Essendon Finals

[gavdog08]

When do you think Essendon go back to being a finals, or even flag, contender?

 

[Smyth94]

We COULD make the finals next year IF:

• We have a dream run with injuries;
• Our best players are consistently playing good footy; and
• Our young players start to pull more weight

This year showed us that if our core players are on fire (Hille, Lloyd, Watson, McVeigh, Stanton, Welsh) we can trouble a lot of teams

BUT

IMO we are a long way off consistently making the finals. We're a couple of key injuries away from being a bottom 8 side, and lets face it from a development perspective this year was horrible and we simply CANNOT afford to have a repeat next year.

Guys like Gumbleton, Houli, Myers, Hislop and Pears have to play major roles next year

 

[Rack Watts]

2012 GF is ours. Dreamt it last night

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

If we can minimise injuries then we could play finals next year.

 

[stugots]

after such a prick of a year most of the players that should have got 12-15 games under their belt got bugger all

next year, injurys allowing, will be the development year we have to have

no finals until 2010 at the absolute earliest

 

[Smyth94]

after such a prick of a year most of the players that should have got 12-15 games under their belt got bugger all

next year, injurys allowing, will be the development year we have to have

no finals until 2010 at the absolute earliest

Yep. Wasted year for a lot of our younger players, can't let that happen again. If it does then we're going to be in for a few more years without finals.

 

[JimmyHird]

Finals 2010, crack at flag there after.

 

[Tippaz]

anyone who thinks we'll make finals next year is dreaming.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

anyone who thinks we'll make finals next year is dreaming.

But it is such a nice dream, so why not!

 

[The_Young_Gun]

We might sneak in the 8 next year if a few teams like St.Kilda, Sydney and or Collingwood drop off expectedly.

Obviously, especially us, its gonna take a lot of effort with preventing injuries to have a decent season to at least see where our teams at...

I see it as, if we were an injury free team this year, we would have possibly made 6th or 7th.

Next year I see us ending up in a similar spot, injury free or not!

 

[Tippaz]

if we trade Lovett (as i suspect we will) we will only have 8 players aged 25+

without a heavy injury toll, we should finish around 12th.

with a heavy injury toll (as i suspect we will), we should finish bottom4 and quite possibly last.

our list is too young and injury prone to be serious finals contenders.
surely with Pev, JJ, Mal, Rama moving on our list will be in a state of transition next year.
i don't like Knights and the Board talking up our finals chances.
we would need to trade for a Daniel Kerr to challenge for finals imo.
they are just my realistic expectations.

seeing 90% of voters believing finals will happen in the next 2 years is overwhelmingly optimistic.

 

[Burzum]

Finals 2011, Top 4 2012.

 

[Beerfish]

If it wasn't for injuries we'd be playing finals this year.

If we have minimal injuries next year I have no doubt we'll play at least one final.

Granted, its a big if. Hopefully with our new fitness appointments we'll see a marked improvement injurywise next season.

*praying*

 

[aintplayin03]

A friend and I discussed and wrote out what we thought to be our best team for next year, not including injuries and any similar circumstances of course, and it is really quite average. As a result, I can't see us being competetive in the finals for a long time, as this seems to be another rebuilding phase (Sheeds did a shit job in this way during his last few years so were not left with much.)

Considering we have done very little in the draft or recruiting since pre-2000, and that now we will be missing a lot of the more experienced players, we seem to have a massive age gap as some others have stated. Looking at the team I made, around 61% of our players were in their first 3 or 4 years of playing. I see this as a massive problem, and this is why (although I havn't previously supported the concept) we might need someone like Kerr to hold our club together with on field performances, even if he has had a poor history off field.

Additionally, I see the next few years as a rebuilding phase (yes, again) where Knights is going to start again, get rid of any of Sheeds' mistakes, and completely try to build a new team from go. As I have said, I think a player like Kerr would really help our cause and could carry a young team. Although we have a lot of good players, and maybe one or two A grade players, we do not have any A+, top notch midfielders, forwards or backs that really stand out atm.

Finals could be a while, but considering the quality of some of our youth, hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.

 

[Andronicus]

Finals 2011, Top 4 2012.

i think your glass is a little too empty.

although i voted next year, realistically that will only be with a dream run. 2010 i think we need to make the finals considering the peak ages of some of our youngsters if we hope or expect a decent amount of time at the top.

if we dont make a top 6 in 2010 i will be a bit let down. 2011 we could be looking at top 4.

sure its optimistic but who else is going to fill our cup up?

 

[Burzum]

I'd prefer to underestimate the team than put expectations on them only to be disappointed

 

[Crumpler83]

2010 we should hopefully be back in the finals.

I'm not setting the bar too high for next season because as we all know, most of our talented up and comers missed too much time through injury this year therefore their development has been set back a season. We need to get as many games as possible into the likes of Myers, Gumbleton, Pears, Dempsey, Neagle, Reimers and Houli next season so they can have a massive impact for us in 2010.

 

[Andronicus]

still i think the team would like to know there is a little bit of belief about them. i reckon its fairly important that as supporters we have some faith that they will at least be competitive next year. maybe not finals but i think that 2010 would be disappointing if we didnt make the 8.

 

[Beerfish]

i think your glass is a little too empty.

although i voted next year, realistically that will only be with a dream run. 2010 i think we need to make the finals considering the peak ages of some of our youngsters if we hope or expect a decent amount of time at the top.

if we dont make a top 6 in 2010 i will be a bit let down. 2011 we could be looking at top 4.

sure its optimistic but who else is going to fill our cup up?

I'm with you mate. Not having a go at RIG in particular but geez, I'm a little surprised at how many people are already prepared to (more or less) write off next year.

When we were playing our best footy this year we could have beaten just about any side. Why is it so hard to believe that if we can get our best side on the park consistently next season we can't do well?

That purple patch we had in the second half of the season was very important for our young players. They got a taste of what its like to be winners and I have no doubt they'll be hungry for more of it next year.

Injuries are the key. If we don't get that right, we're slitting our own throats. If we do manage to get it right, these boys will show us what they're capable of.

 

[spike mcveigh]

I think we will make the finals in about 2 years time. If we can play much more BETTER and CONSISTANT footy you never know maybe next year. We will need to have at least no more than 2 or 3 major injuries.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Finals 2011, Top 4 2012.

Agreed, spot on RIG

 

[Burzum]

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if we had a worse year record wise next year than this season.

 

[bomba4eva]

If we have a good injury run then I expect us to make finals next year.

Plus what is the fun in predicting us to finish 9-11th when you could squeeze us into the 7-8th position

Too many injuries and we are looking at another horror year. We have been pathetic for the past 4 years and the only glimmer of hope is the good drafting that I believe we have done.

 

[Windas_Magic]

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if we had a worse year record wise next year than this season.

Can't see that happening myself but if that was the case, then it would be extremely disappointing. If you think of all the injuries we've had to deal with this year then unless we had a similar run with injuries next year, then there's no reason why we can't improve the record of 8-14.

With our best team on the park then i definitely think we can push up towards the eight, but it really depends on two things. One, our injuries and two, the development of our younger players.

 

[Bomberbrilliance]

Finals 2011, Top 4 2012.

couldnt agree more mate