The whole 4 man crew got together to discuss the last draft of the year on the last show of the year! Simo, Ben, Greg and Jason pool their collective information about todays 6 picks.
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Essendon have been given the chance to make a flying start to the 2012 AFL Season by having three 2011 non-Top 8 sides to begin the season starting off with the Kanagroos in Round 1 on March 31.
Saturday May 26 also looms high on the calendar with the Bombers heading to Sydney to take on the GWS Giants and former Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy for the first time in AFL Round 9.
Essendon 2012 AFL Fixture
Rd. 1 Saturday, 31 March 2012 7:40 pm Kangaroos FOX Etihad Stadium Away
Rd. 2 Saturday, 7 April 2012 1:45 pm Port Adelaide SEVEN Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 3 Saturday, 14 April 2012 7:40 pm Gold Coast SEVEN Metricon Stadium Away
Rd. 4 Saturday, 21 April 2012 1:45 pm Carlton SEVEN MCG Away
Rd. 5 Wednesday, 25 April 2012 2:40 pm Collingwood SEVEN MCG Away
Rd. 6 Saturday, 5 May 2012 1:40 pm Brisbane FOX Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 7 Saturday, 12 May 2012 7:40 pm West Coast SEVEN Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 8 Saturday, 19 May 2012 7:45 pm Richmond SEVEN MCG Home
Rd. 9 Saturday, 26 May 2012 7:40 pm GWS SEVEN Skoda Stadium Away
Rd. 10 Saturday, 2 June 2012 7:40 pm Melbourne SEVEN MCG Home
Rd. 11 Saturday, 9 June 2012 7:40 pm Sydney SEVEN Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 12 Bye
Rd. 13 Saturday, 23 June 2012 5:40 pm Fremantle SEVEN Patersons Stadium Away
Rd. 14 Saturday, 30 June 2012 7:40 pm Western Bulldogs SEVEN Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 15 Saturday, 7 July 2012 7:40 pm St Kilda SEVEN Etihad Stadium Away
Rd. 16 Saturday, 14 July 2012 1:40 pm Port Adelaide FOX AAMI Stadium Away
Rd. 17 Friday, 20 July 2012 7:50 pm Geelong SEVEN Etihad Stadium Away
Rd. 18 Friday, 27 July 2012 7:50 pm Hawthorn SEVEN Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 19 Sunday, 5 August 2012 4:10 pm Adelaide FOX AAMI Stadium Away
Rd. 20 Sunday, 12 August 2012 4:40 pm Kangaroos FOX Etihad Stadium Home
Rd. 21 Saturday, 18 August 2012 1:45 pm Carlton SEVEN MCG Home
Rd. 22 Friday, 24 August 2012 7:50 pm Richmond SEVEN MCG Away
Rd. 23 TBA TBA Collingwood TBC MCG Home
Essendon will have another chance for some Perth hoodoo practice after the were drawn to play West Coast and Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in the opening round-robin round of the 2012 NAB Cup.
After being NAB Cup Grand Finalists in 2011, the Bombers will being their 2012 Pre-Season campaign with matches against the Weagles & Dockers on Sunday Friday 19 before a NAB Round 2 clash against St Kilda at Wangaratta on Saturday March 3 before finishing their NAB Cup fixture against the Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium on Friday, March 9.
Hayden Skipworth will lead Bendigo in their final season linked with Essendon as he replaces Shannon Grant as coach for the 2012 VFL Season.
“I am extremely excited about the opportunity to coach the club’s VFL affiliate and to further develop my coaching career,” Skipworth said. “Initially, it wasn’t something that I set out to achieve this season but the opportunity arose and I am thrilled to be able to lead Bendigo next year.”
Skipworth played 11 games for the Bombers in 2009 following a controversial Matthew Knights draft selection before injury forced his AFL retirement at the end of that season.
Matthew Knights’ Irish experiment Michael Quinn has been delisted as the Bombers continue their cull of their rookie list.
Quinn made little impact in 8 AFL games but won Bendigo’s Best & Fairest Award in 2010.
List changes so far
Delistings
Michael Quinn (rookie)
Taite Silverlock (rookie)
Tyson Slattery (rookie)
James Webster (rookie)
Jay Neagle (rookie)
Retirements
Andrew Welsh
Darcy Daniher
Mark Williams
Monday October 31 is the first list lodgement date.
Essendon’s tradition of inability to seal trade deals was on show again as the Bombers failed to nab Gold Coast midfielder Josh Caddy as the AFL Trading Preiod came to an end.
Essendon called in AFL mediation on the morning of the final day of AFL trade week, but the Bombers say it soon became clear only a top 10 pick would get a deal over the line while the Bombers the club had come up with several trade scenarios including the club’s first round pick – No.19 overall – and another player.
“We’re really disappointed. We’ve heard a lot from most of you (the media) this week that you thought we weren’t up to much at all because we weren’t making a lot of noise, but there was ever only really one outcome we were trying to pursue,” Essendon CEO Ian Robson said.
“We were doing that quietly with a real determined focus of the whole team. Disappointingly today we’ve come up short. This morning we really wanted to make sure we’d explored every avenue and that’s why we called the AFL …. and requested a mediation.”
The Bombers however managed to offload untried rookie Josh Jenkins and pick 41 to Adelaide for pick 31.
2011 Crichton Medallist David Zaharakis and fellow midfielder Travis Colyer have signed new deals with the club tying them to Windy Hill until the end of 2014 for Zaharakis and 2013 for Colyer.
“We feel both David and Travis will have a strong role to play in Essendon’s next period of sustained success and we are obviously very pleased to have them commit to the club,” Bombers Football Manager Paul Hamilton said. “Both players have improved dramatically this season – including David winning his first Crichton medal in only his third season of football – and we feel they both can develop further over the next two years to establish themselves as integral members of the Essendon midfield.”
With te annual AFL meat market now underway – Bomber fans should be bracing themselves with a whole lot of nothingness with the club indicting they won’t be actively pursuing any “big fish” trades.
Rumours suggesting that Scott Gumbleton and Cale Hooker would tradebait were scoffed at by the club.
“Scott’s a required player,” Essendon Football Manager Paul Hamilton said. “As we all know he’s had some troubles with injuries over a period of time. In 2010 he was able to play 16 games in a row which was promising and pleasing. This year he’s had a few setbacks, but he’s actually got his body right at the end of the season. He’s under contract and we need him to have a good pre-season – get him stronger, get him fitter, and have a real assault on the season next year.”
And on the subject of Hooker, Bomber coach James Hird chipped in with “I haven’t had any discussions about Cale at all, so I can’t imagine him going anywhere”.
Hird however added that “We’d love to see a fast midfielder who could come and win a premiership for us, but they don’t normally throw them around. We think we’ve got the right amount of depth at both ends of the ground, and we need to get midfielders into the team. That can be done through the draft and that’s what we’re looking at doing.”.
The Bombers however have been linked with young Gold Coast midfielder Josh Caddy but the Suns are demanding a Top 10 selection.
In a bit of a surprise result, midfielder David Zaharakis has won the Bombers Best & Fairest Award – the Crichton Medal ahead of Brent Stanton and Michael Hurley.
Zaharakis, 21, played every game this year and polled in 15 of 23 matches.
‘‘David has had an outstanding year this season and has developed into a really important player for the team,” Essendon coach James Hird said. “David was able to spend more time through the midfield this year and, to his credit, made the most of every opportunity. He has an incredible work ethic and an abundance of talent and to have a Crichton Medal to his name after only three seasons at the club is a sign of things to come.”
Crichton Medal Top 10
David Zaharakis 332
Brent Stanton 313
Michael Hurley 292
Jobe Watson 270
Heath Hocking 248
Dustin Fletcher 231
Dyson Heppell 226
Stewart Crameri 225
Patrick Ryder 224
Ben Howlett 216
Other award winners:
Best Clubman– Dustin Fletcher
Matthew Lloyd Senior Leading Goal Kicking – Stewart Crameri
Lindsay Griffiths Rising Star – Dyson Heppell
Most Improved Player – Stewart Crameri
Adam Ramanauskas Most Courageous Player – Michael Hurley
Striving for Excellence – Heath Hocking
Essendon vice-captain Andrew Welsh has retired after struggling through the past two AFL seasons with injury.
The 28-year-old, who has played 162 games with the Bombers after starting his career in 2002, said he required further ankle surgery and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play again.
In the past two season he has managed only 17 games after breaking and dislocating his ankle.
Welsh joins rookie Jay Neagle out the Windy Hill door after the long expected news of his delisting was officially announced by the club.
Neagle managed 28 AFL games in four seasons after being a 2006 Father-Son draftee before being delisted and rookied at the end of last season.
Current List Updates
Delistings
Taite Silverlock (rookie)
Tyson Slattery (rookie)
James Webster (rookie)
Jay Neagle (rookie)
Retirements
Andrew Welsh
Darcy Daniher
Mark Williams
