With their injury list it's no wonder they are looking average. The thumpings are indicative of a team down on confidence, poorly coached, suffering from a lack of leadership and most importantly a team missing key players.
Woosha is on this last legs and the team is just limping to the finish line. The injuries are catching up to them now.
As others have pointed out they desperately need a strong inside midfielder to compliment Zerrett and Shiels. They also desperately need Daniher back.
I agree with this - injuries are crippling them.
But not getting the inside mid they need has been a massive oversight and someone has to be responsible for that. Everyone who knows anything about football knows it, yet Essendon did not address it.
Notwithstanding both of the above points, they are still a little vanilla. They simply do not have the quality of a Richmond, West Coast or even Collingwood even when they are all fit.