Bombers eye off trade period

ESSENDON GM of Football Josh Mahoney has revealed the Bombers’ plan to be active in this year’s trade period.

The team’s subpar performances have come in for criticism in 2022, winning just a handful of games and languishing towards the bottom of the ladder.

Mahoney was asked whether it was fair for list managers to be criticised following Glenn Luff’s sudden resignation from North Melbourne.

Essendon’s list manager Adrian Dodoro has been in his role at the club since 2010, a period where the Bombers have failed to win a final.

“I think there are so many things that relate to list management,” Mahoney said SEN SA Breakfast.

“There’s connection to development, connection to coaching, so they’re all separate things.

“You’ve got to select the right player, select the right player at the right pick, select the right player for the right role, and then you’ve got to have a good development plan in place.

“So all those different parts are so connected and it’s been a focus of mine coming to Essendon to look at how that’s all connected.”

The club is coming off a quiet trade period after exceeding expectations to make an elimination final in 2021, only recruiting Adelaide free agent Jake Kelly.

Coming into 2022, Essendon had the third-least experienced list with the average player having played just 54.3 games.

However, with the need for a quick rebound up the ladder after a poor season to date and plenty of salary cap space, Mahoney confirmed the club’s intentions to be “pretty active” in the trade space.

“Our list at the moment is at a development stage,” Mahoney said.

“We lost some key players just before I joined in Joe Daniher, Orazio Fantasia and Adam Saad, experienced guys that were in the prime of their careers, and they were replaced which picks seven, eight and nine, which sounds great, but the idea is we’re bringing in three young guys to replace the mature guys, so our list is developing.

“We’re really excited by the opportunity we do have though. I think last year we were quiet during the trade period deliberately, we wanted to look at our young list and see what we’ve got available to us.

“But this year we’ve got the opportunity with the gap we’ve got in our salary cap, we’ve got the opportunity with some picks at the moment that we think we can be pretty active in the trade period and along with the development of our players, we can rebound quite quickly.”

– BY SEB MOTTRAM/ SEN