Essendon believes its prized top-10 draftees can ‘tear games apart’

Essendon is thrilled with its extraordinary draft haul and list Adrian Dodoro believes one of them should have been snapped up earlier.

Essendon is confident it’s unearthed the Bombers’ answer to Harris Andrews, who may even be a Dustin Fletcher throwback.

List boss Adrian Dodoro and his team, including national recruiting manager Rob Forster-Knight and recruiting and list administrator Georgia Harvey, were speaking excitedly about 202cm prospect Zach Reid.

It’s all captured in the club’s behind-the-scenes video, The Road To 2021: New Beginnings, which details the logic behind the decisions to draft Nik Cox, Archie Perkins and Reid in the top 10.

The Bombers haven’t won a final since 2004, have a pair of ageing key position players in Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley and lost key members Joe Daniher and Adam Saad in the recent exchange period.

The upshot was an extraordinary draft hand, with Essendon ending up with picks eight, nine and 10 once Academy bids on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Braeden Campbell were matched.

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Essendon’s top-10 draftees Zach Reid, Archie Perkins and Nik Cox. Picture: AFL Media

Put simply, this was Dodoro’s and the Bombers’ chance to turn it all around.

So taken with Dodoro’s description of Reid, Essendon senior coach Ben Rutten asks a very fair question, in relation to Reid and the Brisbane Lions’ dual All-Australian defender.

Rutten: “How does some of his stuff compare to Harris Andrews at this stage?”

Dodoro: “Very comparable; probably in front. He kicks the ball beautiful (sic). His coach was saying the eyes light up when he gets the footy, because you know it’s going to hit (a target).

“He does go back with the flight with courage – that’s no issue – and there’s a couple of really brutal tackles he laid.

“Again, he hasn’t played this year, so he would’ve really developed. If it was me, he shouldn’t be there at pick six. You bite these guys off – you don’t leave these guys – because you don’t find them.”

They gush equally about Cox and Reid, with Rutten forecasting the duo to “tear games apart” with their excellent running prowess for their height.

At the same time, Dodoro tempers expectations when he warns everyone not to expect a Dyson Heppell-like immediate impact from any of the draftees.

Perkins in action at Essendon training. Picture: Daniel Pockett

The Bombers are very excited about what Perkins can produce. Picture: Daniel Pockett

It’s Perkins who is most likely to, if one breaks out in his rookie season. He’s, of course, the kid who said pre-draft he hoped a non-Victorian club wouldn’t select him.

The coaches in the Tullamarine auditorium all remark as Perkins’ vision skips from 2019 to the start of 2020 at how much bigger he is physically.

Forster-Knight and Dodoro ensure the hype rolls on.

Forster-Knight raves about Perkins’ athleticism being “off the charts”, while Dodoro went even further: “He might just have that little thing inside that makes you super special.”

After a day of much debate in the AFL world about Perkins’ comments, he warmly met Dodoro’s phone call informing him the Bombers were going to draft him.

Perkins: “F--- yes, Adrian. Oh my God.”

Judging from what we saw and heard in Essendon’s video, Dodoro and co. are thinking much the same.

Originally published as Essendon believes its prized top-10 draftees can ‘tear games apart’