Club Focus Essendon 2021 - Kelly, Hobbs, Lord, McDonagh

[faible]

Should trade zacka with second future second and 3rd plus Phillips for king gives Gold Coast experience ruck depth and picks maybe if they throw in a future first we will trade smith their way too

 

[eth-dog]

Will be interesting to see if we try to trade into the second round. Most likely target is the Hawks. F1 for 23 or 26 and a F3?

 

[boncer34]

Will be interesting to see if we try to trade into the second round. Most likely target is the Hawks. F1 for 23 or 26 and a F3?

Whilst I think we do trade I hope we don't.

 

[Ambrosia]

Will be interesting to see if we try to trade into the second round. Most likely target is the Hawks. F1 for 23 or 26 and a F3?

Don’t think we’ll be parting with our future first. It’s far too risky of a proposition at this point. We might see our future second traded for a pick in 30s though if someone we like falls through to there

 

[doug85]

I hope we keep our F1. Could be a very valuable chip next year.

Happy to trade out F2 for something in the second round.

 

[Ants]

If there’s someone we rate highly enough, go for it. They targeted Jones and I’d have been happy to use a top 10 on him.

 

[Prochard123]

The Hobbs pick is confusing.

Essendon already struggling to give Parish, Merrett, Shiel, McGrath, Caldwell the midfield minutes they need. All of them are pure inside mids too.

 

[ILikeCheese]

The Hobbs pick is confusing.

Essendon already struggling to give Parish, Merrett, Shiel, McGrath, Caldwell the midfield minutes they need. All of them are pure inside mids too.

Nah...arguably 2/5

 

[JayJ20]

The Hobbs pick is confusing.

Essendon already struggling to give Parish, Merrett, Shiel, McGrath, Caldwell the midfield minutes they need. All of them are pure inside mids too.

Merrett, Shiel and McGrath aren't pure inside mids. In fact, I'd personally prefer to play McGrath off HB.
Caldwell is very injury prone so we can't be making list decisions around him.
Parish is an inside mid, but I do think he is a different type of mid to Hobbs. Hobbs is the most defensive mid out of our midfield group and McGrath is probably the only other one that consistently runs both ways.

Hobbs makes perfect sense.

 

[Prochard123]

Merrett, Shiel and McGrath aren't pure inside mids. In fact, I'd personally prefer to play McGrath off HB.
Caldwell is very injury prone so we can't be making list decisions around him.
Parish is an inside mid, but I do think he is a different type of mid to Hobbs. Hobbs is the most defensive mid out of our midfield group and McGrath is probably the only other one that consistently runs both ways.

Hobbs makes perfect sense.

Any mid can be played anywhere on the ground in theory.

Some like Merrett have greater flexibility, but for Shiel, Mcgrath, Parish, Caldwell etc their best position is clearly on the ball, and you are severely compromising their ability by playing them elsewhere.

Hobbs is also not the big bodied inside mid you were hoping for.

He's a poor man's Parish who gets outclassed by the ladder in every category, and has no point of difference to the rest of your midfield group.

The player that you should've gotten was Knevitt if you were looking for that big bodied defensive mid.

Otherwise a small forward like Motlop would've been ideal.

You guys clearly have gone for best available rather than list fit.

There is no clear answer as to which one is more effective, but in this case I just don't see a role for Hobbs in your line up.

 

[JayJ20]

Any mid can be played anywhere on the ground in theory.

Some like Merrett have greater flexibility, but for Shiel, Mcgrath, Parish, Caldwell etc their best position is clearly on the ball, and you are severely compromising their ability by playing them elsewhere.

Hobbs is also not the big bodied inside mid you were hoping for.

He's a poor man's Parish who gets outclassed by the ladder in every category, and has no point of difference to the rest of your midfield group.

The player that you should've gotten was Knevitt if you were looking for that big bodied defensive mid.

Otherwise a small forward like Motlop would've been ideal.

You guys clearly have gone for best available rather than list fit.

There is no clear answer as to which one is more effective, but in this case I just don't see a role for Hobbs in your line up.

The draft isn't over yet. I'm sure we'll trade for a second rounder and select a small forward with a 3rd tonight. There's no reason to reach for Knevitt or Motlop when they'll be available tonight.

Winning contested ball and stoppage clearances are two of the biggest deficiencies on our list and Hobbs is just about the best contested ball winning mid in the draft. He absolutely does give our midfield a point of difference.

Shiel is 29 so we have to plan for life after him. Merrett is elite on the outside (in fact I prefer him as an outside mid). McGrath's best position IMO is HB, which is the position he was drafted at. He is pretty good as a mid, but he tends to panic and bomb the ball over his shoulder quite a bit. He is better with time, space and breaking lines.

Just watch the Bulldogs vs Essendon EF to see why Hobbs fills a need. All the players you listed played and we got smashed in contested ball.

 

[boncer34]

Any mid can be played anywhere on the ground in theory.

Some like Merrett have greater flexibility, but for Shiel, Mcgrath, Parish, Caldwell etc their best position is clearly on the ball, and you are severely compromising their ability by playing them elsewhere.

Hobbs is also not the big bodied inside mid you were hoping for.

He's a poor man's Parish who gets outclassed by the ladder in every category, and has no point of difference to the rest of your midfield group.

The player that you should've gotten was Knevitt if you were looking for that big bodied defensive mid.

Otherwise a small forward like Motlop would've been ideal.

You guys clearly have gone for best available rather than list fit.

There is no clear answer as to which one is more effective, but in this case I just don't see a role for Hobbs in your line up.

I want McGrath on the ball but it's nowhere near as clear cut as your pretending.

Which means your essentially arguing we shouldn't have picked Hobbs because we have a 29 year old, an injury prone player and Parish who have to play the position to be at their best.

Thin argument at best.

 

[TheGrizz]

Some like Merrett have greater flexibility, but for Shiel, Mcgrath, Parish, Caldwell etc their best position is clearly on the ball, and you are severely compromising their ability by playing them elsewhere.

Except that no midfielder in the history of the AFL has ever played 100% of an entire football game in the midfield, which means you need 5-6 guys at least who can rotate through.

McGrath can rotate through wing and half back, Parish spent early years developing forward craft and Merrett can play basically anywhere you need him to at a stoppage as an outside runner or a first possession mid and even the wing.

They will all get plenty of midfield time, and with the game being played with half forwards pushing up and skinny side wingmen basically playing as stoppage sweepers, there is plenty of time around the football for all of them.

 

[eth-dog]

Any mid can be played anywhere on the ground in theory.

Some like Merrett have greater flexibility, but for Shiel, Mcgrath, Parish, Caldwell etc their best position is clearly on the ball, and you are severely compromising their ability by playing them elsewhere.

Hobbs is also not the big bodied inside mid you were hoping for.

He's a poor man's Parish who gets outclassed by the ladder in every category, and has no point of difference to the rest of your midfield group.

The player that you should've gotten was Knevitt if you were looking for that big bodied defensive mid.

Otherwise a small forward like Motlop would've been ideal.

You guys clearly have gone for best available rather than list fit.

There is no clear answer as to which one is more effective, but in this case I just don't see a role for Hobbs in your line up.

You've changed the facts to suit your agenda.

Caldwell's best position is the midfield but he has shown the propensity to play forward, ergo not a "pure inside mid"
McGrath is a defensive inside mid but has played wing and half back to good effect.
Merrett's best position is as the first receiver or on a wing rather than being an inside mid per se.
Parish is great inside but also effective forward as shown by his goal kicking throughout this year, most prominently against your own club
Shiel's pretty much the only "pure" inside mid we have.

Hobbs is a defensively minded midfielder. We have very few of those. It's one of our biggest needs.

As far as someone like Knevitt/Goater types, we can always trade into the second round tonight. Small forwards, plenty are found in the later rounds, I like someone like Jahmal Stretch or Paul Curtis at one of our third round picks

 

[Ambrosia]

The Hobbs pick is confusing.

Essendon already struggling to give Parish, Merrett, Shiel, McGrath, Caldwell the midfield minutes they need. All of them are pure inside mids too.

I’m not sure we are struggling to play them all as they have never been fit as a group.
Disagree on McGrath being a pure inside player he’s shown he performs well at any role.

That being said you have a point Hobbs certainly doesn’t address a need for us. He doesn’t have an obvious place in the side especially with his lack of pace limiting his flexibility.

I’m all for taking the best available player though. If Hobbs is the gun player that some draft watchers claim him to be I don’t really see how we can lose.

 

[Steve94]

Will be interesting to see if we try to trade into the second round. Most likely target is the Hawks. F1 for 23 or 26 and a F3?

I think it's very much on the table if Johnson or Goater is still there but if not maybe we go try and use F2 and something to get one of Richmond's picks? Still plenty of guys I like around there so wouldn't mind it

 

[Guardian Hawk]

I love that it was Port's (foolish IMO) intervention that prevented Essendon picking another 3 half back flankers.

Even though Hawthorn have about 15 of them, nothing matches Dodoro's love affair with half backs.

 

[eth-dog]

I love that it was Port's (foolish IMO) intervention that prevented Essendon picking another 3 half back flankers.

Even though Hawthorn have about 15 of them, nothing matches Dodoro's love affair with half backs.

How? We would have taken Hobbs anyway.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

How? We would have taken Hobbs anyway.

My understanding from what appears to be general media consensus (which could be incorrect?) is that Port moved up to get ahead of Essendon as it was anticipated they would select Josh Sinn.

However, I do know that there was a suggestion that Essendon told Hobbs he would be selected if available at their choice so who knows?

Either way, all's well that ends well and I think Hobbs is a good selection.

 

[The Prosecutor]

My understanding from what appears to be general media consensus (which could be incorrect?) is that Port moved up to get ahead of Essendon as it was anticipated they would select Josh Sinn.

However, I do know that there was a suggestion that Essendon told Hobbs he would be selected if available at their choice so who knows?

Either way, all's well that ends well and I think Hobbs is a good selection.

Little bit of both probably. Port saw us as a big risk of taking him, so rather than let chance dictate, they jumped up to be sure. Hobbs did say that we called him in the afternoon and told him if he was there, would 'probably' pick him - worth noting that prior to that call, we hadn't spoken to him since the middle of the year as we didn't think he'd be there.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Very happy that we didn’t pick Sinn and got Hobbs

 

[Ants]

Generally fine with our ND selections, although a bit confused that we didn't use a fourth pick on a small forward. Hobbs was best available and plenty rated pretty highly, and quite a few EFC fans think we needed to beef up our contested side which Hobbs will do. We desperately needed more small/medium backs, which Kelly and Lord fill. When Hind got his COVID chicken, we had no-one to replace him with. Kelly fills a lock-down need, Lord fills a rebounding need (depth for now). McDonagh adds to our back and wing depth; our wings are quite light on for anyone behind them as well.

What both Lord and McDonagh also bring are top notch kicking skills. Which I for one would prioritise.

As I said, the only real missing piece is a small forward. We currently have only Hird as "potential" sitting behind Walla/Snelling/Smith who are already in the best 22. So with our 2 PSS picks hopefully at least one is used on a small forward.

 

[Wild Bill]

Generally fine with our ND selections, although a bit confused that we didn't use a fourth pick on a small forward. Hobbs was best available and plenty rated pretty highly, and quite a few EFC fans think we needed to beef up our contested side which Hobbs will do. We desperately needed more small/medium backs, which Kelly and Lord fill. When Hind got his COVID chicken, we had no-one to replace him with. Kelly fills a lock-down need, Lord fills a rebounding need (depth for now). McDonagh adds to our back and wing depth; our wings are quite light on for anyone behind them as well.

What both Lord and McDonagh also bring are top notch kicking skills. Which I for one would prioritise.

As I said, the only real missing piece is a small forward. We currently have only Hird as "potential" sitting behind Walla/Snelling/Smith who are already in the best 22. So with our 2 PSS picks hopefully at least one is used on a small forward.

I was surprised you didn’t trade into the 2nd round.
Only missing piece is a small forward? That’s a big call - another quality key defender and key forward. Dogs also mauled you in the middle in that final - Hobbs will help but more is needed.

 

[dave10]

I was surprised you didn’t trade into the 2nd round.
Only missing piece is a small forward? That’s a big call - another quality key defender and key forward. Dogs also mauled you in the middle in that final - Hobbs will help but more is needed.

Essendon did try to trade into the 2nd round but clubs didn’t want to give up their picks because they wanted to use these picks themselves given the depth of talent at this point in the draft.

‘Essendon need a small forward’ is trending suddenly. I think it’s a little overblown. They would like to recruit one and at worst should acquire a talented young small forward when they bring in the Davey twins in next years draft as father/sons. They have Tippa, Snelling and smith playing those roles presently. They recruited Alistair Lord who they believe can play as a small forward if needed. But yes, in the ideal world, another quality small forward is something they would focus on.

Essendon already have quality young key backs and forwards on its list. Zach Reid is highly regarded and recruited as a full back. They also have talented Kane Baldwin as a talented key forward. They also believe Cox could end up as a key forward once he fills out. There’s another one or two youngsters they’re developing that will either be key forwards or backs (Brand / Eyre).

Its midfield is still very young and inexperienced and will be stronger in a year or two. In that final Caldwell was rushed in but ran out of gas by half time. Langford, one of its better bigger mids was injured and it’s inexperience and youth was evident when the rain came. I’m not concerned about it’s midfield TBH. In two years it’s midfield may be slightly behind the dogs (dogs mids among best) but it’s rucks and key positions superior to the Dogs. Essendon could kick winning scores on fewer entries to beat most sides by 2023/4.

Moreover, Essendon are still a year or two away from contending for top 4. Essendon’s internalbelief is it needs to have this group play another 30-50 games together to step up yo that next level of winning finals.

 

[doug85]

I was surprised you didn’t trade into the 2nd round.
Only missing piece is a small forward? That’s a big call - another quality key defender and key forward. Dogs also mauled you in the middle in that final - Hobbs will help but more is needed.

We tried to trade into the second round.