The major signing in the off season was undoubtedly Ben McKay.
Being beaten up in defence needed to be stopped.
But even though Jade doesn't come with the responsibility that Ben has, his role is ultra important in its own right.
The "tank" he has built over 8 seasons with St. Kilda will improve another area of Essendon's game that needs an upgrade.
The half forward who can work up the ground as an extra midfielder and also work back towards goal and be dangerous at ground level.
These days you'll hear it described as a high half forward.
It's a position that Essendon really hasn't had in the modern game. Maybe there hasn't been a player capable of filling that role yet, maybe it's because of a game plan that doesn't allow it to thrive.
Like I said earlier, the high half forward role is one where the player starts forward at the centre bounce and then depending where the ball and contest is, works up the ground to essentially become an extra midfielder to his teammates.
He helps at stoppages to create an extra and then get used in ball movement going forward.
It forces his opponent to make a choice on whether he goes and picks up that player to not allow the extra man or, stays back and becomes an extra himself behind the ball for his teammates.
Essendon at times, has used a midfielder to play that position, sometimes a resting midfielder in rotation.
You may have seen Jye Caldwell and Ben Hobbs spend time there last year.
Matt Guelfi and recently delisted Will Snelling also played there over the last couple of seasons.
Of those 4 players who spent time there, Caldwell was probably the pick, by default in my opinion.
Hobbs really isn't suited to the role, he's too involved at the source or stoppage, it's a role that asks to be more a receiver than an extractor.
Snelling didn't have the leg speed to go up and back and similar for Guelfi.
But to stand up for those players, the game plan didn't suit someone to thrive in that role.
For me the reason it hasn't worked from a game plan point of view is because that player becomes lost, not taken advantage of off the back of where the ball is being won from the opposition.
Essendon improved a little in 2023 in winning the ball back in the midfield from forcing a turnover or intercepting the opposition's ball movement, but it came from such a low base that it had to improve.
Unfortunately most of the ball winning happened too deep on the field, in the defensive 50.
Winning it back there obviously means the ball needs to travel further to go forward and that promotes safer ball movement as to not turn it back to the opposition closer to their goal.
So the choice has to become kick mark movement.
You can try and generate overlap by handball but by this time, you're outnumbered ahead because your opposition has pushed up to stop you getting any meaningful territory and your extra numbers are behind you.
If the work to win the ball back was done in the midfield more often, then the high half forward role becomes a dangerous one as from there, more chaos ensues from turnover.
It forces his match up to make a decision to now come forward or hold back, to re-reference his direct opponent or another player, a decision that needs to usually be made in a split second.
Get the timing wrong, and he ends up in the middle of both choices.
Gresham has this capability in him.
He's fit enough to work up the ground and back.
He's canny enough to lose his opponent in the chaos of the turnover and he's smart enough to get used on the way forward.
Fit, canny, smart, and leg speed.
Gresham's turn of foot will help him get to the next contest. The contest where, if the forwards can't mark it, the ball will hopefully end up on the ground for groundball players to get to work like Jade can.
Here are the top 7 players for average inside 50 groundball possessions in 2023, that's contested possession won purely at ground level.
Petracca
D. Martin
T. Greene
Rankine
Heeney
Papley
B. Daniels
Question.
What separates those 7 from the equal 8th ranked player Kyle Langford?
Answer.
Height.
Petracca the tallest of those at 187cm.
Langford 192cm.
Langford is the highest rated Essendon player for groundball won inside 50, he's equal with Sam Powell Pepper, Ben Keays, Aaron Naughton and Jesse Hogan.
Fantastic effort for Naughton at his height of 196cm to be the Bulldogs number 1 ranked player, but that also says a bit about them right now.
Great for Hogan as well, but he has Greene and Daniels rated ahead of him, and so he should.
Phenomenal effort from Langford.
His 2.1 average a game has him well above the next best Essendon player in Stringer, 18 spots lower and also 192cm.
But this is a role usually fulfilled by a smaller player.
Next ranked behind Langford is Gresham, equal with 7 others.
Just because they're labeled as a high half forwards doesn't mean that's where they'll start at centre bounces all the time.
Because of the fitness level required to play that position, they become an option to be part of the midfield rotations, another area Essendon can get a better balance at.
Using Essendon 2023 as a comparison, Jade averaged 13.3% centre clearance per attendance, on last year's figures, that would have him only behind Stringer and Parish.
The last 2 years he's gone inside 50 on average 3.8 times a game, again, on last years figures, only Parish, Merrett and Setterfield are higher.
I can see him impacting there.
His tank shows in his time on ground average over his career.
His 80%, is only beaten by Parish, Durham, Merrett and Martin as midfielders.
He had a career average of a goal a game over his 136 games, and 24.5% of his disposals are part of a score.
Here's a player that not only can play a role required of the team, but can impact majorly on the fortunes week to week.
A lot of us have heard the saying "train the way you play"
I'm a big believer in that.
It sets a foundation for accountability and intensity and is a challenge you set against your teammates to match you.
Put the effort in at training and hold yourself to a high standard.
Below is a video example taken last year over preseason training showing his awareness and smarts to always be in the moment.
Follow where Jade starts from as seen in the picture above the video.
Kelly takes a mark and Gresham stops and points to Guelfi to where the space is, either for Guelfi to open up the space for a teammate or, to be used as a target himself.
Guelfi indicates for Kelly to go long instead.
Gresham without thinking for a second, runs to the area where the space is, knowing there's a better opportunity to impact the team and does so, feeding Merrett the shot at goal.
Video courtesy of Rick Edwards.
Thanks as always for the fantastic footage he continues to provide on Essendon training over the preseason.
If you're a true die hard Essendon fan you'll already be following him, if not, you're missing out.
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