Insipid!!! Weak, Lazy, Pathetic!!!

[bomberstomake8]

Re: we have gone backwards

When Alwyn is not in the side the change in our team is unbelievable.

He is the only player who puts defensive pressure on opponents in our forward 50 and basically the only small player/midfielder we have that the opposition coaches have to worry about,

jetta??? he was well ahead of davey in the tackles count before he got injured.. imo we have missed him a hell of a lot

 

[Daytripper]

Re: we have gone backwards

jetta??? he was well ahead of davey in the tackles count before he got injured.. imo we have missed him a hell of a lot

With Jetta and Dempsey out as well - we just become a slow side again.

We are a better side than last year. Like all teams we just need a chance to get somewhere near our best team and structure on the park.

We were missing Lucas, McVeigh, Davey, Jetta and Dempsey today and those five players are incredibly important to the way Knights wants our team to play.

 

[ant555]

Re: we have gone backwards

how r u ant555 mis our chats what r your thoughts so far

I think we are exactly where i though we would be. It doesnt make me happy to say it but there are major issues with the list and i dont think pegging them on Knights after round 6 is the answer. I thought that we would stuggle this year unles some of the young midfielders came through and that is the case. The key young players have been injured so we have not been able to get a look at them in action.
Like any coach Knights is going to have to move blokes around stick with some players in situations where the obvious thing is to move them. You have to try and find the players you need to go forward.
Who knows if they made the right choice yet. I think Knights had the right plan to get the structure of the club and player development up and running (expect to see more changes at the end of the year ). If he has the nouse to be a good coach , well we will have to wait and see. A few too many are just a bit premature with their complaints and are not really looking at the big picture. I just keep remembering the continual bagging Clarkson got in his first two years at Hawthorn when he was changing their style and they looked bloody ordinary a lot of the time. Things dont change over night and Knights did say right at the beggining that there where a lot of changes to be made but he could not do them all in his first year

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Re: we have gone backwards

FFS people.. get a grip.

You can't compete with 7 of your best 22 out.

How did we go towards the end of last year when we had injuries?

How are West Coast going without Judd and Cousins?

It's why its critically important that we have no soft tissue issues and manage the players better.

 

[hayesy_27]

I think everything essendon is getting from its fans is deserved after todays effort. If the team had been out played like the geelong game then it may be a different story. However today is a totaly different story. The boys did not turn up to play footy, they played a brand of footy that may not even get you a win a district level. This is the AFL, these guys are on big money, it was ANZAC day for f&^^k sake the next biggest game next to the grand final. How can they turn up and put such a piss weak effort in as they did. Really Essendon have a long hard look at yourself today! 90 thousand people brought tickets ages ago, payed good money, 38 thousand members have put there trust in you guys and you give us this? I would imagine it would be passing the mind of many of those members to tear up there cards tonight.

Johns needs to go, he was playing for his career today and he did nothing. The move of fletcher forward worked for a quarter but then it showed how vunerable our backline is with out him. Stanton gave us nothing. Handballs that were travelling just metres missed there targets. Lazy kicks, giving your apponent an absolute paddock of space. All of these things are totaly unacceptble at AFL level.

I really think essendon took some massive steps backwards today, and will have lost the support of some of its members. The team need to have a long hard look at the massive amount of people who support them and give us something next week against Port because you can see by this forum, the fans are disgraced and so we should be that game was truely pathetic!

 

[Zio Cich]

Re: we have gone backwards

FFS people.. get a grip.

You can't compete with 7 of your best 22 out.

How did we go towards the end of last year when we had injuries?

How are West Coast going without Judd and Cousins?

It's why its critically important that we have no soft tissue issues and manage the players better.

Yes i understand Kelvin BUT there is a difference between competing and showing some effort at least.

Big question mark on the coaching staff today. Humiliating.

 

[raskolnikov]

Just arrived home from traveling nearly two hours each way to see the weakest display I have ever seen by an Essendon team. I was fuming on the way back home.

I couldn't believe the positioning that was happening all day. Fletcher and Michael in the forwards, Johns, Lovett Murray and Winderlich up back. I'm sure Knights had a plan in there somewhere but I couldn't see it. Brent Stanton should be ashamed to be wearing the no.5. Johns is a dud.

Absolute Rubbish.

 

[ant555]

Re: we have gone backwards

Yes i understand Kelvin BUT there is a difference between competing and showing some effort at least.

Big question mark on the coaching staff today. Humiliating.

No the same question on the mental aplication or smartness of some of our players.

 

[HighettBomber]

I am struggling to find anything positive from todays game, perhaps a couple of patches by Houli. Even Ryder, who has been fantastic all season, was absolutely crap. There are a few players who need to be dropped for certain:

1. Slattery: The worst player in the AFL, no skill, poise or decision making.
2. Lovett-Murray: Downhill skier, I'm sick of seeing him play well when we are going well and go missing whenever we really need him.
3. Johns: Full forward or nowhere.

There are plenty of others who could also do with a rest, but these three definately have to go and probably should never come back.

 

[tockley]

Re: we have gone backwards

yeah can not say we have improved on last year players form has dropped off winderlich,ryder,lloyd,davey,and the reason sheeds didnt play dyson because he is crap

 

[franny23]

Re: we have gone backwards

I was a big anti Knights at the start of the year i thought u guys had made a huge mistake.

6 games in and i like the way he coaches and i believe his game plan is going to be effective, you guys just dont have the cattle to deliver it. from what i have seen he is willing to take the game and not give in and push numbers back. i like that and if you have abit of luck then it will definatly work in your favour down the track.

today you were pritty bad and yes knights got a few matchups terribly wrong, but this is always going to be a problem when rocca pulls out and u have big Mal and fletcher with only 1 tall forward to take.

you have been dealt a shocking hand as far as the injuries go and if you had the likes of Mcveigh and Lucas in your team u would have really pushed collingwood today.


I wouldnt read much into it... you are definatlybetter off now than what you were 12 months ago

 

[dmc333]

Re: we have gone backwards

Just wondering, are you guys concerned this will be a very long stretch at the lower end of the ladder?

I see all the concessions for GC and WS and think whoever is down the bottom isn't going to get much help for a long time.

Problem is, I think you can still win enough games to push you even further back in the draft and that makes it a bigger problem, you don't pull much in from the 08 draft, then there's no chance in 09, 10.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Re: we have gone backwards

Yes i understand Kelvin BUT there is a difference between competing and showing some effort at least.

Big question mark on the coaching staff today. Humiliating.

Yep you can compete when the chips are down and show some effort.

We didn't do that today and I haven't seen us do it since the 2004 final against Melbourne when Solomon busted his gut to get us over the line.

Too many pea hearts which is why it's crucial to have McVeigh, Lonergan, Davey back in the side. Dempsey and Jetta, Lucas also play with heart unlike my man Dyson!

What can Knights do without the cattle?

 

[The Dustbin]

Re: we have gone backwards

Yep you can compete when the chips are down and show some effort.

We didn't do that today and I haven't seen us do it since the 2004 final against Melbourne when Solomon busted his gut to get us over the line.

Too many pea hearts which is why it's crucial to have McVeigh, Lonergan, Davey back in the side. Dempsey and Jetta, Lucas also play with heart unlike my man Dyson!

What can Knights do without the cattle?

Play Winderlich on the ball. What the ____ was he thinking.

 

[Paul.]

Look Collingwood were great today, totally deserving in the win, but that does not change the fact that the Essendon players can play considerable better than today and yes we are struggling with injuries but once you cross the whiteline there is little room for excuses.

Well played by Colingwood

Essendon will go places, not this year however.

I like your gameplan, only issue is your players aren't skilled enough to play it, or used to the intesity that it demands. Hence a reason why you're getting smashed by teams.

Knights is in-experienced, if I were him I'd ____ off Courtney Johns, absolute hack. I'd take the running game down a notch, and the handballing, and concede a little into playing a more direct style with or without a strong centre half forward.

Laycock can't mark, so don't play him in the forward line. David Hille can - so put him there running off the 50m line into the centre bounces to crash the pack.

For ____s sake Matthew Lloyd needs to be put in the goal square, Mcphee at half back as he's ____ing hopeless as a spot up forward.

Things will get better, but not probably this season. My mum's an Essendon supporter so I go with her every now and then, they're not a bad side.

 

[The Dustbin]

Re: we have gone backwards

Just wondering, are you guys concerned this will be a very long stretch at the lower end of the ladder?

I see all the concessions for GC and WS and think whoever is down the bottom isn't going to get much help for a long time.

Problem is, I think you can still win enough games to push you even further back in the draft and that makes it a bigger problem

No doubt this is one of my concerns.

 

[The_Young_Gun]

Re: we have gone backwards

These 17 and 18th teams are going to be huge problems for everyone.

Just imagine, the next top 5 pick players of the next 3/4 years (After this years draft) are going to end up in these 2 new teams.

What crap. Melbourne are going to be F___ed for the next 5 to 10 years if they can't produce the greatest draft result at the end of this year.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Re: we have gone backwards

Play Winderlich on the ball. What the ____ was he thinking.

Yep, that's one of the strange ones.

I guess he's trying him to get more run and drive off half back and seeing if he's capable of that role.

I guess he has to experiment in certain areas to see if guys are up to it. It gets exposed when there's no cattle out there to cover.

I'd like to see Winderlich play Dyson's role and hopefully McVeigh and others to come back in and replace the likes of Dyson.

 

[Bomber57]

For Essendon members go to the Bombers match day mailbox, members say it all there, and yes Knights is a crap coach ATM, but half his team is shit, so not all his fault maybe.

 

[The Dustbin]

Re: we have gone backwards

Yep, that's one of the strange ones.

I guess he's trying him to get more run and drive off half back and seeing if he's capable of that role.

I guess he has to experiment in certain areas to see if guys are up to it. It gets exposed when there's no cattle out there to cover.

I'd like to see Winderlich play Dyson's role and hopefully McVeigh and others to come back in and replace the likes of Dyson.

Except Licker was playing on Medhurst deep inside 50.

 

[DaSawx]

Re: we have gone backwards

These 17 and 18th teams are going to be huge problems for everyone.

Just imagine, the next top 5 pick players of the next 3/4 years (After this years draft) are going to end up in these 2 new teams.

What crap. Melbourne are going to be F___ed for the next 5 to 10 years if they can't produce the greatest draft result at the end of this year.

They'll probably be ____ed anyway, one draft won't help, especially for the years after, you draft for the future not for a quick fix, they are 18 year olds.

We have to make sure we continue drafting well with every pick, not just first rounders, and make sure these players can run hard, play for the team and use the ball well.

 

[Yagabomb]

I've said it once and i'll say it again. We need to get ben cousins next year. Our midfeild is ____ING TERRIBLE. Watson is garbage as is monfries, johns,nash,slattery and stanton is a front runner. None of our midfielders want to do the hard things, they just wana look pretty and get an easy kick. Game plans like the one thats in place at essendon can only work if you've got a skillful team not if your teams skills are ____iNG HOPELESS

 

[Windas_Magic]

Re: we have gone backwards

Except Licker was playing on Medhurst deep inside 50.

Im not a fan playing him in defence either but its probably because we're lacking a medium defender to play on those type of forwards. Houli has been doing pretty well in that role but Knights wanted to unleash him in the midfield today.

 

[bomba4eva]

Spineless, Gutless, Atrocious-Many adjectives to describe todays performance. I am still spewing. I havent been this frustrated in a long time with the Bombers.
Btw Courtney Johns, ____ off

 

[FullFathom5]

Angry fans... I like it. It shows you care. The thing is, it's easy to get emotional and illogical, particularly when the team drops the collective bundle.

Next week will be interesting. Firstly, to see the players' level of fortitude after a very poor effort. Secondly, to see if the coaching staff are willing to adjust anything on the game plan to keep fans happy.

I guess everyone will wait and see how players fare in the VFL.

Have faith.