Essendon 2011

[The Bomb]

The worst thing Hird can do is have the club make finals in 2011. It's clear that the list isn't good enough to sustain a finals campaign, or continually reach the top 8 year after year.

If he manages to sneak in like Knights managed to in 09 with only 10 wins, then all the fans will again think that success is right around the corner. It isn't.

Hird has a fantastic legacy, but it will all go up in smoke very quickly a la Voss if he stuffs this up.

I see Essendon around the 9th -14th mark this year. I expect to see improvement in their younger players a la Hurley, Melksham, Colyer etc. So much so that the raw talent of their youngsters should provide them with some good wins. However i can also see the large amounts of dead wood in their list doing sweet FA in some games, resulting in some pretty shocking losses as well.

The sooner McVeigh, Welsh, Lovett-Murray and all the other middle-aged plodders are removed the better. I can't believe some of them still get games...

Regarding Hird, getting the people around him like Bomber and co will be the best move for the Essendon Football Club, it is not about Hird. Its the players taking full advantage of learning from some elite football people.

Finals or not, I just want to see improvement across the board, players like Gumbleton and Hurley have some really good moments and games ect.
I would love to see Ryder take the next step now, He played 21 games and contributed 28 goals, if he improves on this he will be very influential in many games.


I to think our middle aged plodders are no good, the young ones will push them out in time, Hird will know this already, I have a bad feeling for Mark Williams though. I dont think Hird is over the moon about him, even though the media has talked him up a bit.

 

[Crow-mo]

16 years of effort finally paying off, good for you.

aw how cute, you think its a new thing.
you've finished above us once in the last 10 years.

so what we can deduce is that you are not ahead of us now, and haven't been for a very long time.

but hey, even the black knight gets a swing so you keep em coming blackie.

 

[kwame]

I to think our middle aged plodders are no good, the young ones will push them out in time, Hird will know this already, I have a bad feeling for Mark Williams though. I dont think Hird is over the moon about him, even though the media has talked him up a bit.

i wasnt happy about us taking williams.... rebuilding teams should never trade for mature players in my opinion.

 

[Slattery_20]

The fact that not one other AFL club has hired him since his sacking says it all.

Would he even have applied for anything? Remember he's got a reasonably cushy investment portfolio now.

interesting. I'm just curious what well ahead of Adelaide means to you?

Knights finally, 6 months after the last loss led directly to his sacking, did something to get us a win over you lot:
Recommended Campo.

I see you as one of the bunch of sides we should be, but haven't been, competitive with. If you get our old down-hill skiing midfield setup, all bets will be off.

 

[jsd09]

I don't think the bombers are as bad as people are making out...however if they are smart they will bottom out a bit this year.

Hird surely has a licence to play some kids and reform the game-plan...so you can't expect results.


Surely the priority would be to get games into Heppell and Melksham as well as continuiing to frame the defence and forward line with guys like Danniher, Hurley and Gumbleton getting more games under their belts.


I think Essendon should look to get a top 10 pick again, treat 2011 as a rebuilding year and put a greater emphasis on 2012 & 2013

Realistically, this side has too many holes in it to be a contender...so there's no poing aiming to be middle of the table. The smart thing to do would be to bottom out this year.


So with that in mind, I have very low expectations for the Bombers in 2011. I'd put them bottom 4.

One of the smarter posts I have seen in a while... restepa!

I think Essendon could have a great year and finish close to the top 8 but as quoted where would it leave Essendon... do we currently have enough to build a Premiership side down the line?

My oppinion: not quite we are 1-2 A Grade midfielders short of haivng a crack at it and that time would be around 2013-2015 imo.

 

[Wernumberone]

Apart from Keilor under 9`s what has Hird done to warrant all this adulation of a gun senior AFL coach.

I didn't say anything about Hird and weren't pumping him up.

You chimed in and pumped up Hardwick after he has done absolutely nothing except lose.

Like i say, 3 decades of failure has obviously lowered your expectations.

If our midfield is soooo bad how do we ever win a game?

 

[theflea]

We're going to be struggling for a while. Sheedys bad recruiting and having knights as our coach has put us back quite a few years

im glad that sheedy finally gets his just deserts!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[theflea]

Regarding Hird, getting the people around him like Bomber and co will be the best move for the Essendon Football Club, it is not about Hird. Its the players taking full advantage of learning from some elite football people.

Finals or not, I just want to see improvement across the board, players like Gumbleton and Hurley have some really good moments and games ect.
I would love to see Ryder take the next step now, He played 21 games and contributed 28 goals, if he improves on this he will be very influential in many games.


I to think our middle aged plodders are no good, the young ones will push them out in time, Hird will know this already, I have a bad feeling for Mark Williams though. I dont think Hird is over the moon about him, even though the media has talked him up a bit.

Just a question. how would knights have gone if the bombers board had spent the money on better assistants. your thoughts no troll?

 

[.Shotties.]

I will take a dump out of a 10 storey building if they finish above Sydney this year.

 

[The Bomb]

Just a question. how would knights have gone if the bombers board had spent the money on better assistants. your thoughts no troll?

I think Hird thinks out side the square, Hird wanted a team of coaches and a senior assistant, knight never thought about that, depends, would he have considered a less attacking game plan, probably not.
I think it would still end up the same result.
knights was even brushing away Lloyds opinions about the game style, so i dont think too much would have changed.

 

[Wernumberone]

Just a question. how would knights have gone if the bombers board had spent the money on better assistants. your thoughts no troll?

It's a very valid question.

Unfortunately Knights didn't want experienced assistants and this is where the board and Peter Jackson have to take a large chunk of the responsibility.

Knights chose his own assistants and considering how inexperienced he was he shouldn't have been allowed to have inexperienced assistants like Campo and Prescott.

At least the board have learnt from the mistake.

 

[Wernumberone]

I will take a dump out of a 10 storey building if they finish above Sydney this year.

That's only punishing the neighbourhood not you!!!!

 

[Jesse Custer]

I will take a dump out of a 10 storey building if they finish above Sydney this year.

How bout jumping out of it instead.

 

[Slattery_20]

I will take a dump out of a 10 storey building if they finish above Sydney this year.

I'll paint the target on Godzke's head & strap him down.

 

[Slattery_20]

Just a question. how would knights have gone if the bombers board had spent the money on better assistants. your thoughts no troll?

Better.
The thing is, he got the assistants he wanted. He picked them. So to go out & get rid of them could've been destabilising anyway (happened anyway, as it turns out)

You're right though; as a coaching group, guys like Campo/Hickmott/Prescott were pretty deficient. GO'D was stale, been there too long.

 

[Kings Army]

The fact that not one other AFL club has hired him since his sacking says it all.

He got paid out nearly a million dollars - I think he has his feet up drinking Pina Colada's on a nice sunny beach thinking how good life is.

 

[Wernumberone]

He got paid out nearly a million dollars - I think he has his feet up drinking Pina Colada's on a nice sunny beach thinking how good life is.

Then as usual you would be wrong.

 

[Slattery_20]

He got paid out nearly a million dollars - I think he has his feet up drinking Pina Colada's on a nice sunny beach thinking how good life is.

He's an albino.
Allergic to sunlight.

 

[pazza]

Just a question. how would knights have gone if the bombers board had spent the money on better assistants. your thoughts no troll?

It isn't the better assistants, as the development roles played by Hickmott and Prescott weren't exactly that bad in reality. Same with having Grant at Bendigo too.

It's more the lack of spending in the entire football department that is the worry. No doubt had we spent the most of all clubs in terms of the football department, that would have made Knighta's job so much easier. But, under Jackson, we became known for our penny pinching in that area.

I also don't buy the inexperienced line about Knights either. He coached SANFL for a year and VFL for 3 more years before being appointed. I'm sorry, but, that is as good a preparation for senior coaching at the highest level as you can get. And given everything that was against him over that 4 year period - the lack of respect from Port Adelaide and having to meet the demands of what Sheedy wanted the players at Bendigo to do, he performed admirably and finals came.

He is only 10% of the problem.

 

[Crow-mo]

Knights finally, 6 months after the last loss led directly to his sacking, did something to get us a win over you lot:
Recommended Campo.

I see you as one of the bunch of sides we should be, but haven't been, competitive with. If you get our old down-hill skiing midfield setup, all bets will be off.

have to say I am not really sure what you're getting at here, as in I really don't understand.

but to be honest, this is where I really see you guys. you have a very interesting young spine, a lot of potential in some hard to fill places. there is even some depth.

however, you have an awful, truly terrible, wretched midfield. which is going to take some while to correct. you have no elite midfielders, and don't look like you've got any in the pipeline either. if you could put Watson & stanton back to being 3rd/4th midfielders in your rotation, where they really belong, you'd be looking a lot better.

I think you're team is unbalanced, and you're not going anywhere until its fixed

 

[Crow-mo]

My oppinion: not quite we are 1-2 A Grade midfielders short of haivng a crack at it and that time would be around 2013-2015 imo.

even if you drafted 2 midfield jets this year (which I don't think you did), it takes really best part of 5 years before they truly get up and running at full speed. sure if they are elite prospects they'll contribute, but they won't carry the load for 5 years. more or less.

your time frames are out a bit imo.

 

[Crow-mo]

I think Hird thinks out side the square, Hird wanted a team of coaches and a senior assistant, knight never thought about that, depends, would he have considered a less attacking game plan, probably not.
I think it would still end up the same result.
knights was even brushing away Lloyds opinions about the game style, so i dont think too much would have changed.

I don't think that was Hird's idea at all, I think that was what was pitched to him by the board.

Heck, those Geelong teams really took off when the senior players at Geelong took over and started coaching themselves. Bomber isn't exactly a tactical genius, though he must bring some great experience with him.

 

[captain peanut]

The worst thing Hird can do is have the club make finals in 2011. It's clear that the list isn't good enough to sustain a finals campaign, or continually reach the top 8 year after year.

If he manages to sneak in like Knights managed to in 09 with only 10 wins, then all the fans will again think that success is right around the corner. It isn't.

Hird has a fantastic legacy, but it will all go up in smoke very quickly a la Voss if he stuffs this up.

I see Essendon around the 9th -14th mark this year. I expect to see improvement in their younger players a la Hurley, Melksham, Colyer etc. So much so that the raw talent of their youngsters should provide them with some good wins. However i can also see the large amounts of dead wood in their list doing sweet FA in some games, resulting in some pretty shocking losses as well.

The sooner McVeigh, Welsh, Lovett-Murray and all the other middle-aged plodders are removed the better. I can't believe some of them still get games...

don't think they'll have to worry about that

 

[Wernumberone]

even if you drafted 2 midfield jets this year (which I don't think you did), it takes really best part of 5 years before they really get up and running at full speed. sure if they are elite prospects they'll contribute, but they won't carry the load for 5 years. more or less.

your time frames are out a bit imo.

That's BS as it depends on the quality. Tell Martin, Palmer, Rich that.

Watson is not a 3rd or 4th grader.

How do you know we don't have an elite midfielder on our list already.

While i am not saying they are it is possible that Melksham, Colyer or Heppell could be elite. Heppell won the MVP for the finals series and won a game off his own boot while playing Midfield in i think the PF.

Melksham was best on ground during the TAC cup GF.

None of that guarantees success but it's a good start.

I have asked before but no one ever answers.

If our midfield is sooo bad how do we actually win a game?

Our Midfield is nowhere near as bad as what BF makes out.

 

[DapperDon]

If our midfield is sooo bad how do we actually win a game?
.

I thought this was simple, whenever we win the opposition has played their worst ever game in 100 odd years. It's lucky we keep coming up against these worst ever performances.