If Essendon make the 8 does it prove Sheeds was a dud coach?

[Bosley]

Or does it prove that after the top 3 this year there are a lot of average sides and some well below average ones?

 

[Ari]

Yes and no. If the thread doesn't derail it could be interesting.

MY belief is that Sheeds was playing top up in his last few years to try and keep the club about bottom 4 and thus keep his job. That didn't work.

I think with Knights in and knowing he has at least 3 years he's running the kids. And there are some good kids in there! Sheeds was responsible for getting some of those kids to the club.

I think Sheeds was a little over it at the end though. Not willing to play modern football. The game did pass him. Very happy with Knighter.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

It merely proves that you can't keep a real powerhouse down. Sheedy also happens to have won more flags than your club. A dud coach?

And more seriously, what ari said.

 

[Bosley]

It merely proves that you can't keep a real powerhouse down. Sheedy also happens to have won more flags than your club. A dud coach?

And more seriously, what ari said.

Amazing that this actually took until the second post to come up. I may as well respond with the fact that Sheeds was coaching almost a decade before we came into existence

As you said tho, the first response is kind of in line with what I was thinking.

I was looking forward to sinking the boots into Knights but said I would give him a full season and unfortunately for me, he and the team have really come good.

Like Adelaide tho, your team still has an unhealthy reliance on your senior players. Note, I said LIKE ADELAIDE before you rip in2 me

 

[Spikey]

If we make the eight, I will be bumping all the topics that bagged Knighter...

 

[Bosley]

If we make the eight, I will be bumping all the topics that bagged Knighter...

That would be a board in itself. Still a long way off but you would be raging favs to beat Richmond next week seeing the Tigers are coming off a trip to Perth and with a 6 day turnaround.

I will be at that game, should be a huge crowd.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Moot point. Essendon have about as much chance of making the 8 this year as Port do.

 

[Snagboy]

If we make the eight, I will be bumping all the topics that bagged Knighter...

Take it easy Spikey:- I know your excited with 4 in a row; long way to go!!!!!

 

[Bosley]

Moot point. Essendon have about as much chance of making the 8 this year as Port do.

This would appear mathematically and factually incorrect. Essendon are two games ahead of Port and playing a lot better. They are 2 games out of the eight (altho effectively 3 games with a shocking percentage) but, on paper, they have one of the "easier" runs home.

It would be a miraculous comeback to scrape in but if they keep playing like they are and don't cop injuries or suspensions it is possible.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Amazing that this actually took until the second post to come up. I may as well respond with the fact that Sheeds was coaching almost a decade before we came into existence

All right, since 1991, we'll call it a draw.

Like Adelaide tho, your team still has an unhealthy reliance on your senior players. Note, I said LIKE ADELAIDE before you rip in2 me

You're right about Adelaide; that's why I picked either them or Sydney for the bottom four, and both for the bottom eight.

However, there is some quality coming through for your mob (Tippet, Porplyzia etc.). The question is, is there enough? For mine, there's not, so you'll have to bottom out a bit when the Burton, Edwards generation players all retire, as there's little coming through. This is what happened with Essendon from the 1999-2001 drafts. We felt that in the last few years.

But back to Essendon, and I have to disagree with you. Even from last night's game. I know that our game wasn't on in Adelaide, so I'm assuming that you looked at the paper this morning and saw "Lucas 5, Lloyd 4" and thought that it was those two that carried us over the line.

For mine, the players who have been winning us games over the past month have been Stanton (22), Monfries (21), Welsh (25), Hille (27), McVeigh (27), McPhee (26), and Lloyd (30). Only one of those is approaching retirement in the medium term future, and even then, I think Lloydy will stick around for a couple more at least, chasing 1000. Notice that all bar two are in their prime age bracket. Look for players like Ryder (20), Neagle (20), Dempsey (20) and others about that age to step up, and us to improve because of that.

 

[Bosley]

But back to Essendon, and I have to disagree with you. Even from last night's game. I know that our game wasn't on in Adelaide, so I'm assuming that you looked at the paper this morning and saw "Lucas 5, Lloyd 4" and thought that it was those two that carried us over the line.

You got me. Actually, I saw them as the leading goalkickers when they showed the score on channel 10 after the Port game finished last nite. Also in the paper today it says Fletcher lined up on Bradshaw.

Your senior players are still your spine, ours are our midfield and so I think will be easier to replace.

We do have a lot of youngsters coming thru, Craigy is being very conservative and allowing them to develop on the SANFL for now when I reckon at most clubs some would have made their AFL debut by now.

It will be interesting to see where both clubs are in a couple of years.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

But the thing is, no matter how much experience you have in the SANFL, WAFL, VFL etc., nothing compares to AFL experience. Next year, assuming the kids from last night's team play every game this year, and those out of the team, but close (not including season ending injuries), play 2 from 7, going into next year:

Davey: 19
Dempsey: 10
Dyson: 59
Hislop: 9
Houli: 16
Jetta: 23
Laycock: 60
Lonergan: 20
Monfries: 72
Myers: 10
Nash: 41
Neagle: 14
Pears: 7
Reimers: 22
Ryder: 52
Slattery: 52
Stanton: 98
Watson: 72
Winderlich: 56

That's a fair bit of game time into kids, and hopefully that'll start to be repaid by some more consistancy, and strength at AFL level.

If you look at Hawthorn at the end of 2006, I'd say you'd see a pretty good split from similar age groups.

 

[Ealesy]

It proves Sheedy got one contract too many, scrap into the finals in 2004 one the back of Sheedy topping up with servicable at best players from other clubs.

It got him another contract, the Board only wanted to offer him two years, but at the time Richmond were searching for a new coach and Sheedy milked it to get his 3 year deal.

Finishes of 13th, 15th, 12th followed and Sheedy was gone.

We have Sam Lonergan playing very well, he got 1 game in 3 years under Sheedy, Welsh has gone from an indecisive back pocket with poor decision making and foot skills to an integral member of our midfield, Stanton finally has a defensive side to his game, Lloyd has a new role and has reinvented himself, the younger players have the confidence to back their ability because they know they are going to get more than 30 minutes of gametime and then be dropped the following week for a Mark Bolton or Aaron Henneman. Knights has made some massive improvements, for the first time in 3 years we actually have an identifiable gameplan.

Sheedy was a great coach and a true legend of the Essendon Footy Club and the AFL but the fact is that the game changed significantly towards the end of his career and he was not able to keep up.

 

[SolidTiger]

If coaching a club to four flags makes a person a dud coach then yes he was.