Many people will be quick to tell you that a number of sides have gone past Essendon in their estimations. A lot of people felt the same at the end of 1992 - they got a bit of a shock come Grand Final day 1993 when a team of ""unknowns"" over-ran Carlton. Lloyd said the 1993 season has been mentioned by the coaching panel.
“Sheeds has definitely talked about it. We have seen a lot of clips from 1993 when the likes of Dustin Fletcher, Joe Misiti, Mark Mercuri, Rick Olarenshaw, David Calthorpe and Paul Hills all came in. There is no reason why another bunch of young players can’t come in and have a similar impact,"" Lloyd said.
“We need five or so young players to come out and play a lot of senior footy this year and it is just a matter of who does it. Sheeds has said he has 10 names that he thinks will play in Round 1 and there is another 12 places that he isn’t sure about. So the blokes have been both put under pressure and given an opportunity.""
Lloyd said he had been impressed with a number of the new names that will wear the red and black in 2003.
“Jason Laycock doesn’t look a young 18-year-old. He is a centre half forward / ruck type with a bit of maturity and I think he is capable of playing some games. Of the running players we picked up, I think Jason Winderlich falls into the same category in that he is quite advanced. They were our first two draft picks so you would expect they would be pretty close,"" Lloyd said.
“I really think we need we need those blokes from the 2000 draft – James Davies, Ted Richards, Sam Hunt, Marc Bullen, Jordan Bannister to have big seasons - you would love to see them hold down a senior position and I think they can.""
Lloyd has also been suitably impressed by the pre-season progress of Adam McPhee and Damian Cupido.
“McPhee looks that reliable sort of player – very fit and he runs hard. He might slot onto a half back line. Damian has got heaps of talent and fit and in form he could kick 30-plus goals for us. We are desperate for another goalkicker with Gary (Moorcroft) and Blake (Caracella) having left and I think he could do the job.""
