What a radical approach the Essendon Football Club are taking this year. Resting 12 of their best players for the entire 2016 season in order to fast track the development of the club’s younger players.
The grand plan of bringing a rested and revitalised group of senior players together with a more experienced and confident group of younger players to have a big crack at the 2017 premiership is genius!
Although this radical plan has been forced upon them, the Bombers have a real chance to turn a negative into a big positive. They can look at their list through a magnifying glass, throwing the young players they have into the deep end of the AFL pool to see who swims and who sinks.
There will be players that thrive on this opportunity. Players that may not have got a game this season will suddenly be hard to leave out of the Bombers’ best 22 come next season. The depth Essendon will have going into next year will be the envy of all other clubs.
Essendon have a strong experienced list even taking those 12 senior players out of the team and they will still be competitive against teams in the bottom half of the competition.
How the Bombers use the 10 top-up players they have selected will be fascinating.
For the majority of games the Bombers will back their young players and just sprinkle four or maybe five of the top-up players into the side each week. The real work for those 10 senior players will be during the week, setting the standard for the youngsters on the training track.
At the end of the day, the Bombers will get more out of playing their young players and losing by 10 goals than having the 10 top-up players in the side and losing by four or five goals.
Imagine if at the start of the year, in an act of defiance with a real us versus them mentality, the Bombers said no to any top-up players and instead backed the young players they already had at the club?
What a powerful statement that would have been and could have really galvanised the playing group together ahead of the challenges that await this season.
The biggest challenge no doubt for the Bombers will be replacing their superstar key defenders.
In the blink of an eye, the club’s biggest strength has turned into its greatest weakness. No Michael Hurley, Cale Hooker or Tayte Pears has left the Bombers’ key defender stocks paper thin, with only undersized defender James Gwilt, injury prone top-up player Nathan Grima, former Geelong player Mitch Brown and the uncapped Michael Hartley as replacement options.
Essendon may have to reluctantly look at switching Shaun McKernan to defence. The Bombers had plans to play McKernan up forward alongside young gun Joe Daniher this year, however will be left with little choice but to have him plug the holes down back.
A strange part of the Essendon list is the amount of small and medium defenders they possess. Even without Michael Hibberd, the Bombers still have Jason Ashby, Mark Baguley, Courtney Dempsey, Orazio Fantasia, Martin Gleeson and Alex Morgan.
That’s in a team that even at full strength probably lacks a bit of midfield depth. This year is the perfect time to see if they can unearth a couple of good midfielders from this list.
The acquisition of Craig Bird from the Sydney Swans could not have come at a better time for the Bombers. The big-bodied premiership midfielder will thrive on the opportunity of being a leader in the Essendon midfield and is set for a big year. Along with Bird, captain Brendan Goddard, Adam Cooney and David Zaharakis will form the core of the depleted Essendon midfield.
Two recipients of the extra opportunities that will come this year will be promising young midfielders Darcy Parish and Aaron Francis. Taken with picks five and six in last year’s draft both are very highly rated youngsters who along with young gun Zach Merrett will provide plenty of excitement for Bombers fans.
Another new face to the Bombers’ line-up is ruckman Matthew Leuenberger, who struggled to find his place in Brisbane’s line-up last year alongside Stefan Martin. Leuenberger is a ruckman pure and simple, just let him ruck all day and watch him become a star.
The Essendon forward line is pretty much at full strength but still a concern. Much will rely on the young shoulders of Daniher. In a great example of what can happen if you throw a young kid in the deep end of AFL football, Daniher keeps getting better every year.
As mentioned, the Bombers would have hoped to have McKernan permanently parked up forward next to Daniher but he will be required for stints down back when needed. Maybe top-up player Sam Grimley can provide a target up forward this year after being delisted by Hawthorn last year.
A real wildcard up forward for the Bombers is Shaun Edwards. He is deceptively tall at 190 centimetres and has plenty of speed and skill. A prolonged opportunity in the seniors may be all he needs to gain the confidence to fulfil his undoubted potential.
Amen for John Worsfold, the Essendon Football Club will be saying. The Bombers will need all of the former West Coast Eagles premiership coach’s experience this year.
Worsfold would be in the top half dozen coaches in the league and was a tremendous appointment for the club at the end of last year. Even with the turmoil of this year Worsfold would be excited about what he can do with this group of players.
If done properly, this year could be a platform for the future success of the Essendon Football Club.
Be bold, Bombers!
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For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the now-traditional Anzac Day clash at the MCG, there has been one thing conspicuously lacking over…
Old mate summing it up better than anyone possibly could!
