some valid points. 

But what likelihood is there that we could pick up a rookie to play the role of the skilled outside mid?

Who else is out there?

Edited December 3, 20195 yr by Guest

19 minutes ago, old dee said:

Big shoes to fill.

Bloody oath!

35 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Motivation for a player can be a great asset to have. Hopefully we have a few who want to prove themselves and their performances reflect this. 

32 minutes ago, old dee said:

Don't worry CB, there are group who see every move by the club as just to left of JC.

Johnny Cash?  James Cagney?  Jasper Carrot?  Jackie Chan?  John Cleese?  Jim Carrey?  Joan Collins?  Jiminy Cricket?

Kid can play - https://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2019-04-15/unsung-hero-strikes-again?fbclid=IwAR32wwvcz3uwu7bT6J0UPUA8wgSlELNEeN_hetw84umHQ3y4kAfXWX5eE2Q

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Is this dodgy enough? ?

Marvellous effort; even Prince Andrew would be proud of that one. 

Dee-listed no more! Mitch Brown joins his third club after Melbourne throws lifeline

Good luck to him, I hope he makes Essendon look like fools.

What are the rules around playing rookies these days? Do we still have to have a longterm injured player or can we nominate one or more rookies to play for us just because we want to?

Out of interest can anyone explain why we didn't pick him in the Rookie draft where we had several picks and didn't use them and then just a few days later pick him through the SSP as a rookie. On the face of it a bit strange. I thought the point of the SSP was to have players train through the whole summer so you could make a decision on them on 6 March. 

5 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

What are the rules around playing rookies these days? Do we still have to have a longterm injured player or can we nominate one or more rookies to play for us just because we want to?

There's no restriction anymore. They can play whenever and as often as you want them to. 

1 hour ago, old dee said:

Big shoes to fill.

Filling the Weids shoes will do.

The first tall forward we've brought in over the past three years, whilst delisting or trading about six others, so this is long overdue. Brown is not a star, but will do his job most weeks.

Hopefully this will give Weideman a nudge that he is not a guaranteed round 1 starter unless he pulls his finger out. At this stage I'd have Brown and Petty well ahead of Weideman.

I'd also love to know why we've signed him now after passing on all pre season and rookie draft picks four days ago. He must have trained the house down on Monday.

59 minutes ago, Stretch Johnson said:

I'm not saying you don't have some valid points. 

But what likelihood is there that we could pick up a rookie to play the role of the skilled outside mid?

Who else is out there?

It's not easy to find the answer but it's even harder if you don't try. I would've given Connor Menaude a chance to train with us.

And apart from that I would've offered the best couple of outside mids not drafted to come down to training. A few weeks training and suddenly concerns over fitness, disposal or hardness could be gone.

I just think what the Tigers did with Stack last year was super clever and I don't like using one of our last free list spots right away without having a good look at what we need and who's available. What's the point of flexibility if you aren't going to use it?

"Brown’s ability to push up the ground and provide an option for his teammates coming out of defence is often undersold, and it was a key part of Essendon’s victory."

I would think that it is the absence of anyone on the list other than Tmac with the ability to play this role that gets Brown a spot on the list.

This was a also a key deficiency in 2019 and one that was filled by Hogan (when fit) @DeeSpencer

I think there is a real chance he plays round one.

 

Edited December 3, 20195 yr by Guest

26 minutes ago, It's Time said:

Out of interest can anyone explain why we didn't pick him in the Rookie draft where we had several picks and didn't use them and then just a few days later pick him through the SSP as a rookie. On the face of it a bit strange. I thought the point of the SSP was to have players train through the whole summer so you could make a decision on them on 6 March. 

I am guessing that he didn't nominate for the draft. If he had have other clubs could have selected him. Obviously had a deal with the Dees worked out. 

 

2 minutes ago, Stretch Johnson said:

"Brown’s ability to push up the ground and provide an option for his teammates coming out of defence is often undersold, and it was a key part of Essendon’s victory."

I would think that it is the absence of anyone on the list other than Tmac with the ability to play this role that gets Brown a a lot on the list.

This was a also a key deficiency in 2019 and one that was filled by Hogan (when fit) @DeeSpencer

 

 

Tommy Mc, Melksham and Fritsch are all very good lead up forward options and Petty has the required skill set. They mixed and matched but I'd say more often than not T Mc hit the wings and Hogan stayed deep and that's not a role I can see Brown doing with good success, he's not a dangerous match up one on one. 

I think a fit and confident Weideman still has better pack marking or pack splitting ability deep and if not him then Preuss - with some rucking time and minimal forward type providing a target as he did against the Swans or even Jackson are likely to be of more overall use to the team.

It's really Melksham and Fritsch as excellent medium marking targets plus the plan for Petty forward that make me see Brown as not a requirement if we enter the season without major injuries.

The part of the ground where the drop away between Brown and the other options is steeper is the other end of the ground. After May, Oscar and Lever we have nothing in terms of key defenders. Hore and Smith as 3rd tall options. But is Brown the best defensive tall cover available?

 

34 minutes ago, It's Time said:

Out of interest can anyone explain why we didn't pick him in the Rookie draft where we had several picks and didn't use them and then just a few days later pick him through the SSP as a rookie. On the face of it a bit strange. I thought the point of the SSP was to have players train through the whole summer so you could make a decision on them on 6 March. 

We did pretty much the same thing with Corey Wagner last year.

Clearly it was arranged to have him out of the drafts, but more of a suprise that we didn't add him as a delisted player. Maybe some salary cap relief if you got the extra rookie.

43 minutes ago, It's Time said:

There's no restriction anymore. They can play whenever and as often as you want them to. 

Which raises another question. What's the point of rookies? Why not just add the player to the main list? I suspect the answer might be either (or both) minimum contract length or minimum pay level. 

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I’m assuming this selection is based purely on the infamous Sydney round 22 game when we literally ran out of key forwards (apart from Keilty who wasn’t AFL standard) and the list management department were made to look like fools in that game.

We can’t have a repeat of this fwd line again:

HF - Petracca  Melksham ANB

F.     C Wagner  Fritsch Chandler

You’ve rightly pointed out his flaws, but for someone that kicked a bag of 4 in a prime time Friday night win this year (and two 3 goal games), I think he’s a pretty good depth pick up.

The decision not to play Preuss or Keilty vs Sydney was boneheaded. 

Not a star but a very serviceable player who is very accurate in front of goal. 

May end up becoming a fight between Petty and Weid for the 3rd tall (depth posi or when needed) as the season progresses me thinks.

That's not to say those latter two won't be given an early decent stab at the 2nd KF posi, as opposed to Brown, but they would want to perform solidly early on as Brown will come straight over the top and might be hard to budge afterwards.

While i'm not in anyway suggesting Brown will be the panacea to our 2nd tall forward needs, i think he is nonetheless a very handy pick up and will certainly put the pressure on the other two which has to be a good thing plus extra depth also handy.

A bit like DS i'm still a tad worried about our outside line breaking capability on the non-Langdon wing but less so if Bennell gets up and running by about the half way mark.  If he doesn't we might regret not picking up someone like a Taylor or Stephens in the draft.

Overall though i don't mind the move here on the part of Goody, Lamb & Co.  Nothing's a gtee in footy as we know however, and there's 17 other clubs all looking to improve, all tweaking their line ups as well.  Only time will tell if it will work out as a good move or not but on the surface i'm giving it a tentative thumbs up.

Edited December 3, 20195 yr by Rusty Nails

I spoke to an Essendon supporter on Sunday.She rates this bloke and is not happy that he was delisted.And a lot of other Dons supporters feel the same way.