Opinion Is this it? Is this what we've waited almost 20 years for?

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Remember beating Adelaide Round 1 we all came out at said we’d be 5-0 then lost to Freo and WB the next 2 weeks? I remember

If that happens then the team wouldn't have improved at all during the summer it's what cost us a final spot last year.

 

[Andronicus]

Remember beating Adelaide Round 1 we all came out at said we’d be 5-0 then lost to Freo and WB the next 2 weeks? I remember

No........

 

[fairbump_playon]

Was looking at the fixture

Rd 1 - GWS
Rd 2 - Saints
Rd 3 - Demons
Rd 4 - Lions

4-1 with our only loss to Melbourne or GWS would be a great start

It’s really hard to be 4-1 after 4 games. Not impossible though. We will have to dig really deep.

 

[Mr_McBoogerBalls]

If that happens then the team wouldn't have improved at all during the summer it's what cost us a final spot last year.

I wouldn't invest too much thought into how many we win in a row at this point.

I think the club know their role and play out each week with the same mentality then finished the season off in 2018, it will make us a competitive team.

 

[Doss]

It’s really hard to be 4-1 after 4 games. Not impossible though. We will have to dig really deep.

typical essington lose a game even when its statistically impossible fml were s**t arent we

 

[boncer34]

typical essington lose a game even when its statistically impossible fml were s**t arent we

Poor post.

You're better than that

 

[boncer34]

 

[fairbump_playon]

typical essington lose a game even when its statistically impossible fml were s**t arent we

I’m sick off us not looking after the young blokes in games that don’t occur. At least look like you care even if you’re not actually playing.

 

[Mr_McBoogerBalls]

 

[Captain chaos]

I reckon you have all the ingrediants... my only query is how savvy JW is in the box... think he lacks some smarts. That Jok kid is a gun.. saw him last yEar and he will surprise a few.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

How Essendon will follow the Tiger template this year

By Jake Niall
February 26, 2019 — 12.08pm

If Essendon play deep into September this year, ending an embarrassing 15-year period in which the Dons have not won a final, one of the parties responsible will be the Richmond Football Club.

In 2019, Essendon will have a different game style to the one that saw them finish 11th last year, recovering from the dismal first eight rounds to finish with a flourish, creating great expectations that the club, no longer lumbered with the legacy of a drug scandal, could contend for the flag.

Within Tullamarine, the view was that while they had performed far better from round nine, winning 10 of the last 14, the three teams that beat Essendon in the final 14 games were telling: Richmond (twice), Collingwood and Hawthorn.
Those teams, as the Bombers knew, shared one obvious trait: each of them had been well-drilled and rehearsed in a method for team defence, a system that covered for the deficiencies of individuals.

This year, the coach who held the team defence portfolio at Tigerland, Ben Rutten, has changed his stripe from yellow to red. Over summer, Rutten has been teaching and drilling the Essendon players - that's all of them, not simply defenders - in a method that will borrow significantly from the successful Tiger template.
Essendon, despite the recovery from 2-6, did not defend terribly well in 2018. The Dons finished 11th on the points-against ladder. Even though they improved after round eight (a period, coincidentally or not, that followed the ruthless removal of Mark Neeld from the coaching panel), they remained only average in team defence - the points against improved from 83.5 per game to 76 (ninth over the 14 rounds).

Those who have watched Essendon train over summer have noticed the sudden prevalence of Richmond-like defensive drills. No team defends better than the Tigers, who rely less on winning the ball at the source and are nonpareil at maintaining their "shape'' defensively.

The best way to understand Richmond's team defence - which drives their offence, too - is to think of it as an insurance policy: if they win the ball, they can take off, but they will have protective measures in place in the event of a turnover.

If they are beaten to the ball, the insurance policy is in place to win it back. This often means guarding space in the corridor - a drill that the Dons have been seen rehearsing, at Rutten's direction.

The hallmarks of a Richmond defensive method are as follows: they play a zone, in which players guard both an opponent and space. They are versed in defending the kick down the line (which the Bombers also have been practising). And they use their speed and sheer intent to create turnovers in their forward half of the ground, where the buzzing likes of Jason Castagna and Dan Butler - neither destined for the Hall of Fame - have been valuable role players.

Essendon do not have the same personnel as the Tigers, so their game style will differ accordingly. Overall, both teams have speed - a key component to Richmond's forward pressure - but the Tigers probably have a greater depth of endurance runners.

Hitherto, Essendon have kicked the ball often and spread the ball across the field - a method evident in the Dons' high mark tallies. By spreading the field, however, they have left themselves open too often when the ball is turned over. The team that wins the ball back from Essendon does not find there is as much "density'' - coach-speak for a crowd - as Richmond, Collingwood or Hawthorn would afford them.

The well-informed observers at club level expect this trait to change, and for the formerly ballistic Bombers to exercise greater caution with the ball, as they develop a Rutten-led insurance policy.

But the key to whether the Dons have successfully emulated Richmond won't simply be Rutten's teaching capacity. It will be the intent of the players. This means that if, say, Jake Stringer doesn't chase and follow the system for closing down space, his position in the team must be in jeopardy.

John Worsfold has long been a coach who emphasises player management, relationships with players and staff and culture, rather than drilling the players in a particular method - the technical detail which, increasingly, is left in the hands of a club's sharp assistant coaches, such as Rutten.

Damien Hardwick salvaged his career and won the feted, long-awaited flag by changing his method, delegating to new coaches in Justin Leppitsch and Blake Caracella (plus Rutten) and focusing on relationships. Collingwood's Nathan Buckley, while falling a kick short of the grail, followed a remarkably similar script, learning to delegate and allowing his defensive coordinator, Justin Longmuir, to drive the game style change that held up in the face of injuries.

Lest we forget, too, that Hardwick, a nasty former Essendon back pocket, was giving the Tigers back some of the DNA that they donated to the Essendon Football Club in 1980, when another rugged back pocket called Kevin Sheedy walked in the door.

While Rutten doesn't represent a Sheedy-like revolution at Essendon, once again, there will be a touch of yellow splashed in with the red and black this year.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl...tiger-template-this-year-20190226-p510a8.html

 

[TheGrizz]

It’s really hard to be 4-1 after 4 games. Not impossible though. We will have to dig really deep.

The first 3-4 rounds always throw up an upset or two as players build their match fitness up, get used to new/tweaked game plans in match situations and get back to AFL speed and intensity.

That being said, if we are serious about allaying bad starts to seasons, then looking at the draw then we shouldnt be anything less than 2-2 after 4 rounds

 

[JayDon]

After watching the Devon Smith interview...
THE LID'S OFF!!!

 

[SherbertLemon]

This is it lads.

We might win a final this year.

 

[VelvetSledge]

This is it lads.

We might win a final this year.

The Grand one would be great, just sayin'.

 

[schmuttt]

You'll make the GF

 

[Runk]

You'll make the GF

I hope so, but doubtful.

A reinvigorated Collingwood, a pack of slighted Tigers, a young bunch of Demons.....it's going to be tough as *.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Tigers
Melbourne
Collingwood
Essendon

Wouldn't be surprised if this is the top 4.

 

[Burzum]

You'll make the GF

Let's win a final first.

 

[fishardansin]

Tigers
Melbourne
Collingwood
Essendon

Wouldn't be surprised if this is the top 4.

Adelaide, West Coast and GWS too.

I am still expecting an angry Richmond to burn a little slower this year and tear the competition in half in the back end of the year. However, there are 7 teams who are more than capable of winning the flag this year. Could make for an amazing season. Carlton may not win many games, but they will show a lot in glimpses. Brisbane and Freo will climb the ladder a bit too.

I expect Saints, Doggies, Gold Coast, Port, Hawthorn and Geelong to have very disappointing years. Geelong will still be ok, but clearly a long way off the top. After investing in Dangerfield that is disappointing.

I personally think that 1 finals win for Essendon this year is just break even.

 

[JayJ20]

This thread aged well.

Theory already debunked after one preseason game

 

[Lore]

This thread aged well.

Theory already debunked after one preseason game

Microwaving your membership already?

 

[Its Manbearpig]

If Carlton beat us, but got smashed by Hawthorn, who just got decimated by Lions
Then were set for 18th yeah?

Amidoin it rite?

 

[JayJ20]

Microwaving your membership already?

If I even renew it. Clearly JLT games are make or break.

 

[Doug Tassell]

I was disappointed in our performance, just saying.