Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nOn Fox Footy\u2019s Midweek Tackle, Herald Sun journalists Scott Gullan and Jon Ralph made their verdicts on four unsigned Bombers and three contracted players whose futures at the Bombers are in some doubt. <\/p>\n
Ben Hobbs \u2014 out of contract<\/p>\n
The former no.13 pick holds non-free agent status this year, meaning a trade would have to be agreed to if he wants out \u2014 unless he walks to the drafts. <\/p>\n
Hobbs has played 17 senior games this season for an average of 14.9 disposals. His 0.3 goals per game are considered below average among general forwards. <\/p>\n
Gullan said: \u201cI would trade him. I think you\u2019ve seen enough; he\u2019s 21, (played) 64 games, he\u2019s behind (Zach) Merrett, (Jye) Caldwell, (Sam) Durham, (Darcy) Parish … I think you\u2019ve got to cut your losses, you\u2019re still going to get something good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jayden Laverde \u2014 unrestricted free agent<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old has played 12 games this year after 21 last year; called upon by Brad Scott in Round 10 as first-choice key backmen Ben McKay, Jordan Ridley and Zach Reid were struck down with injury. <\/p>\n
There was speculation last year around a possible departure for the veteran stopper, but he remained at Tullamarine as he was contracted for this year. <\/p>\n
Gullan said: \u201cHe\u2019s a depth player, as he is right now, when you need him. I think he\u2019s about the last one you pick, but you probably keep him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ralph said: \u201cI\u2019d keep him, because their three key-position defenders that will all be starting in Round 1, they\u2019re injured right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dylan Shiel \u2014 out of contract<\/p>\n
After nine senior games last year, the 32-year-old left-footer has played 12 matches this year for averages of 19.8 disposals and 3.1 inside-50s. <\/p>\n
Gullan said: \u201cI think they move on from him. I think someone else might give him a go, like a North Melbourne or something, for a bit of , but I think his time at Essendon is done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam Draper \u2014 unrestricted free agent<\/p>\n
The longer Draper remains unsigned, the more it seems a likelihood he\u2019ll depart for one of Brisbane or Adelaide. <\/p>\n
And if he leaves, the club will be hoping for top-end compensation to slot in after its first draft pick; currently no.4 overall. <\/p>\n
Ralph said: \u201cI think, at this stage, if he hasn\u2019t signed his contract, he\u2019s going to move on … it\u2019s a six-year deal from clubs like Brisbane, Adelaide still pushing hard. Don\u2019t go to Adelaide; don\u2019t be in a dual-ruck situation (with Reilly O\u2019Brien). So, if it\u2019s six years and probably $850-900,000, maybe it\u2019s a first-rounder (compensation), but I think more likely an end-of-first-rounder.\u201d<\/p>\n
The big Essendon list calls this off-season, including Elijah Tsatas, Darcy Parish and Sam Draper.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Darcy Parish \u2014 contracted through 2029<\/p>\n
It just hasn\u2019t been Parish\u2019s year as soft-tissue injury has again derailed his progress, limiting him to just three senior games. The 165-gamer hasn\u2019t played more than 20 matches in a season since 2021. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s locked in on his current deal for a few more years, but that won\u2019t stop more trade speculation this year. <\/p>\n
Gullan said: \u201cHe intrigues me, he\u2019s 28, he\u2019s been linked to Geelong a few times, I mentioned Ben Hobbs, they both can\u2019t play in this midfield; that\u2019s become obvious. Which one do you let go if you\u2019re Essendon? Darcy\u2019s had his injury issues. I like him as a player, but the clock\u2019s ticking on him. So, if I was him, and Essendon, I\u2019d be open to a trade if someone presented something quite nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archie Perkins \u2014 contracted through 2026<\/p>\n
Intrigue has revolved around Perkins\u2019 best position and his overall place in Scott\u2019s side, having either been the sub or subbed out on four occasions this year. <\/p>\n
Gullan said: \u201cHigh draft pick, we know, he\u2019s gone backwards at a rate of knots this year. I don\u2019t know where he is \u2014 is he a half-forward, is he a midfielder? He sort of floats in between. And Essendon would get something good \u2014 I mean, he\u2019s a first-round pick, you might give up a Pick 15-20 in this draft, and maybe you get Archie Perkins … he needs a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ralph said: \u201c(I\u2019d give up Pick) 25-30. They bring in Jade Gresham; three years on $700,000. How did they not think this is going to impact our top-10 draft pick in Archie Perkins. That was a big mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elijah Tsatas \u2014 contracted through 2026<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old is the least experienced of this entire crop, having been the no.5 pick in 2022, but his career has far from blossomed to this point. He\u2019s played four, seven and five games respectively across his three years in the league. <\/p>\n
Gullan said: \u201cAgain, for his own purposes, he can\u2019t break through in this current climate at Essendon, he\u2019s had his issues. Everyone points at his problems rather than his positives. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think you go to a new club, preferably a successful club where they go \u2018mate, we know you\u2019re good at that, that\u2019s why you were drafted in the first round, just focus on that. We\u2019ll worry about the kicking and the other stuff, but you can clearly get the ball, you\u2019re not getting a good run at it at Essendon. Maybe a bit of it\u2019s your fault and you\u2019ve got to clean up your attitude. He should find a new pasture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon has tough upcoming list calls on both contracted and out-of-contract players ahead of an important off-season in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51242,63,689,14413,29651,651,51236,51248,51247,51243,51241,25839,51244,43,19069,3231,681,51246,25540,51239,51238,44,51237,677,30686,51245,701,11244,29653,51240,41,39,42,40,28462,29649],"class_list":["post-64070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-archie-perkins","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ben-hobbs","tag-ben-mckay","tag-brisbane","tag-brutal-list-crunch","tag-contract-players","tag-darcy-parish","tag-depth-player","tag-dons-list-crisis","tag-dylan-shiel","tag-first-round-draft-picks","tag-headlines","tag-injury-issues","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jon-ralph","tag-key-position-defenders","tag-kyle-langford","tag-list-calls","tag-list-crunch-looms","tag-news","tag-non-free-agent-status","tag-oceania","tag-out-of-contract-players","tag-pick-holds","tag-queensland","tag-sam-draper","tag-scott-gullan","tag-senior-games","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trade-speculation","tag-zach-reid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}