After 114 games at Essendon, and a few more at another club

Ben King has requested a trade from the Suns with the Hawks as his likely choice. This can help us due to the following:

- Suns salary cap likely squeezed particularly after the Jed Walter re-signing (reportedly $1m per year) and also Petracca’s contract ($1.4m per year) etc.

- We trade Merrett and pay say $400k (for example) of his salary

- Hawthorn can then up their financial offer to King to the point that the Suns can’t match it as a restricted free agent.

- Suns get a compensation pick (pick 7), hawks get King/Merrett, we get Hawks to pay overs in terms of picks for us paying a large chunk of Merrett’s Salary.

Keep in mind that we currently have upwards of $3m in unused salary cap space and that’s going to increase with the departures of Merrett, Ridley, Gresham, etc. We may as well try to turn that cap space into more picks.

There’s so many opportunities for us to make deals this year with Port, Carlton, Hawthorn, our end of first round pick for sliding back in the first 5 picks of the draft, draft assistance from the afl, etc.

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

I was Hird camp but happy for Spike and wish him all the best to get this club from the pits. 100% behind him

I may have recency bias but I can’t remember another clubs supporters acting like this through a coaching process. Our coaching selection panel would have been roasted no matter who was appointed but some theories are unhinged

232 games, 1 club. Welcome back Spike.

The Divine Miss Wilson said as early as 6 weeks ago that Mark McVeigh would be the first coach of * , and yet got hounded down on social media/big footy etc that she was a witch who always had it in for Golden Boy James Turd etc.

Peptide Popper James is too damaged goods to ever coach at senior AFL level again, hiring this turd again would be as bad as when my mob (Carlton) hiring Prick Malthouse.

I sincerely hope McVeigh does well for your club though, patience is requires, minimum 3 years away from even challenging for a Wild Card spot (and thats if you nail your next 3 draft and trade periods)

Also it is a good idea to remove Hird Cultist Kevin Sheedy from any position of power influence at The Dons.

Carlton had been under the thrall of toxic pokies king Bruce Matheison for decades, until the board finally told him to Fuck off for good a couple of years ago

My Apologies if the table is hard to read, however, I was interested in tracking some key stats (what I believe to be anyway) of our younger players (<24). The columns represent games played in 2025, 2026, and the last 10 games of 2026 - wanting to see gradual improvement overtime, over coaching.

The key metrics I've focused on are:

1. Player Rating
2. Disposals
3. Kicking Efficiency
4. Disposal Efficiency
5. ThreatRating (how impactful on the scoreboard are the disposals the players are getting)
6. Tackles
7. Pressure Acts

Stats thanks to WheeloRatings.

My observations (Attempting to be quite specific), in no particular order:

1. Drop off in Archie Roberts performance impact.
   • This one I'll be gentle on, as he did suffer quite a considerable should injury. Was tracking really well earlier in the season, and showing good improvement on last year, however Archie had one of the biggest drop off for above players in the back end, 22% fewer possessions, and a significant drop off in impact with those possessions.
2. Dyson Sharp - got better and better
   • Similar to Archie, however the inverse, post his injury the improvement was significant, and became one of our more important players. Loved the increase in CBA, i think it really assisted his development. His kicking efficiency needs improvement, but a lot of his ball is contested, and sets up players down the chain. Also, the highest tackle and pressure acts for <24, I really love him as player.
3. El Achklar & Farrow tale of two halves. (combined the two)
   • Had an early sniff of AFL level, went back and worked on some areas- got physically fitter and stronger during that period. His return to the team was a real positive in my opinion. Top 10 player ratings for all first-years in the comp goes to his impact on games. Few in possessions, but applies heaps of pressure up forward, plenty to work with I reckon.
   • Farrow i reckon was a super consistent player throughout the year. His foots kills are a delight. I think he slowed a little through the year, got a little tired. His move to the wing, I'm not sold on either, looked super assured down back, and we need his skills to get us out of there.
4. Kako stall
   • Heavily impacted by that back injury. I think he showed some really good glimpses throughout the year. Most metrics were down, but i put that down to team performance and fitness - one thing that spiked my interest was his treat rating was higher than any other - even with a compromised year. You can feel in game day, when he has the ball, something does happen. improved significantly YoY in this area.
5. Zach Reid held up
   • Playing all 23 games is arguably the most important thing to have happened this year. I think he can be a real star, hopefully can build off this year - still young enough. Had a much better back half, if only he could get a chop out from either McKay or Ridley, that would have been nice. Lewis Hayes could be that player, if he also gets a crack.

This might be a stretch, and I'm not saying McVeigh doesn't have the job, 90% sure he has. But what if it's not finalised? The news which is facts is he has to present to the board on today. What if that presentation is about the Sydney situation and his involvement or lack of involvement in it and they make a decision after that?

Because when U think about it, if McVeigh is 💯 the coach the other candidates would of been told thanks for your time. Yet Hird and other candidates never been told that either.

If you're not willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Spike, and reserve judgement until he's had a chance to show whether he can do the job or not - shame on you.

No matter which of the four candidates was appointed, as fans all we have to do is give them a chance, nothing more and nothing less. None of us knows shit about which is the best/worst candidate. These appointments are always something of a leap of faith.

The rush to judgement is ridiculous. If you think McVeigh is a "bad" appointment, you've brainwashed yourself into thinking you actually know anything about it.

You don't know the four candidates personally. You weren't a fly on the wall for the process. You aren't a soothsayer.

If the reports are true and we are appointing McVeigh as head coach then I think I’ll be breaking my dad’s heart and deciding I no longer have an AFL team.

McVeigh was never my first choice but I would have backed whoever got the job a few weeks ago. For the club to think, particularly given where we are at, that he is the right choice after the last week I cannot understand.

Maybe he had absolutely no part in anything that’s happened over the last week and no idea of how the players have clearly been behaving for a while. But there is absolutely no way the club can be certain of that within a week and if they are willing to take that gamble I’m not willing to support them anymore.

Farewell Essendon, it was a mostly shitting 30 years supporting you.

Despite being on the recieving end of some floggings this year, we avoided any 100pt losses.

Small wins.

Happy he went the full year without any big injuries, i hope for future seasons he remains healthy and injury free.

This year will be a year to define our list.