I'm thinking a mix might be my strategy this year.

Guns and mayhem donut sorcery.

for completeness this is a list of suspended players including the 2 Collingwood guys suspended separately
Player AFL Team Price Position
Heppell, Dyson ESS $565,600 MID
Stanton, Brent ESS $546,700 MID
Hurley, Michael ESS $511,500 DEF
Watson, Jobe ESS $499,600 MID
Hooker, Cale ESS $490,300 DEF FWD
Ryder, Patrick PTA $460,800 RUC FWD
Hibberd, Michael ESS $443,300 DEF
Howlett, Ben ESS $414,100 FWD MID
Crameri, Stewart WBD $395,800 FWD
Carlisle, Jake STK $371,400 DEF FWD
Colyer, Travis ESS $366,000 FWD
Monfries, Angus PTA $358,700 FWD
Bellchambers, Tom ESS $336,200 RUC
Hocking, Heath ESS $330,700 MID
Melksham, Jake MEL $328,600 MID
Myers, David ESS $249,600 MID
Pears, Tayte ESS $232,300 DEF
Thomas, Josh COL $193,700 FWD MID
Keeffe, Lachlan COL $166,200 DEF


and here is a list of the remaining Essendon Players and their 2015 stats (and dob and age where known) - note the AFL has ruled that they can elevate all 5 of their rookies and also contract 10 uncontracted players for 2016

keep an eye out for any SC or Champion Data announcements about the replacement players

Player DOB Age Games Average Price Position
Goddard, Brendon 20-May-85 30.6 22 97.2 $524,600 MID
Merrett, Zach 03-Oct-95 20.3 17 88.5 $477,400 FWD MID
McKernan, Shaun 01-Sep-90 25.4 9 83.7 $451,500 RUC
Baguley, Mark 21-May-87 28.6 22 79.8 $430,700 DEF
Gwilt, James 11-Aug-86 29.4 11 77.6 $418,900 DEF
Zaharakis, David 21-Feb-90 25.9 16 76.9 $414,800 MID
Cooney, Adam 30-Sep-85 30.3 11 66.2 $357,100 FWD
Bird, Craig 21-Jan-89 27.0 6 71.7 $348,000 FWD MID
Daniher, Joe 04-Mar-94 21.9 22 60.7 $327,700 FWD
Ambrose, Patrick 01-Sep-91 24.4 16 59.9 $323,100 FWD
Leuenberger, Matthew 07-Jun-88 27.6 14 57.6 $310,700 RUC FWD
Laverde, Jayden 12-Apr-96 19.8 9 57.3 $309,400 FWD
Gleeson, Martin 25-Aug-94 21.4 22 56 $302,400 DEF
Merrett, Jackson 27-Feb-93 22.9 15 55.1 $297,100 FWD
Dempsey, Courtenay 28-Aug-87 28.4 13 54.1 $291,800 DEF
Fantasia, Orazio 14-Sep-95 20.3 5 65.2 $281,500 DEF
Edwards, Shaun 13-Dec-93 22.1 9 49 $264,400 FWD
Parish, Darcy 0 0 $202,800 MID
Francis, Aaron 0 0 $198,300 DEF MID
McKenna, Conor 2 44 $189,900 FWD
Langford, Kyle 01-Dec-96 19.1 8 34.9 $188,200 FWD
Ashby, Jason 16-May-94 21.7 5 30.6 $165,100 DEF
Hams, Will 14-Jul-94 21.5 3 29.3 $158,300 FWD
Nyuon, Gach 0 0 $124,900 RUC
Kommer, Nick 28-Sep-90 25.3 0 0 $123,900 FWD
Morgan, Alex 0 0 $117,300 DEF
Long, Jake 0 0 $117,300 FWD MID
Redman, Mason 0 0 $117,300 FWD MID
Hartley, Michael 0 0 $117,300 DEF
Brown, Mitch 28-Sep-90 25.3 0 0 $117,300 DEF FWD
Eades, Yestin 0 0 $117,300 FWD
McDonald-Tipungwuti, Anthony 0 0 $102,400 DEF FWD
Wallis, Tom 0 0 $102,400 MID

Essendons Nab cup games are Sun February 28 (vs Carlton at Ikon Park=Princes Park), Saturday March 5 (vs Geelong at Shepparton) and Sunday March 13 (vs WCE at Domain Stadium=Subiaco)

from a quick glance you wouldn't back them against the 2011 Gold Coast Suns or 2012 Giants sides in terms of either senior players or depth or first year rookies - I don't know much about their mid tier aged players but they will all get opportunities and no doubt some will grab it

it is hard to think of the worst non expansion teams in the last 5 to 10 years but usually they would have started off the season with their top 6 to 10 players onfield although they normally dropped off in the latter half as injuries and "definitely not tanking" followed

anyone who values a contest will be hoping that they use their 10 topup picks well as this should help them greatly and hopefully soem do well enough to get an AFL job in 2017

the Bombers might end up surprising everyone if Woosha can get them focused as you would suspect that all the pressure will be on the other team and not them