{"id":6446,"date":"2020-12-07T04:16:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T05:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=6446"},"modified":"2020-12-07T10:17:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T10:17:30","slug":"saad-departure-hurts-bombers-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=6446","title":{"rendered":"Saad departure 'hurts' Bombers legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon legend Dustin Fletcher says it "hurt" to see the Bombers cough up free-wheeling defender Adam Saad to Carlton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former Bomber and Sun was one of three Essendon guns the club lost during an abysmal 2020 trade period<\/a>, with key forward Joe Daniher signing with Brisbane and goal-sneak Orazio Fantasia landing at Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Fletcher said it pained him to see Saad's impressive 61-game career as a Bomber cut short.<\/p>\n

"It was tough to lose Saad," Fletcher said on SEN Breakfast<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"When you lose a running half-back who's in your best three in your best and fairest the last three years – that one hurt me, especially going to Carlton."<\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

Essendon's defence is now significantly weaker as not only did the Bombers lose Saad, but Conor McKenna to retirement<\/a>, with the dashing half-back returning to Ireland.<\/p>\n

The Bombers will take picks six, seven and eight into the AFL draft, set to be held on Wednesday, which is their best draft hand since at least 2016.<\/p>\n

Since snapping up Andrew McGrath with pick one in the 2016 draft, Essendon's top selections have been 49 in 2017, 38 in 2018 and 30 in 2019.<\/p>\n

Fletcher recounted Hawthorn's blockbuster 2004 draft to underline the importance of Essendon making the most of their three top-10 picks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Hawthorn had three top picks inside the top 10 which got them (Jarryd) Roughead, (Lance) Franklin and (Jordan) Lewis, so we need to land a couple of really good players with those picks, and hopefully they can help us in the future because it's been a bit of a tough run for the Bombers of late," Fletcher said.<\/p>\n

"I think we need an inside midfielder or a bull of a mid, just to get the ball out to some of these running guys.<\/p>\n

"I think that's an area that we need to improve our midfield."<\/p>\n

Adelaide are expected to place a bid for Oakleigh Chargers key forward and Western Bulldogs academy prospect Jamarra Ugle-Hagan with pick one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Essendon legend Dustin Fletcher says it "hurt" to see the Bombers cough up free-wheeling defender Adam Saad to Carlton. The former Bomber and Sun was […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6446"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6448,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6446\/revisions\/6448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}