Roast Essendon in no mans land

[QuietB]

They had 3 top 10 picks in the wrong draft unfortunately for them. Any other draft and they probably pick up two guns and look a lot more promising

And this is the thing - you need to get lucky.

Richmond screwed up picks for years until they got it right and built a dynasty. Melbourne butchered drafts for years until they struck gold - and even they only managed one premiership. Carlton butchered drafts for years - and they are still shit but they do have the top end talent. Geelong built a dynasty on the 99 and 2001 drafts. Hawthorn built a dynasty on 2001 and 2004.

Everything has to go right. And I am not sure what you can point to anything at Essendon that has gone right. I think they are on a better track than they were 10 years ago, but it is still going to take time to find the quality they need and turn it around on field.

Yesterday was a bad loss - a serious AFL team cannot concede 25 goals.

 

[Yoda_]

Trading out a lethal kick like Massimo only to play a hack like Shiel at half back is such an Essendon move.

he only bloke who thought this was a good idea had been attempted to be pushed out for years. thankfully its done

 

[Yoda_]

They had 3 top 10 picks in the wrong draft unfortunately for them. Any other draft and they probably pick up two guns and look a lot more promising

ditto the 2016 draft where it could have been a raffle for pick 1 (McGrath, McCluggage, Taranto) not a generational stand out pick 1 like Harley Reid, Sam Walsh etc

Just bad luck on top of an already poor resume meant we'll likely suffer the consequences of the previous regime for a few years longer

 

[Yoda_]

And this is the thing - you need to get lucky.

Richmond screwed up picks for years until they got it right and built a dynasty. Melbourne butchered drafts for years until they struck gold - and even they only managed one premiership. Carlton butchered drafts for years - and they are still shit but they do have the top end talent. Geelong built a dynasty on the 99 and 2001 drafts. Hawthorn built a dynasty on 2001 and 2004.

Everything has to go right. And I am not sure what you can point to anything at Essendon that has gone right. I think they are on a better track than they were 10 years ago, but it is still going to take time to find the quality they need and turn it around on field.

Yesterday was a bad loss - a serious AFL team cannot concede 25 goals.

its not just that, its making hard decisions that will make the football club better in the long run. We seem content self sabotaging and hen wondering why we are stuck in a myriad of mediocrity for as long as we are.


If some rumours from inside the 4walls are to be believed then expect to see some serious pain in 2026 if some youth who haven't come on are moved on in hope of gaining some sort of draft collateral.

 

[HTPunter]

Midfield is very good, if a bit statistically swayed through over handballing, I do like the combination of pure ball winners, defensive mids & inside/outside players they have. Merrett is rated for his ball winning and kicking but he’s genuinely a workhorse too.

Forward line is basically being built on the fly. Caddy & Kako are gonna have bad games, and gonna have good games. It’ll be fine. It’s a process.

The defence is god awful. Genuinely the worst defence I’ve seen in a long time outside of North 2020-2025. So many similarities unfortunately for the Dons. Loose checking, lack of body contact, players getting lost, and god awful Auskick level turnovers. Ridley is decent but injured and to be perfectly honest he’s a ‘cream’ defender, you want your Ridley types once you’ve already got Andrews & Payne types. He’s not big enough to take monster forwards anyway.
I’ll give a pass to Reid, because he’s raw & is still a boy in his body shape. There are a huge amount of men in general, and footy players especially when they’re 200cm tall, who won’t bulk up properly or use their frame properly until they’re 25. Reid is squarely in this category. He just has too much of the Charlie Comben kicking confidence that he shouldn’t - I know all Essendon fans rate his kicking but he’s a good kicker at training, in games he’s too slow with it & also doesn’t step through his short kicks which is a big problem in key defenders. Hence why a lot of key defenders end up kicking down the line, it’s not their job to do 15m corridor kicks. The rest of the defenders (McKay, McGrath, Redman, Shiel, Prior) are rubbish overall, or for McGrath & Redman at least, overrated & overpaid.

So I think to go forwards with their defence
1) drop Shiel - you can’t go forwards with a system defence playing Dylan Shiel in the backline.
2) bring back the press 5-10m - the current press doesn’t stop transition anyway so it ends up being you can concede 24-25 goals if the other team is on. If you’re on top, then bring the press up, but it’s all or nothing right now in that the game can be over by 1/4 time rather than making it a contest early and then lifting the defensive zone as the other team takes on more risks
3) look for a solid key defender stalwart, to help Ridley play his best role & Reid develop. Should be a player that can play VFL if Reid is playing ok (I.e probably don’t need to go for a Steven May type). Thinking more like a James Blanck who had a very solid 2023, he is just going to go to the key forwards shoulder and compete all day, you don’t win flags with him but you might get Reid & Ridley playing their best attacking footy with him
4) I’d see who has offers for McGrath at the trade table. Will never happen because he’s too comfortable at Essendon & long term contracted, as well as being VC, but geez I think he is the epitome of their poor transition play from out of defence.

When McGrath switches, he rarely switches with speed. He ambles along, taking 2-3 bounces in space, and then kicks it lateral 30m. And who would have thought it, the opposition has already shifted their defence?

He’s very good as a 1-on-1 defender as a small, his speed is excellent and he isn’t weak or skinny. But I think because of his ‘status’ as a number 1 pick & leader, they try to play through him way too much. He’s a great back pocket, awful half back flanker in the old terms. Just because he can run fast doesn’t make him a good rebounder. The alternative to trading him is making him a Lockdown defender o& not worrying about rebounding to ‘try hurt them the other way’ - if you stop Cameron, Stengle, Pickett, Papley, even Rachele types from kicking goals, it can be tough for the opposition to kick goals from half chances & all of a sudden they need to play perfect footy to give their marking forwards a strong chance.

Last year they had games like Papley 4, Stengle 3, Cameron 3…if McGrath averages 14-15 disposals instead of 22-23, and locks these guys down, it’s a better outcome. Instead he’s busy playing his own very pointless rebounding game

 

[HTPunter]

its not just that, its making hard decisions that will make the football club better in the long run. We seem content self sabotaging and hen wondering why we are stuck in a myriad of mediocrity for as long as we are.


If some rumours from inside the 4walls are to be believed then expect to see some serious pain in 2026 if some youth who haven't come on are moved on in hope of gaining some sort of draft collateral.

Fair to guess that Cox, Hobbs & Perkins might make up a a portion of those names?

 

[Yoda_]

Fair to guess that Cox, Hobbs & Perkins might make up a a portion of those names?

From what it sounds like only a very select few are ‘safe’ with everybody having a price


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Yellow Feathers]

McGrath is in his 9th season and provides absolutely nothing. One of the worst #1 draft picks of all time.
I would be livid as a Bombers supporter.

 

[southern_crusher]

McGrath is in his 9th season and provides absolutely nothing. One of the worst #1 draft picks of all time.
I would be livid as a Bombers supporter.

He and Shiel in the same backline is a sackable offence for any coach.

 

[Great8]

McGrath is in his 9th season and provides absolutely nothing. One of the worst #1 draft picks of all time.
I would be livid as a Bombers supporter.

Oh, most are. 6 more years of this crab stealing money.

 

[QuietB]

McGrath is in his 9th season and provides absolutely nothing. One of the worst #1 draft picks of all time.
I would be livid as a Bombers supporter.

2016 was not a grey draft class and McGrath is going to play 200 games. He is not even close to the worst #1 ever

 

[Ambrosia]

San Antonio Spurs are the only reasonable franchise I have picked in all sports I watch. That was a ripper trade.

Do worry that Fox might not be the guy worth giving big money too though

 

[Rob R]

It will always be bizarre to me how ineffectual Essendon have been over the past 25 years.

They were THE Powerhouse when I was a kid - just a limitless pipeline of talent and toughness.

They're a long way off it at the moment, as has been the case for a while now - Geelong fans are no stranger to that famine.

The Bombers teams of yore always had very good big men - and very good little men.
This Essendon team looks nowhere near it.

The rot started with the appointment of the dishonest narcissistic drug chest Hird as coach and became enduring when instead of doing the sensible thing and ban him from the club for life - they welcomed him back. It turned Essendon into a club where what you do doesn't matter, all that matters is who you know

On SM-A136B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[joy division]

The rot started with the appointment of the dishonest narcissistic drug chest Hird as coach and became enduring when instead of doing the sensible thing and ban him from the club for life - they welcomed him back. It turned Essendon into a club where what you do doesn't matter, all that matters is who you know

On SM-A136B using BigFooty.com mobile app

The sensible rival supporter comments from QuietB and HTpunter are appreciated but this is typical nonsense trolling

 

[MisterMarcus]

It will always be bizarre to me how ineffectual Essendon have been over the past 25 years.

They were THE Powerhouse when I was a kid - just a limitless pipeline of talent and toughness.

They're a long way off it at the moment, as has been the case for a while now - Geelong fans are no stranger to that famine.

The Bombers teams of yore always had very good big men - and very good little men.
This Essendon team looks nowhere near it.

What always baffled me is that the 2000-2001 side never kicked on to become.....if not a "Dynasty" then at least a consistent contender for many years.

That 2000 Premiership team was NOT an old side. It had only a handful of blokes from 28 and older, and the bulk of the team was early to mid 20s. They should have been set up for extended success.

Instead it fell away horribly after 2001 and never recovered.....

 

[Cyber_punk]

What always baffled me is that the 2000-2001 side never kicked on to become.....if not a "Dynasty" then at least a consistent contender for many years.

That 2000 Premiership team was NOT an old side. It had only a handful of blokes from 28 and older, and the bulk of the team was early to mid 20s. They should have been set up for extended success.

Instead it fell away horribly after 2001 and never recovered.....

Because they were a side of hard nuts but they didn't have the talent the Lions or Cats had across the board.

 

[Pancakes]

How can a team that won 15 straight off-season periods be in this position?
Surely their fans can't have lied when year after year they derided us all with how good their trading and drafting was.

Something doesn't add up, a team that dominates every draft and every trade period shouldn't be even close to what the Bombers currently are......

 

[jdstorm]

Because they were a side of hard nuts but they didn't have the talent the Lions or Cats had across the board.

More like we mismanaged the cap lost Cara to our biggest rival and then drafted terribly and did awful top up trades because sheedy was past it by then

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Essendons coterie groups still would a lot of power. There are 2 players i know of that are getting a game because the coterie groups threatened to pull funding if they didn't play.

These same groups continually campaign for the likes of hird.

The club is stuck in the 80s

 

[boncer34]

Essendons coterie groups still would a lot of power. There are 2 players i know of that are getting a game because the coterie groups threatened to pull funding if they didn't play.

These same groups continually campaign for the likes of hird.

The club is stuck in the 80s

Which 2?

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Which 2?

Have a look through the listed teams, you'll figure it out pretty quickly

 

[Yianni]

I watched them live on Saturday.

They are VANILLA and several offseasons away from anything. Renewing Brad Scott, why? I'm a North fan, I know.

They remind me of us two years ago. No system, can't move the ball and can't stop the ball being moved.

Dark times.

 

[WillHayward]

Pretty obvious Dodo had a "type".

McGrath, Martin, Gresham, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell and Perkins all have a certain choir boy look.

It's just an absolute disgrace this bloke was able to run amok inside a so called professional sports club for so long running his own fiefdom for his personal gratification.

 

[Yianni]

Pretty obvious Dodo had a "type".

McGrath, Martin, Gresham, Shiel, Parish, Caldwell and Perkins all have a certain choir boy look.

It's just an absolute disgrace this bloke was able to run amok inside a so called professional sports club for so long running his own fiefdom for his personal gratification.

Totally. Success requires accountability.

 

[WillHayward]

Have a look through the listed teams, you'll figure it out pretty quickly

I can't figure it out. So many shit players to choose from.

McGrath..Shiel..McKay..Hobbs. Jones. ?