MadAsHell

We've actually won more games this year then i tipped us to at the start of the year. Vince i think should be moved to a run with role and Jones output should become less relied on as Viney, Tyson, Brayshaw, Oliver etc start to take more responsibility and the addition of Dal Santo, Hibberd & Melksham will also help here. Dangerfield's, Fyfe's etc are hard to find. Your actually more likely to produce your own then trade them in. Hopefully as you said Petracca will become this. And as for Hogan, he's still very young. I'd be confident in saying that his output is far greater then most 21 year old key forwards. Where as i'm hoping Kennedy & Kennedy-Harris will keep Garlett honest next year if his form drops.

70K a year less at Essendon. They offered a trigger clause to activate a 4th year.

On another note, if he did come back with Dawes likely being delisted his number 6 guernsey would be waiting for him.

If we were to recruit an older midfielder i'd rather Dal Santo for his kicking ability.

I'll play along. The main trade that we're going to be involved in that we know of is Hibberd. I'm hoping that by combining Garland with Pick 26 to Gold Coast will see them send their Pick 22 to Essendon for Hibberd to make his way to the Dees. Nathan (Collingwood) or Mitch (Wes Coast) Brown should then be looked at as free agents. Personally i think Mitch is a bit quicker off the mark and more versatile with an ability to go forward. So he'd be my pick. Send our 2017 2nd Round pick to Geelong for Nathan Vardy and Geelong's 2016 3rd Round Pick (currently 53). I'd be keen to trade with West Coast also to land the untapped talent of Tom Lamb who's father played 2 games for the Dees back in 93' i believe. He's a real utility, 190/191cm tall, lightning quick who can play forward, back and mid. Only played 1 game in two years after going about pick 34 in the draft. We may be able to secure him with our 4th round pick (62) with any luck. And finally Nick Dal Santo as a delisted free agent. Add some experience and class to the midfield. He's still playing very solid football, and given our lack of a 1st round pick this year, this is how we can add class without giving up a 2nd years 1st round pick. Grimes walks as a free agent then delist Dawes, Pedersen, Terlich, M. Jones, Newton, Michie & Max King and from the sounds of things Lumumba may be retiring. Promote Wagner and we go to the draft with Picks 44 & 53 and three rookie draft selections (give White a 3rd year). Suddenly we have a 22 looking lime: Frost/O. Mc, Brown, Jetta Melksham, T. Mc, Hibberd Vince, N. Jones, Tyson Petracca, Hogan, Kent Watts, Vardy, Garlett Gawn, Oliver, Viney Brayshaw, Dal Santo, Hunt, Salem Harmes, Vandenberg, Kennedy, Trengove, Bugg, Neal-Bullen, Stretch, Weideman, Hulett, Wagner and one of Frost/O. Mc become depth. We improve the list at minimal cost. We sacrifice one draft where we're already out of the 1st Round but still keep 2 picks inside the 3rd round. This also means that we would go into the 2017 draft with a 1st Round pick and only down a 2nd Rounder. That should be easy for us to get back also as after another 12 months we should be able to make a call on a player such as Salem or Kent if there's still question marks there.

We can all agree with that. Unfortunately the result that occurred is what it is and is a byproduct of the situation our list finds itself in which Roos alluded to. It's not an excuse, it's just a fact. If we had of lost to Gold Coast or Brisbane (both similar list age profiles) by 100 points on the weekend rather then Geelong, then i'd be the first at the club today with my pitch fork & torch!

I'd make him our main run with role player. Means we get to keep him in the midfield/wing and if the player moves to half back, Bernie is more then capable of being a dangerous option forward.

So we got lucky 10 times including against the back to back to back premiers rather then work hard? You want to question the effort of the fortnight fair enough and their ability to string consistent performances together. But to say they still don't work hard enough is a falicy. Hard enough consistently enough is a different story. That comes with experience. Which we know we're not there yet.

Blake Caracella, Nigel Lappin, Brett Ratten, Mark Williams or Jon Barker. They'll go either high profile or with an existing connection to the club/Fitzroy.

Paul Roos?

No playing Geelong in Geelong Any home game at Etihad is to be a Friday Night game so as to make the most of having to play there. Against Adelaide I guess? No Friday Night games for Essendon. Keep ANZAC Day Eve. Saints at the MCG Bye after Darwin.

Same thing happened to St Kilda in the last round last year & now their the media's favourite team outside the 8. http://www.finalsiren.com/MatchDetails.asp?GameID=7048&Code=03dd1ea7cf2760cd30904bf93bbb0300

1. Gawn 2. Viney 3. Tyson 4. Watts 5. N. Jones

Probably the same thing that improved from 2014 to 2015 & then 2015 to 2016. One of the reasons why Saturday was so disspointing is because we had stopped the rot to a large extent. Our biggest defeat was 55 points where Sydney kicked 6 goals in the last 10-15 minutes. We've found a way over these few years to win in Adelaide, win down the highway, beat the back to back to back premiers and be in a position to win in the west. We've got guys like Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca who should be absolutely filthy with how the season has finished and vow not to let it happen again. And they'll learn from it going forward. Next year we'll see the addition of Melksham & likely Hibberd to our half back/midfield rotation and another pre-season into Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca, Hunt, Stretch, Hogan, Weideman, Tyson, Salem, Gawn etc, etc.... Some of the coaches at the club, in particular Goodwin & Cross should will be pushing our young and older leaders more and more about what they should be demanding from themsleves and eachother going forward. Don't let these last two weeks derail what has been a most impressive season. Only three years ago we came off a season worse then the one just dished up by Essendon minus it's banned 12 players. There's still plenty of improvement left in this squad.

As I said in my post, the crust of his article is spot on. The performance was shocking. But to compare it to Essendon against us on the weekend is comparing apples with oranges. Quality of opposition was totally different. We were pathetic, make no mistake, but if he wanted to compare Essendon's effort against Carlton with something we dished up, then compare it from the previous week. As others have pointed out, we were clearly cooked these last two weeks, not that it's an excuse. Facing a top 2 team on it's home deck, chasing percentage for positioning in the 8, same as Richmond. Essendon faced a bottom 5 team on neutral territory with both teams playing for pride only. If he had of compared Melbourne v Carlton to Essendon v Carlton then fine. But he didn't. Collingwood's performance yesterday was clearly a much better example to use. He uses that then it's a very good piece. But because he uses the example he does, it's nothing more then a gutter piece written by someone with his red & black goggles on.

I don't reckon. Armitage is 29 next year and slowing ever so slightly. Steele was bid on with Pick 15 only two years ago and has shown a fair bit in his games so far. So Pick 46 & a soon to be 29 year old for a rising midfielder isn't to bad I don't reckon.

Remind me where I said we beat them?

Personally think he'll end up at Cartank as they're next Judd saviour. Carlton send 2017 1st Rounder to GC17 while Casboult (Lobb replacement) & Pick 23 this year go to GWS GWS send Jack Steele to St Kilda St Kilda send David Armitage to Gold Coast & Pick 46 to Carlton Gold Coast send O'Meara to Carlton Carlton get O'Meara & Pick 46, loose 2017 1st Round Pick, Casboult & Pick 23 Gold Coast get Armitage & 2017 1st Round Pick, loose O'Meara GWS get Casboult & Pick 23, loose Steele St Kilda get Steele, loose Armitage & Pick 46

So we're already conceding that we're finishing lower then Hawthorn next year are we???

Hard to argue with him, however maybe next time to keep some credibility he could use an example that doesn't involve his team. After all Essendon played against a bottom 5 team at the MCG, both Melbourne & Richmond played away to top 2 teams. I would have thought the obvious comparison would have been Collingwood yesterday. Nothing like gutter journalism!

Ten wins is a success. Especially when you consider four of our most experienced players Dunn, Garland, Dawes & Lumumba played less then 25 games between themselves. Most would of expected closer to 80. I was hoping for 9 wins at the start of the year and we got 10. Ended on as very sour note. But looking at the Richmond game, i suspect it could be a theme this week when teams playing for positioning in the 8 play teams playing for nothing.

In good news, Collingwood VFL team lost today. Casey claim the minor premiership!

Maybe they want him playing VFL finals?

Certainly isl