Essendon’s three-year ‘Rosa plan’: A cop out or the right decision?

Essendon is reportedly undertaking a three-year strategy to improve its list which will in turn help the club genuinely contend.

An article from Jake Niall in The Age, which did not directly quote the club, suggests that the Bombers, with new list manager Matt Rosa at the helm, are seeking to draft quality young players rather than trade in established players from other clubs.

The recently-completed trade period was Essendon’s quietest in recent memory. That in itself indicates that they are prioritising the draft with the view of building a stronger list through budding stars before seriously entering trade conversations again.

Club legend and former Board member Simon Madden was quizzed on his thoughts of the ‘Rosa plan’ and what he believes to be the best direction for the Dons.

Madden continues to take a realistic view on where he feels the club is placed after two years with Brad Scott as senior coach.

“It’s an interesting one,” Madden said on SEN Breakfast.

“I’m just a face in the crowd like many other people so I’d be wrong if I didn’t say I was as frustrated as other supporters.

“It’s a long time between drinks and I think we got ahead of ourselves this year. People were talking to me about finals halfway through the year.

“I looked at the draw and I looked at what was happening and I said, ‘Look, we might make the top eight, we could make the top four, but we could also drop out and not play finals’.

“I’m a realist in the game and that’s what happened.

“I’ve said to the club and outside the club that two years ago was a development year, this year was a consolidation year, we should start to see something next year.

“I’ve heard the talk about the direction of the draft, but realistically, it’s not just the players you get, it’s how you use them.”

Madden kicked 575 goals for the Dons which is the second most at the club behind Matthew Lloyd.

So it is fair to say that he is a fan of attacking footy, and from a game style mindset, he’d like to see the club work out how to be more efficient in attack.

Getting that sorted to begin with would solve a few of their problems which could in turn allow the developing players they draft to flourish.

“Everybody talks about defence in modern football, well, it’s very important to note that defence doesn’t kick you goals,” he added.

“From 23 games, 18 times we had more inside 50s than the opposition. But if you look at the inside 50 efficiency and shot accuracy.

“You can analyse the players to the nth degree, but it’s what you do with them.

“I think if and when they develop a better way to bring the ball into the forward line and kick more accurately, the club will have a better chance at it.

“Jake Stringer is gone, and you can argue the good and bad side of that, but you’ve got to find someone, or a group of people, who can kick 45 goals.

“So for me, it’s what do you do with those players once you’ve got them.”

Listen to Madden below:

Kane Cornes and Sam Edmund discussed the Niall report on SEN Breakfast.

Cornes can’t quite work out whether the terminology used by Rosa during the trade period is a cop out or the right decision for the Bombers.

He feels they might just be conditioning the starved supporters who have been forced to put up with mediocrity year after year.

“I’d just be flat if I was an Essendon supporter knowing that they're not ready to compete next year, that's the signal,” said Cornes.

“I’m fully supportive of the way that the club has handled Jake Stringer, but it's not going to make you a better team next year.

“We interviewed Matt Rosa at the close of trade on Wednesday and he just mentioned we're really young and I picked him up on it, I said, ‘So Matt, you're really young, are you essentially conditioning the supporters that it's going to be another rough year?’

“He said, ‘No, no, no, no limits on what we can do’, all of the usual answers that you'd expect, but I thought that's exactly what they're doing.

“They're conditioning the fans that they're going to use the word youth a lot, with youth comes inconsistency, with youth comes the fact that you're not going to be able to compete when it really matters in September with the hardened and season teams that have aspirations to do that.

“Is it the right approach? Well, maybe it is, but it means the other approaches for the last two or three years have been wrong.

“They've completely flipped their strategy which, of course, you're allowed to do. But when it's been 20-odd years and you're going there again, it's a cop out, isn't it?”

Edmund feels they have every right to change tact, but did wonder about their 2024 draft hand which is a humble 28, 31, 40, 46, 53, 54 & 65, and a likely early bid for NGA talent Isaac Kako.

“They can change their minds any time,” he said.

“This might be the right decision, an overdue decision to make.

“Maybe this is the way to do it, but except for the fact that Isaac Kako is going to come in as a top 10 pick and that's the reason they traded out of the first round this year, but it's not like they have a glut of picks.

“So then they've got a bunch of picks to match the bid for Kako and then what? After that, just throw darts at the board with some late picks?

“It’s alright to have the philosophy, but they don't have the hand to smash a generational draft.”

Cones concluded: “They would be the most frustrating team to support because halfway through the year last year, they looked like they were going to finish top four.

“And now, six months later, we're going ‘No, no, no, we're miles off it, we’re three years away’.

“Hang on, halfway through the year, you were ready to play prelim final weekend and now you're not.”

Listen to Kane and Sammy discuss the Dons below: