Essendon's Best 100 Players Since 1980 - 90 to 81

90. John Barnes

    John Barnes was recruited to Essendon in 1986, from Cobram in Country Victoria. He played 6 games in 1987 in the Number 20 Guernsey, at 193cm he was undersized for a ruckman but he made up for it with his ability to run, jump and by having a sharp football brain. He played 58 games for the Bombers, across two stints, including the 2000 and 2001 Grand Finals. He retired at the end of 2001 having played a total of 202 games and kicking 90 goals at Essendon and Geelong.

    
    

    He played 12 games and kicked 12 goals between 1987 and 1990, traded to the Cats at the end of 1990 for 1993 Premiership Player Sean Denham. On his return to Essendon he played an important part throughout 2000 and in the Grand Final. He retired at the end of 2001 having played a total of 202 games and kicking 90 goals at Essendon and Geelong.

    

    
    

    89. Tony Elshaug

    Trout as he was known, played 69 games for Melbourne between 1979 and 1983, before coming to Essendon for the 1984 season.

    
    

    A rover, cum small forward, he featured in 15 games in his first season at the Dons, but missed out on the 1984 Finals Series. He as a regular feature in 1985, playing 23 games and kicked 37 goals as a member of the side that secured back-to-back Premierships.

    
    

    Elshaug played a further 20 games in 1986, managing just 7 in 1987, before switching across to Collingwood where he managed just a further 6 games. In all, he played 65 games for the Dons, kicking 75 goals and picking up 2 Brownlow votes.

    
    

    Following his playing career, he Dandenong to a flag in the VFA, was a long time Assistant Coach to Denis Pagan at North and then an Assistant at St Kilda, before spending a 7 years as Recruiting Manager and List Manager at the Saints. Whilst he’ll be remembered by Dons fans for the vital role he played in the 1985 Premiership season, more recently he’s been part of the recruiting team at The Hangar.

    

    88. Damien Peverill

    Passed over in multiple drafts, 'Pev' spent a year on the Rookie list at Melbourne before finally getting an opportunity with the Bombers. He made his debut in the 2001 season and then became a feature in the side for the next few years, playing 144 games and kicking 32 goals until 2008. He’s the quintessential story of never giving up on an AFL Dream

    
    

    The Rookie List worked a lot different back in those days. Rookie’s weren’t able to just be played at any time, they could only be picked if someone from the main list had suffered a serious injury, allowing a Rookie to be elevated in their place. Damien got his chance after Joe Misiti got injured early in 2001 and had an immediate impact, with 20 disposals and a goal on debut against Sydney, as well as keeping Wayne Schwass to only 16 touches. He played the next 8 games in a row, helping Essendon go 8-1 in that time, before Joe Misiti’s recovery meant he had to go back on the Rookie List. He got injured the following week and missed the rest of the season, but did enough to get a main list contract for the following season.

    
    

    He became a fixture after that through the 2000s. The sort of player you knew was always going to give 100% effort out there. He wasn’t the flashiest or most creative, but he could negate the opposition’s best midfielder and in an era where we struggled to get any consistency, he was someone who could be relied on to play his role and leave nothing out on the field.

    

    
    

    87. Adam Saad

    Adam came to the Bombers from the Suns after a trade at the end of 2017 for a future 2nd Round Draft Pick. He’d play 48 games in 3 seasons at the Suns before coming across and proceeded to play 61 high quality games over the next three seasons before deciding to take his talents elsewhere.

    
    

    Essendon appeared to get themselves an absolute bargain and it showed almost immediately. He had a great balance of able to play a defensive role on a player and then know when to switch to being an attacker, which is really important for a player in his role.

    
    

    He was a huge part of our game plan during those Worsfold years, especially when you had Conor McKenna on another back flank who was equally as dangerous. It meant teams couldn’t just focus on locking down one of our players, which gave us a lot of flexibility. Adam was super consistent - rarely played a bad game for us. That really shows in his placement in the Crichton medal during his time with us - top 4 each of his three years.

    
    

    It didn’t end well for Adam’s time at Essendon, asking for a trade following the Covid interrupted season in 2020. It was another kick in the guts for Dons fans with Joe Daniher also leaving at the same time.

    
    

    

    
    

    86. Orazio Fantasia

    Orazio was drafted with pick 55 in the 2013 National Draft. He made his debut the following year, playing 80 games in the red and black and kicking 111 goals before being traded to Port Adelaide after the 2020 season.

    
    

    That pick 55 came from trading Scott Gumbleton to Fremantle. Right in the midst of the worst draft sanctions from the saga, where we were stripped of all our picks for that year. We managed to come out of it fairly well considering - we turned Stewart Crameri into Zach Merrett and Gumbleton into Fantasia. Somewhat ironically, Port Adelaide had the pick immediately prior to us selecting Orazio in 2013, he was Traded to Port in 2020 for Pick 29 and Ports 2021 Third Round Pick. Pick 29 was then shipped to GWS as part of the deal to land Jye Caldwell at Essendon. Ports future 3rd became Pick 50 on 2021 Draft Night and we used it to select Garret McDonagh.

    
    

    Orazio benefitted in other ways from the saga, in that the suspension of the plaeyrs meant that he was able to get senior game time in 2016 and take on a key role in that side, kicking 29 goals in 19 games. It was that grounding that allowed him to go to another level the following season where he basically averaged 2 goals a game and was one of the top 5 small forwards in the competition.

    
    

    It’s just a shame for football in general that injuries have interrupted what he was capable of.

    
    

    

    
    

    85. Nathan Lovett-Murray

    There’s a few players who’ve come via the Rookie List in this Countdown and players like Nathan Lovett-Murray really show the value of giving more mature players a go. It seemed we went through a period of time in the AFL, particularly through the 2000s, where if you didn’t make it on to a list from the National Draft, teams weren’t really interested at looking at you. Players like Nathan are what the Rookie List is all about.

    
    

    He started mainly as a forward and then moved all over the ground - he played down back at times, on a wing and even had runs in the midfield. He lit up the 'G against Carlton early in 2010, having a career high 31 disposals. And of course we saw him play as a back-up ruck in that Elimination Final loss in 2009 against the Crows.

    
    

    His flexibility arguably hurt him to an extent, in that it meant that he was always being used to fill holes and was never really able to settle in the one spot to develop his game. And then when the sub player came in for the first time he almost always got stuck in that role. It’s to his credit that he almost always was able to contribute to the benefit of the side wherever he was put - maybe not in the ruck however. What he did deliver was plenty of passion and pride in the jumper, not always the most skilful player, but he never took a backward step.

    

    
    

    84. Devon Smith

    Devon Smith was traded to the Bombers at the end of the 2017 season and had an immediate impact, winning the Best and Fairest in his first year. He would end up playing 73 games and kicking 46 goals before retiring due to injury.
    

    That first year at Essendon was something else from Devon, I think we all thought we’d brought in an amazing piece that was going to be a big part of Essendon going forward. To win the Crichton in his first year was special - but the thing that stood out to most was the tackling. He broke the home and away tackle record with 186, averaging 8.45 per game. That was almost double what he was producing at GWS, an exceptional achievement.

    However, injury meant he couldn’t maintain it. He only featured in 7 games the following year and even then his performance was down. He was never really able to recover.

    

    
    

    83. Peter Wright

    Peter Wright has made a big impression in a short time. The Bombers were able to get him for a steal, trading a future fourth Rounder to the Suns in 2020. In the four years since he’s played 67 games and kicked 120 goals. He was our leading goal-kicker and Crichton Medalist in 2022.

    
    

    There was never any doubt he had talent, he clearly just needed some security in his place in the side before he was able to play to his potential. We really saw that for the first time at the back end of 2021, especially in that game against the Dogs where he kicked 7 goals - he really demonstrated just how much of a threat he could be.

    
    

    And then his Best and Fairest season, he was a beacon of hope in a year that was otherwise disappointing. He was the first Bomber other than Joe Daniher to kick 50 goals in a year since Matthew Lloyd and it really felt like we had found our full-forward for the next five years.

    
    

    It obviously hasn’t been smooth sailing these past couple of season, with the injury at the beginning of 2023 and suspension in 2024. He finished last season out of the side.

    
    

    The best of Peter Wright could be still to come.

    

    
    

    82. Kyle Langford

    Peter Wright at 83 was our first active Essendon player in the countdown and we’re doubling up with Kyle Langford. Kyle was drafted by Essendon in 2014 at pick 17 in the National draft. In the 10 seasons following he’s played 153 games and kicked 171 goals.

    
    

    Used as a midfielder early in his career - there were a lot of comparisons made to Nat Fyfe given his size. He never quite transitioned into that role in the midfield though, for a couple of years there around 2020 he showed some positive signs as a winger.

    
    

    A lot of fans had been calling for him to be played as a permanent forward for the first 7 or 8 years of his career. It finally came about through accident in 2023 where he started that season in the backline, but early injuries saw him go forward and he hasn’t really looked back since.

    
    

    He really important from a cultural perspective at the club - someone who’s a leader amongst the group without having the official titles. Those sort of players are really important in trying to achieve team success.

    
    

    Kyle will be 28 for the entirety of the 2025 season, so we should be hoping to get 4-5 years of quality football out of him. Another who might not yet have seen the best of.

    

    
    

    81. Adam McPhee

    Adam McPhee played 142 games in the red and black between 2003 and 2009 for 59 wins, kicking 83 goals in the process. He wore the number 33 during his time at Essendon, with 2004 being his best season where he won the Crichton Medal and was selected in the All-Australian Side.

    
    

    He began his career at Fremantle after being drafted in the year 2000, playing 25 games across two season before being traded to Essendon for pick 55 in 2002. Looking back through Essendon’s trading history, it’s probably our best trade between the years of 1996 and 2016/ Incidentally, Fremantle would turn Pick 55 into Ryan Crowley, who would go on to play 8 games for the Bombers as a top up during the 2016 season.

    
    

    In terms of highlights as an Essendon player, you can’t really go past that 2004 season. To win a best and fairest and an All-Australian in the same year is a pretty special feat. In the entire period that he was at the club, only himself, Hird, Lloyd and Fletcher would be selected as All-Australian's. His form really contributed a lot to us making the finals that year. It’s a bit of a what if how we would have gone against the Cats in that Semi-Final if he’d played - he almost made it back for the game after his hamstring injury in Round 21, but was a late withdrawal for the game. He was replaced by Mark Mercuri in what ended up being his last game.

    
    

    It didn’t really end on the best of terms did it, refusing to commit to the club at the end of 2009 and us losing him for nothing back to Fremantle. He also played in a fairly unsuccessful era as well - we only won just 59 of his 142 games.