If told in February...

[loopy_cam]

Bellchambers will continue to improve.
Colyer will show signs that he can be a very good footballer.
Davey will find the form that he had in 2007.
Gumbleton will play almost every game, take some big marks, kick some goals and, more importantly, not break down with his back injury.
Hille and Ryder will show that they are one of, if not the, best ruck duo in the competition.
Hocking will improve immensely and will become one of our first picked players.
Hooker and Pears will show that they can hold down key position back spots.
Hurley will continue to show promise as both a key position defender and forward. Also, Hurley will sign to Essendon and say no to the gold coast.
Howlett will play some good games in the midfield off the rookie list.
Jetta will prove that he isn’t a dud and has a future.
Lovett-Murray will find some top form as a midfielder.
Melksham will show he has the tools to become exactly the kind of midfielder we need.
Myers will let us know us he can play with some good games in the midfield and in defence.
Neagle will show some commitment to becoming an AFL footballer.
Watson will be ranked fourth in the league for total disposals and first in contested possessions, cementing himself as an A-grader.
Winderlich will stand up and play some very good games in the midfield.
Zaharakis will cement his spot in the side with some quality performances.
We will hear of some good form from our rookies in Marigliani, Silverlock, J. Williams and Quinn.
We will beat Saints and Bulldogs, two top five sides.
We will be very competitive with Geelong for the majority of a game.
We will beat Carlton for the sixth time in a row.
We will once again beat Hawthorn.
We will come 4 points from beating our bogey side, Port Adelaide despite being a man down for half the game.
We will be 10 points from a win against Sydney in Sydney despite being two men down for the majority of the game.
We will come within 16 points of a Hawthorn side which is back to it’s premiership winning form.
We will have done all this with next to no influence from our big recruit in the off-season, Mark Williams.
Every supporter would've been happy with that.

I remind you all, THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

[footycool]

What about the negatives...

[IAmAJedi]

What about the negatives...
You could find those in almost every other thread so I'm just going to be happy with this one thanks.

[cAsEy_18]

All well and good, and no denying that we have seen probably all of the above, only problem is that we have seen each of those things about 3 times out of the 15 games each time this season. Good that there are good signs, but showing good signs 5-6 games a season will get you just that, a 5-6 game winning season, and that won't get you too far.

One clear word missing from above, consistency. Until Essendon at least understand what that word means, most of the above is irrelevant.

[loopy_cam]

Consistency will come with time. Enjoy the ride.

[Murph_S13]

Nice work. One or two are a bit optimistic, but overall you're on the money.

[yesir]

Bellchambers will continue to improve.
Colyer will show signs that he can be a very good footballer.
Davey will find the form that he had in 2007.
Gumbleton will play almost every game, take some big marks, kick some goals and, more importantly, not break down with his back injury.
Hille and Ryder will show that they are one of, if not the, best ruck duo in the competition.
Hocking will improve immensely and will become one of our first picked players.
Hooker and Pears will show that they can hold down key position back spots.
Hurley will continue to show promise as both a key position defender and forward. Also, Hurley will sign to Essendon and say no to the gold coast.
Howlett will play some good games in the midfield off the rookie list.
Jetta will prove that he isn’t a dud and has a future.
Lovett-Murray will find some top form as a midfielder.
Melksham will show he has the tools to become exactly the kind of midfielder we need.
Myers will let us know us he can play with some good games in the midfield and in defence.
Neagle will show some commitment to becoming an AFL footballer.
Watson will be ranked fourth in the league for total disposals and first in contested possessions, cementing himself as an A-grader.
Winderlich will stand up and play some very good games in the midfield.
Zaharakis will cement his spot in the side with some quality performances.
We will hear of some good form from our rookies in Marigliani, Silverlock, J. Williams and Quinn.
We will beat Saints and Bulldogs, two top five sides.
We will be very competitive with Geelong for the majority of a game.
We will beat Carlton for the sixth time in a row.
We will once again beat Hawthorn.
We will come 4 points from beating our bogey side, Port Adelaide despite being a man down for half the game.
We will be 10 points from a win against Sydney in Sydney despite being two men down for the majority of the game.
We will come within 16 points of a Hawthorn side which is back to it’s premiership winning form.
We will have done all this with next to no influence from our big recruit in the off-season, Mark Williams.
Every supporter would've been happy with that.

I remind you all, THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!


Is that you, MK????

[Lance Uppercut]

hmmm, excellent thread

[TheGodDelusion]

One clear word missing from above, consistency. Until Essendon at least understand what that word means, most of the above is irrelevant.

You don't get consistency from kids. 13 of the 22 on sunday had played less than 50 games. Only Richmond had more than that.

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Great thread and a good reminder. Just a note that regardless of whether there are kids or not, consistency won't come with an unsettled side or with players not given confidence that they are allowed to make mistakes.

[Pevers-Legend]

You don't get consistency from kids. 13 of the 22 on sunday had played less than 50 games. Only Richmond had more than that.

And they played with more spirit, passion and determination. Says a lot doesn't it!!

[Pevers-Legend]

Hille and Ryder will show that they are one of, if not the, best ruck duo in the competition.
Hooker and Pears will show that they can hold down key position back spots.
Lovett-Murray will find some top form as a midfielder.
Myers will let us know us he can play with some good games in the midfield and in defence.
Neagle will show some commitment to becoming an AFL footballer.
Winderlich will stand up and play some very good games in the midfield.
Zaharakis will cement his spot in the side with some quality performances.
We will hear of some good form from our rookies in Marigliani, Silverlock, J. Williams and Quinn.
We will be very competitive with Geelong for the majority of a game.
We will come 4 points from beating our bogey side, Port Adelaide despite being a man down for half the game.
We will be 10 points from a win against Sydney in Sydney despite being two men down for the majority of the game.
We will come within 16 points of a Hawthorn side which is back to it’s premiership winning form.
We will have done all this with next to no influence from our big recruit in the off-season, Mark Williams.

I remind you all, THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

I list those that are not so positive or are over-rated.

[Drummer_19]

And they played with more spirit, passion and determination. Says a lot doesn't it!!

Lol, what about the other 75 games they played before that?

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Lol, what about the other 75 games they played before that?

If anything that is more to commend Richmond for and more damning comment for Essendon, sadly to say.

[yaco55]

I think that the points raised by the op are pretty much correct but unfortunately have happened in isolation - We need all these points to come together as one package.

[anf06]

Obviously when you disregard all the negatives, any list is going to look good. For example, if you told me at the start of the year that we would lose to West Coast, Melbourne, Fremantle i wouldn't have been happy. Likewise, if you said we would lose to Adelaide just shy of 100 points.

Once there are less negatives than positives, and all the positives gel together at the same time, then it will be a joy to watch and be a part of. But for now, whilst I don't think we are in a terrible terrible way as many say, we have to keep up the support and weather the storm.

[bipolarbeaR]

Mark Robinson should read this thread.

[TimeReaper]

Great OP, It put a smile on my face and made me feel all warm inside.

Keep up the good work.

[daffo]

Loopy, I said all this in Jan. :)

[The Donners]

We're 5 and 10, you expect young teams to improve and we've gone backwards... in a big way. We've played far more bad games than good games.

[ManWithNoName]

If I was told in Feburary:

We'd still all run forward following the ball, leaving no-one back in case of a turnover
We'd still be making dumb decisions, like handballing to stationery players surroudned by opposition players
Our players are still putting in minimal second efforts (shepharding, blocking etc)
That our players still lead to 50, but then look completely terrified of the prospect of taking a shot from there

I'd wonder WTF was going on. The more I think about it, it's not Knights that's the problem, it's the assistants. We've had these problems for years, pre-Knights. Why haven't blokes like Campo or Gary O'Donnell been held accountable?

[loopy_cam]

We're 5 and 10, you expect young teams to improve and we've gone backwards... in a big way. We've played far more bad games than good games.

Have we really gone backwards considering our losses over the off-season? Had we had just one of Lloyd, Lovett or McPhee we could've won a few of the close ones and be sitting equal sixth. Losing all three for nothing is bound to hurt.

I still think we can win three or four more and finish on eight or nine wins which would be about par considering the loss of those three guys.

[table tennis]

I think one positive this year is that we have got unexpected improvement in areas...

We have had key personnal out at the one time...

Hille, Pears, Fletcher, Gumbleton out in the one week hurts structure.

I am as gutted as anyone, and Mad..

But we have a young list, and we have a lot of deadwood. Its time for a clean out. GWS and GC17 can take some, we need to get lucky with the draft. Will be hard for Scott Clayton to get a grasp on every kid, so maybe a good one will slip to us, where ever that pick lies.

We will be aggresive at the trade table this year, trading picks and players... There will be angst on this board in October, there might also be some joy.

This alone will not change things dramatically, but it may help. If they get it right.

I think that Dodoro has to go. Too long has he failed with his recruiting, costing us severely.

We will improve, Melksham, Colyer & gumbleton have been good injections and will get better. Throw last years additions Pears, Hurley, Hooker & Zaharakis (I know that they have been on the list for a while but only cemented their spots in the side this year).
Jetta seems like he has settled and can contribute a bit more and is getting better.
Davey has found some form. Hocking is having a blinder.
Our improvement needs to come from below to keep players like Dyson, Welsh etc out of the team on merit.

Big development left in Bellchambers who has shown something.
Dempsey will only get better.
Prismall will get Better. Some seem to forget that he is only a year back from a knee, and history tells you that form comes back 2 years after a knee. See Solomon, Malceski & others.

We have lost 4 Senior players from last year. Llyod, Lucas, McPlee & Lovett.

You cannot replace them straight away.

We have been fooled into thinking we are better than what we are. But with inexperience you get inconsitency.

I even believe that the coaching has developed from last year. We have put in some defensive efforts this season that we have never done previously, Some coaching improvement must have come then.

Maybe a little patience shown to Knights, like we have shown with Gumby & others is needed.

Also, those who say MK is not an Essendon man. He has been at the club for 5 years. If you have been involved with any club that long, you fast become a club man. Knighta is more Essendon than you and I.

[twentington]

Good perspective and i think if we added:


We weren't going to concede the second most points in the league and our defensive structures were improving as planned

Then we'd all be a fair bit happier with the year :p

I initially thought excellent points all round but I don't think its unreasonable to expect draft picks to show signs, players to improve/show commitment, the team to get close in and even win games etc etc.

Only thing we've got out of that list that is really out of the ordinary is gumbleton playing 13-14 straight! :)

[Son of Whispy]

I think one positive this year is that we have got unexpected improvement in areas...

We have had key personnal out at the one time...

Hille, Pears, Fletcher, Gumbleton out in the one week hurts structure.

I am as gutted as anyone, and Mad..

But we have a young list, and we have a lot of deadwood. Its time for a clean out. GWS and GC17 can take some, we need to get lucky with the draft. Will be hard for Scott Clayton to get a grasp on every kid, so maybe a good one will slip to us, where ever that pick lies.

We will be aggresive at the trade table this year, trading picks and players... There will be angst on this board in October, there might also be some joy.

This alone will not change things dramatically, but it may help. If they get it right.

I think that Dodoro has to go. Too long has he failed with his recruiting, costing us severely.

We will improve, Melksham, Colyer & gumbleton have been good injections and will get better. Throw last years additions Pears, Hurley, Hooker & Zaharakis (I know that they have been on the list for a while but only cemented their spots in the side this year).
Jetta seems like he has settled and can contribute a bit more and is getting better.
Davey has found some form. Hocking is having a blinder.
Our improvement needs to come from below to keep players like Dyson, Welsh etc out of the team on merit.

Big development left in Bellchambers who has shown something.
Dempsey will only get better.
Prismall will get Better. Some seem to forget that he is only a year back from a knee, and history tells you that form comes back 2 years after a knee. See Solomon, Malceski & others.

We have lost 4 Senior players from last year. Llyod, Lucas, McPlee & Lovett.

You cannot replace them straight away.

We have been fooled into thinking we are better than what we are. But with inexperience you get inconsitency.

I even believe that the coaching has developed from last year. We have put in some defensive efforts this season that we have never done previously, Some coaching improvement must have come then.

Maybe a little patience shown to Knights, like we have shown with Gumby & others is needed.

Also, those who say MK is not an Essendon man. He has been at the club for 5 years. If you have been involved with any club that long, you fast become a club man. Knighta is more Essendon than you and I.

I agree with a lot you've written there tt. We are young, and probably expected too much out of our kids this year. The 3 drafts we've had under Knights, we've been able to unearth some good talent with the likes of Myers, Pears, Hooker and I believe also Bellchambers out of 07, Hurley & Zaharakis out of 08 + Melksham, Howlett & Colyer out of last years draft. All of this group will have a bright future at our club. Also add to the mix Dempsey, Gumbleton, Jetta, Atkinson, Prismall and Hocking and the future will be bright. What the selection committee need to do is give these blokes game time.

What needs to be done is the club need to make some hard calls on the list. There are plenty of list cloggers. Hard decisions need to be made on the group of H.Slattery, Laycock, Dyson and Welsh. I can't think of any others off the top of my head at the moment. If we are to move forward and develop, we need to move these blokes on. They have had long enough to show what they can do. The decision on Welsh will be the hardest. He has been a loyal and much loved member of this playing group, but I think his time has passed. I felt sorry for him on the weekend. To see him struggle on Sunday was really sad to see. He just couldn't keep up.

The part I will disagree with your post is the improvement in the defensive side of the game. It has only been there for small patches for the year. It was there for 2 and a half quarters in round 1, rounds 6-10 when we won 4 from 5, and the second half against Hawthorn in round 13. The continual defensive pressure will come with experience and and age.

But surely there is a tactical fault for this. Most coaches of developing sides put an emphasis on defence and pressure and the attack and flair will come. Knights has done completely the opposite. I believe it's been at it's worse in the last 2 weeks. Last week for example, the coaching staff didn't employ a zone from the Melbourne kick ins all day. I lost count how many times Melbourne ran the field with ease from kick outs. This isn't a modern day trend to employ these zones. It's been happening for 15 years. I was doing it playing park footy 15 years. That was blatantly obvious.

I know it's hard to watch at the moment, but we have to stick with the team. The kids will only improve. It's time to blood some more and time to get rid of the list cloggers and recruit smartly at the end of the year, because it's going to be harder to recruit in the next 2 years.

[Flash10]

Imagine where we would be with a decent development coach!!
Unfortunately there is a longer list of players who have not developed at all this year or even gone backwards:

Neagle
Dyson
Stanton
Monfries
Prismall
Mcveigh
Welsh
Lonergan
Dempsey
H Slattery
Myers
J Williams
Still
Laycock
Daniher
M Williams
Reimers
Atkinson
Quinn

These are 19 players who i believe have not improved from last year. I understand that we can't expect older players like McVeigh and Welsh to get much out of a development coach.

Surely not all of these players are too lazy to improve over a pre-season. Therefore there must be something wrong with our development team/process.

Sorry to bring a negative view to this thread:(

However i believe with better guidance most of these players can add important elements to our team.

SACK HICKMOTT!! :p

[The Donners]

Have we really gone backwards considering our losses over the off-season? Had we had just one of Lloyd, Lovett or McPhee we could've won a few of the close ones and be sitting equal sixth. Losing all three for nothing is bound to hurt.

I still think we can win three or four more and finish on eight or nine wins which would be about par considering the loss of those three guys.

Though I mentioned wins and losses, it's more than that. Even some of the games we've won we were poor, i.e. Carlton and second half vs Richmond.

[loopy_cam]

Imagine where we would be with a decent development coach!!
Unfortunately there is a longer list of players who have not developed at all this year or even gone backwards:

Mcveigh
Welsh
M Williams
Ok These guys are, like you said, too old to really improve so we can take them out.

Laycock
Daniher
These guys have been injured all year so I don't know how you can say they haven't improved.

Myers - Played better games than he has any other year. Is that not improvement?
J Williams - From all reports is playing very well at halfback for Bendigo. Has definitely improved.
Still - Considering he didn't even play in his first year I find it hard to believe this year isn't an improvement.
Atkinson - Has played more games this year than any other season. Must be some kind of improvement.
Quinn - Has been consistently getting in the bests for Bendigo. Definite improvement.

Dyson
Stanton
Monfries
H Slattery
These guys your right, probably havn't improved. Dyson, Monfries and Slattery have, however, had interrupted seasons which makes it more difficult. And they're still playing at the same level as last year so they haven't gone backwards. Stanton played the best game I've seen him play in round one and had a very good start to the year. Yes, he has dropped off a bit but once again is still performing at a high level.

Prismall
Still coming off a knee reco but yes I agree, I thought he'd improve more.

Dempsey
Has improved when looking at the statistics. Does need to do more though.

Neagle
Lonergan
Both showed good signs on the weekend. Lonergan with his first go in the midfield looked good.

Reimers
Agree completely on Reimers. I thought he'd improve more.

[loopy_cam]

Though I mentioned wins and losses, it's more than that. Even some of the games we've won we were poor, i.e. Carlton and second half vs Richmond.

Is that not a good thing? The ability to win 'ugly'. Also, it goes both ways. We've played some good footy in losses, i.e. Port and Geelong round one.

[The Donners]

Is that not a good thing? The ability to win 'ugly'. Also, it goes both ways. We've played some good footy in losses, i.e. Port and Geelong round one.

So we've played 10 bad games and 5 good games. That's not a good thing.

Winning ugly can be good but Carlton were simply uglier than us.

[loopy_cam]

So we've played 10 bad games and 5 good games. That's not a good thing.

Winning ugly can be good but Carlton were simply uglier than us.

Well I'd still call it 7 and 8 for our ability to get over the line against Carlton and Richmond.

[The Donners]

Well I'd still call it 7 and 8 for our ability to get over the line against Carlton and Richmond.

Any half decent side would've killed us but that's your perogative.

[Pornstar]

#1 in the league for tackles

[The Donners]

#1 in the league for tackles

#13 in the league...