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Adrian Dodoro
Nationality	Australian
Other names	The Prince
Occupation	Australian rules football administrator
Years active	c. 1980s–present
Employer	Essendon Football Club
Known for	List management, recruitment
Successor	Matt Rosa
Honours	Life member of Essendon

Adrian Dodoro is an Australian rules football administrator best known for his long-term role as list manager of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Dodoro has headed the list department at Essendon since 2010, and worked as the club's recruitment manager for more than a decade prior.

His continuous involvement with Essendon stems back to the mid-1980s, when then-coach Kevin Sheedy offered an 18-year-old Dodoro the opportunity to "do some forward scouting" for the club. Widely known for his tenacious strategy and ruthless pursuit of the best deal, Dodoro has overseen the recruitment of dozens of Essendon champions. Yet his graduation to manager of the Bombers' list coincided with a perilous on-field record, with the club failing to win a single finals match throughout his tenure. He also presided over list management during the tumultuous supplements saga, where the club was forced to recruit ten 'top-up' players to fill a list void following a guilty verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 34 Essendon players in January 2016.

In September 2023, Essendon announced that Dodoro would "step back from his current senior role" following that year's trade and draft period, facilitating a transition to incoming 'talent and operations' manager Matt Rosa.

Professional career

Voluntary work; assisting in the coaches' box (c. 1980s–1997)

Dodoro's involvement with Essendon began in the mid-1980s, when he met then-coach Kevin Sheedy through training with a scholarship squad. An Essendon supporter from birth, once Dodoro realised he did not have the skills to make the grade as a player, he decided he would like to be part of a professional football environment through other means. Chatting with Sheedy, the premiership coach suggested Dodoro perform scouting work to find a forward line player for the Bombers.

Around the time of his appointment by Sheedy, Dodoro was working in an administration role at the City of Keilor. Over the next decade, he began assisting the coaches for Essendon's reserves team and eventually graduated to the senior coaches' box, helping Sheedy with board match-ups and match notes on a voluntary basis. During this period, Dodoro's paid role was as an administration manager for Airservices Australia, which allowed him to travel extensively across the country and ultimately proved beneficial to his position at Essendon.

Recruitment manager; Bombers win flag (1998–2001)

After the conclusion of the 1997 season, where the Bombers finished in third-last position—their worst on-field result since 1978—the club underwent a restructure of positions. Chief executive officer Peter Jackson suggested, alongside Sheedy, that Dodoro should take up a full-time role in recruitment with Essendon. In December 1997, Dodoro was officially appointed as recruitment and welfare manager, replacing long-time recruitment manager Noel Judkins. Dodoro's first major task was the 1998 rookie draft—just the second of its kind, as a supplement to the national draft—and his ace card was Dean Rioli, a 19-year-old South Fremantle player who had caught Dodoro's eye when he was watching a Westar Rules match while interstate on duty with Airservices Australia. Essendon selected Rioli with pick three in the rookie draft, and he went on to play 100 games with the Bombers across nine seasons.

Formulating the welfare side of Dodoro's role was a new program introduced in 1999 that consisted of several workshops tailored to the needs of players. Keynotes on topics such as financial advice, dealing with the media, and coping with stress formed part of a 17-module program that was developed over 12 months in conjunction with all listed players. Dodoro noted the program had "taken welfare to the next level".

"You do get nervous – you get nervous because we have set pretty high standards at this club over the last few years and we want to retain the status of being one of the benchmark clubs in the competition. To do that, we need to recruit well."

Adrian Dodoro, essendonfc.com.au interview, 30 November 2001

As he approached two years in the role of recruitment manager, Dodoro faced his first major hurdle in the role. Throttled by league-imposed draft sanctions due to prior salary cap breaches, Essendon was unable to select any players in the first two rounds of the 1999 national draft. Pleased with his efforts under the circumstances, Dodoro opted to draft 18-year-old ruckman David Hille as an "investment for the future", alongside "raw talent" Marcus Pickett (younger brother of future Norm Smith Medallist Byron Pickett), former Geelong ruckman John Barnes, and 17-year-old wingman Robert Forster-Knight. Barnes made an immediate impact, helping deliver a premiership to Windy Hill in his first season at the club, while Hille played 197 games over 13 seasons, which included a Crichton Medal in 2008.

By the year 2000, Dodoro was leading a team of around 15 staff who scouted young talent across the country. Essendon made six selections in the 2000 national draft—headlined by bolter James Davies at pick 17—but the group of young recruits would combine for only six total games in their first season, a by-product of the Bombers' status as reigning premiers. While Dodoro remained bullish of the sextet's future chances following the 2001 season, describing the group as having "completed their apprenticeship", ultimately none of the players would reach the 50-game mark for Essendon (although second selection Ted Richards was eventually traded to Sydney in 2005, where he earned All-Australian selection in the Swans' 2012 premiership year).

Father–son and rookie draft success (2002–2005)

While the 2001 draft could be seen as a bust—save for Essendon's fourth selection, Andrew Welsh, who finished his career with 162 games—the 2002 draft yielded Essendon's first father–son selection under Dodoro's watch, Jobe Watson. A slow starter, playing just 13 senior games in his first three seasons, Watson eventually played 220 career games for three Crichton Medals and two All-Australian selections. Dodoro also found success via the rookie draft. The 2004 edition—held in late 2003—saw cousins Nathan Lovett-Murray and Andrew Lovett both selected; the pair combined for more than 230 games and 160 goals. Around that time period, Dodoro named Mark Johnson, Dean Rioli and Damien Peverill as the three best draft selections he had made; all were chosen via the rookie draft.

"I want my spotters to tell me who they like as a footballer and the reasons why; then the decisions on the character are up to us. If is a fine line between the player you take."

Adrian Dodoro, Bomber magazine article, 2004

Following a quiet 2004 post-season, where the Bombers brought only seven players into the club, Dodoro went in the other direction the following year, adding 12 new faces to the list after the 2005 season; this would become the most additions in a single season throughout his quarter-century in recruiting. Headlined by athletic beanpole Patrick Ryder, the Bombers also went after delisted midfielders Scott Camporeale and Chris Heffernan in the pre-season draft, each of whom were premiership players for Carlton and Melbourne respectively. The haul garnered mixed results, with Ryder eventually playing his best football elsewhere, and neither pre-season draft acquisition finding great success in red and black.

As a recruiter, Dodoro would spend ten months of the year researching and planning for the annual national draft. On occasion, he would watch six games of football in one weekend, and he conducted extensive background work—talking to coaches, regional managers and school teachers—to understand the person behind the player. By midway through any given year, Dodoro and his team of nationwide "spotters" would have listed up to 500 names on a board of further investigation, and Dodoro would meet weekly with the senior coach to discuss strategy. The period following, throughout July to September, was described by Dodoro as "specific recruiting" and involves placing players in positions and then ranking them through strengths and weaknesses.

A "dagger in the heart"; scouring the globe (2006–2009)

"It’s one you go to bed every night thinking, 'what could have been?’ with [Scott Gumbleton], because he should have been an absolute star of the competition."

Adrian Dodoro, Dodcast episode 8, 23 May 2020

The selection of West Australian forward Scott Gumbleton at pick two in the 2006 national draft was accompanied by excitement and promise. During a disappointing 2006 season that resulted in a 15th-placed ladder finish, the club's intention was clear to the public – invest in recruitment and youth, a directive which Sheedy had given to Dodoro. Fans dubbed Gumbleton the successor to Scott Lucas following his debut season. But the young phenom was constantly struck down with injury, spending three of the next four years on the sidelines, and he eventually retired after the 2014 season at age 25 with just 35 career games to his name. In 2020, during the eighth episode of his podcast Dodcast, Dodoro described the story of Gumbleton as "a dagger in the heart". He compared Gumbleton to Nick Riewoldt at the same age, and explained how his chronic injuries were unforeseeable. In the same episode, Dodoro revealed that the Bombers would have selected future superstar Joel Selwood with its second selection had the AFL not shifted its ordering of priority picks prior to the 2006 draft.

Blessed with another high pick the following season, Essendon drafted highly credentialed midfielder David Myers with its first selection of the 2007 draft. While Myers was a respectable performer for the Bombers, giving the club more than a decade of service, his selection became another which was looked upon with a degree of intrigue by analysts given livewire forward Cyril Rioli remained on the table at the time. Dodoro justified the selection of Myers due to his strong leadership qualities and his senior-level experience in the West Australian Football League with Perth. Later in that same draft Essendon selected Cale Hooker at pick 54; this became one of Dodoro's best value acquisitions, with the mobile swingman playing 219 career games.

The AFL's expansion plans had become well known by 2008, with the league's intention to expand the competition to 18 teams inspiring clubs to look far and wide for talent. Essendon's approach was more left-field, with Dodoro given a mandate by the club to put resources into "non-traditional markets", including overseas, to find the next elite talent. By November, the Bombers had signed their first international rookie, with Gaelic footballer Michael Quinn recruited from County Longford in Ireland. In August 2009, Papua New Guinean David Meli became Essendon's second international selection, recruited on a two-year scholarship outside of the primary and rookie lists as part of the AFL's new international program. Quinn played eight games in three years after starting strongly, while Meli never debuted, eventually finding team success with the Papua New Guinea Mosquitoes at the 2014 AFL International Cup.

Honours

Dodoro was made a life member of Essendon at its annual general meeting and members forum in December 2021.

Personal life

As of 2004, Dodoro was married to his wife, Sharon. They have one son, Jonathan.