Age: 23
Games: 89
Goals: 160
Honours: 2016 premiership player, 2015 All Australian, three times Western Bulldogs leading goal kicker
Career averages per game: 13 disposals, two goals, three marks, two tackles, two inside 50s, six contested possessions
Essendon Coach John Worsfold on Jake Stringer:
“He’s a huge talent and he’s got a lot of upside in various positions on the ground.
“I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere near the best of Jake Stringer yet.
“We believe we can develop him where he can go through the midfield and have a big impact through there.
“He’s such a strong, powerful player – he’ll match the output of any of the big, strong ‘inside mids’ in the competition, but we know he can impact as a forward as well.
“As time goes on we’ll slowly see this team develop and we’ll see him fit into the need that we require but the flexibility is what we’re really pleased with.”
Jake Stringer's midfield ability:
Although he’s predominantly been used as a forward, Stringer has shown he has the strength and burst of speed to be an influential player in the middle of the ground.
His numbers throughout a five week block early in the 2017 season show he can been an effective clearance and contested ball winning player, while maintaining a strong scoreboard impact.
Round 2 v Sydney: 15 disposals, three goals, three tackles, six inside 50s, seven contested possessions.
Round 3 v Fremantle: 18 disposals, one goal, two tackles, five inside 50s, six clearances, 11 contested possessions.
Round 4 v North Melbourne: 19 disposals, two goals, two tackles, five inside 50s, nine contested possessions.
Round 5 v Brisbane: 16 disposals, three goals, two tackles, three inside 50s, eight contested possessions.
Round 6 v GWS: 13 disposals, three goals, two tackles, three clearances, nine contested possessions.
Key numbers:
- Has kicked three or more goals in 28 of his 89 games.
- Kicked 56 goals during his 2015 All Australian year.
- Kicked four or more goals eight times during 2015.
- Still led the Bulldogs goal kicking (for the third time) in 2017 despite playing just 16 games
The new wave (Dons 24 years of age or younger who played in the final against Sydney):
Michael Hartley, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Joe Daniher, Martin Gleeson, Orazio Fantasia, James Stewart, Conor McKenna, Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Josh Begley and Andrew McGrath.
*Essendon added three players 24 or younger during the trade period - Stringer, Devon Smith and Adam Saad.
List and Recruiting Manager Adrian Dodoro on Jake Stringer:
“Obviously with Jake Stringer – the sky is the limit in terms of ability and talent … we think he can play midfield as well.
“We firmly will be aiming to put him in our midfield group.
“We’ve spoken to him about that, he wants the challenge and Hayden Skipworth (midfield coach) is going to work really closely with him.
“So we see him spending a lot of time in our midfield and obviously forward as well … he’ll be a bit of a hybrid, forward and in the midfield.”
