Long-serving Essendon list boss Adrian Dodoro says Adam Ramanauskas is his favourite recruit of all time, via either the draft or trade period.
Ramanauskas, the 12th selection overall in the 1998 draft, was part of the Bombers’ premiership side in 2000 and placed second in the Rising Award that same year. He finished third in Crichton Medal the following season.
“It’s like saying which is your favourite child. There’s so many of them over the years obviously when you’ve been doing this job as long as I have,” he said on the Dodcast.
“I don’t want to give him a big head, because he has got a big head, but the one that stands out is Adam Ramanauskas for me.
“We have a very special relationship even to this day. He’s just a wonderful person. Joe and Lucy, his parents, are fantastic people.
“The day he walked in the door you could tell he had something about him. His first season at the club he won our best and fairest in 1999 in the reserves. The following year he was runner-up in the Rising Star in a premiership team.
In 2003, Ramanauskas was diagnosed with low-grade cancer in his neck and shoulder but returned to play all 24 games in 2004.
The dashing defender/wingman injured his ACL during a training drill in 2005 before a cancer recurrence in 2006.
He was delisted before being redrafted onto Essendon’s rookie list for the 2007 season.
“I’ve got no doubt that the year ‘Rama’ got diagnosed he was heading towards being one of the elite players in the competition. He was absolutely on fire," Dodoro said.
"He was transitioning from a half-back flanker/back pocket player into an elite midfielder. He was untouchable in those first three or four rounds of that particular year and then came the shocking news.
“Just the way that that young man handled that adversity in his life and showed the courage that he did. It was a hugely emotional time at our football club for everybody.
“He goes down as one (of the best recruits).”
Ramanauskas called time on his 134-game career with the Bombers in 2008.