10 hours ago, gs77 said:

Lever, May, Langdon, and I'd add Ben Brown, each filled vital holes in our line-up leading to our 2021 success.

Pig says hi.  !!! 

1 hour ago, 58er said:

Pig says hi.  !!! 

Aarrgghh how could I forget Pig 😭

Hibbo ❤️💙❤️💙👋👏

We all loved his 2021 premiership cup run 

But I knew from many mates that are Essendon fans that he was wanted by the Bombers and they were reluctant to let him go.  But after the scandal, he wanted the move. Luckily for us, he chose the Dees and connected with his great mate Melksham 

After speculation surrounding whether he would return to Essendon once his suspension was finished, he confirmed in August that he wanted to be traded to another club for a "fresh start" despite being contracted to Essendon until the end of 2017 and he nominated Melbourne as his preferred destination in September. He was officially traded to Melbourne in October.

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Hibbo ❤️💙❤️💙👋👏

We all loved his 2021 premiership cup run 

But I knew from many mates that are Essendon fans that he was wanted by the Bombers and they were reluctant to let him go.  But after the scandal, he wanted the move. Luckily for us, he chose the Dees and connected with his great mate Melksham 

After speculation surrounding whether he would return to Essendon once his suspension was finished, he confirmed in August that he wanted to be traded to another club for a "fresh start" despite being contracted to Essendon until the end of 2017 and he nominated Melbourne as his preferred destination in September. He was officially traded to Melbourne in October.

One of my all time fave players is Hibbo.

On 21/04/2024 at 06:42, Biffen said:

Not Chris Heffernan.

I will never forget Heffernan saying he just could not put on weight as he ran too much!

Wish I had that problem with my running!!!

14 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Hibbo ❤️💙❤️💙👋👏

We all loved his 2021 premiership cup run 

But I knew from many mates that are Essendon fans that he was wanted by the Bombers and they were reluctant to let him go.  But after the scandal, he wanted the move. Luckily for us, he chose the Dees and connected with his great mate Melksham 

After speculation surrounding whether he would return to Essendon once his suspension was finished, he confirmed in August that he wanted to be traded to another club for a "fresh start" despite being contracted to Essendon until the end of 2017 and he nominated Melbourne as his preferred destination in September. He was officially traded to Melbourne in October.

yes Hibba one of the best!

BTW in 2016 we finished 10-12 - Hibba could see the change-a-comin'!

8 hours ago, Anti-Saint said:

yes Hibba one of the best!

BTW in 2016 we finished 10-12 - Hibba could see the change-a-comin'!

We REALLY could have used him yesterday. 

On 18/05/2024 at 22:56, spirit of norm smith said:

Let’s get this back on track. Which players recruited were discarded or delisted by their former clubs and not getting game time and went on to be very very good career players at the Dees. 
 

Only Lovett, Rigoni, Wilson, Fowler shine out. Pedersen was a good one too for a short period.  Most over the past 50 years have faded into the abyss. 

Otherwise our star recruits were most predominantly traded in and enticed through either a return home , contract length, contract dollars or the hope of better times.  Some good and some not so good. 

Andrew Leoncelli - ex-Carlton reserves and gave us several good years.

1 hour ago, Supermercado said:

Andrew Leoncelli - ex-Carlton reserves and gave us several good years.

@Supermercado 👏👏👏top marks 

Andrew Leoncelli.  Played 146 games and was one of the nicest (and smartest) blokes you’d ever meet. 
 

his story 

Leoncelli was recruited by Carlton in the 1993 Pre-Season Draft, . Leoncelli was delisted from the senior list of Carlton and was offered a place on their supplementary list but found the club environment at Carlton overly focused on senior older more established players with junior development low on the clubs priority at that time. He decided to move on from the club at the end of 1994 when he moved to Brisbane to pursue in his education, where he studied law and commerce at the University of Queensland in St Lucia. Leoncelli lifted weights and ran to keep fit also playing soccer and some games of rugby union, but it was when he saw the Brisbane Lions training at his university that he realised how much he missed the game. He wrote David Parkin a letter saying he refused to believe he was finished at 19 years of age and to watch out for his return. He moved back to Melbourne then played amateur football for the Old Xaverians in 1995 winning the club best and fairest, playing state football for Victoria and winning the Victorian Amateur Football Association premiership.

He finally made his league debut in 1996 with Melbourne. Playing in the midfield Leoncelli had a good 1997 season, finishing third in the Demons' best and fairest despite only playing 12 games because of a stress fracture. He built his game playing against the likes of Nicky Winmar, Peter Riccardi and Mark Ricciuto.

In 1999 he had the most kicks in the Melbourne team and made the Victorian State of Originside. He was appointed deputy vice-captain for 2000 and played a vital role in Melbourne's finals series, but had an uncharacteristic disappointing game in the Grand Final. He had a flat 2001 season and at one stage was dropped, but followed up with a fine 2002 season. Leoncelli was forced into retirement late in 2003 at the age of 29, having played all of the 16 games up to that point.

 

Anthony McDonald. 
104 games 

his story  

McDonald played his early football in the VFL with Coburg and had stints at both the Carlton and Hawthorn reserves teams without being able to make for an AFL debut.  He made his way to Melbourne as a draftee in 1996 draft and his league debut in 1997, McDonald was 24, but played 19 consecutive games from round four to round 22.

He appeared in six finals at Melbourne, including the 2000 AFL Grand Final where, playing as a wingman. He retired in 2002 after 6 seasons at the Demons at the age of 30. 

Bizzell and Vardy played some good footy in the early 2000s for us.

 

15 hours ago, Nascent said:

Bizzell and Vardy played some good footy in the early 2000s for us.

 

Agree. Both were good for a while until injuries cruelly ended their careers. Both were targeted by the Dees after 6 years at their clubs and came onboard with draft pick swaps.
 
Bizzell cost us pick 17 which Cats turned into James Kelly.  He gave good service which cannot be questioned. 
Vardy was one of the smartest forwards you would ever see. Retired at 27. Way too early.  

Anthony Ingerson and Peter Vardy  from the crows. Although I will never forgive them for getting Scott Thompson from us.