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Opinion Optimistic or pessimistic 2021

Where do we finish in 2021?


  • Total voters
    58
  • Poll closed .

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The last few months have seen a lot of changes at Essendon, including a new president (Brasher), new board member (Sheedy), new GM Football (Mahoney), new senior coach (Rutten), Gia joined the coaching panel, whilst we've lost Tanner, Richardson, Worsfold, Harvey, Kelly, and our Chief Commercial and Marketing guy is also gone.

The playing group has had a fair bit of turnover as well, with Bellchambers, Daniher, Saad, Fantasia, McKenna, McKernan, Townsend, Gown, Hibberd, Mutch, Begley, Crauford all gone, and the addition of Wright, Hind, Caldwell, Cox, Perkins, Reid, Eyre and Brand (so far).

Meanwhile we're coming off a pretty awful 2020 season, on and off field, which saw most of the season played outside of Melbourne with no or low crowd numbers, Dreamtime in Darwin, the ANZAC game in July, players stuck in hubs, getting on each others nerves, losing heaps of games, and seemingly that has led to a fractured the playing group... on the other hand, we seem to finally be on top of our injury woes? Maybe? *knock on wood*


So my question is, how are you feeling about Essendon in the upcoming season? Optimistic or pessimistic? Why?

Thoughts, feelings, memes, songs, rants, analogies...




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I'm expecting we'll be kind of crap but we'll unearth some good youth and really setup a platform to start making giant inroads from 2022.
I'm super optimistic about our top draftee from last year Cox - I'm picturing other teams laughing at our small midfield and then our winger 200cm Cox strolls over and they stop laughing. Who knows maybe we'll even be able to take some marks around the ground for a change or is that too optimistic?

In all honesty I think we'll enjoy 2021 a lot more than 2020 because of the difference in expectations. Whilst it'd be much better to be good at least when you perform in line with expectations it doesn't hurt so much. 2020 really sucked in a myriad of ways.

Also some of the guys we've lost won't hurt us on the field that much since they were barely even on the field even when they were in our team.
 

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I'm optimistic about the club moving forward. In Brasher and Rutten it feels like we've got structure and the genuine kind of leadership that young men need, as opposed to the seemingly invisible Tanner and what seemed more like guidance than coaching from Worsfold - not that I would know but that's how it seems to me.

The flow-on of that for our young players should be awesome to see, however, their roles need to be very clearly defined. The recent switching of players from the forwardline to the backs and Hurley forward has muddied that for mine, and has probably caused, not pessism, but certainly cynicism. We're for a bit of a ride anyway. It will be both fun and frustrating.
 
Optimistic.
The big issue for years has been the constant injuries unsettling the best 22 and testing the poor depth we have each week. There seemed to be at least 1 injury each week and revolving door of returning from injuries and injured players.
Enter Sean Murphy at the end of 2019, he inherits a huge off-season injury and surgery list, then he gets dealt the 2020 hand. He now has a good run at 2021.
Add in the exiting players this off season with 2 frequently injured, high-salary stars (Raz, Joe) and a ruthless slash of not-good-enoughs...
The list looks very healthy now for a clear run at 2021
 
Both.
There are still issues / unknown answers about our scoring ability . We have to stop turning the footy over out of defense and there are still a lot of questions over our ability to mark the ball around the ground.
In saying that if the players buy into what Truck is trying to sell then IMO it will not be as bad as some may think. If we can improve the midfield defense and forward pressure then some of our weak areas can be overcome. Despite us having a below average year we did defend well for long periods in a lot of games last year but could not do it for more than 2 quarters.
We have a lot of work to do but if the players buy in and Truck sells them a game plan they feel they can work with then we are capable of bouncing back to the 6th to 10th area of the ladder. Eliminating the turnovers when moving the ball may well be the major key to us being half decent or a total train wreck.
 
I’m optimistic in that I think for the first time in ages we are likely to see a side run out that is fit, strong, quick, plays to a game plan and gives honest effort.

I don’t know what that will translate to in terms of wins....my guess is better than many think but just outside the 8.
 
very optimistic

Having two coaches didn’t help things last year.

we picked up some superb draft picks who should add something

every season starts with a reset

the enthusiasm of youth cannot be underestimated

1993 showed that to us older fans

ya gotta be optimistic..it’s the only way to be

btw...got this sent over from melbourne the other day

the 16 premiership teams in all their glory

$250 from HT framing and memorabilia in Bayswater 👌

limited edition 500 A6F9469E-6AE3-4F64-8A7D-182993951AB9.jpeg
 
very optimistic

Having two coaches didn’t help things last year.

we picked up some superb draft picks who should add something

every season starts with a reset

the enthusiasm of youth cannot be underestimated

1993 showed that to us older fans

ya gotta be optimistic..it’s the only way to be

btw...got this sent over from melbourne the other day

the 16 premiership teams in all their glory

$250 from HT framing and memorabilia in Bayswater 👌

limited edition 500View attachment 1055216
Love your attitude. And your bargain shopping!
 

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Optimistic
- individual player development
- culture (not saying it was poor but certainly could've been better)
- won't finish bottom 4

Pessimistic
- team chemistry - so many ins and outs and role changes combined with an unknown gameplan
- contested disposal winners - might be ok in 1-1 loose balls but genuine ball extraction from heavy packs will remain a big challenge given the lack of size in our mids
- forward structure
- won't make finals

Jury is out
- game plan - anyone's guess, copying geelong and then richmond in the past has clearly not worked
- hunger/drive - everyone's hungry this time of year, who knows how long it can be sustained
- senior players - fitness seems to be ok, can they demonstrate the leadership across each line needed to win games
 
Happy to be not too optimistic this year, unlike the last few years where I’ve expected good things then been bitterly disappointed.

Looking forward to enjoying seeing how the new players go and what Truck can do with some clean air, without having too many expectations in terms of wins.

Shoild be relatively stress free!
 

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lol...as always
Hello pot, meet kettle.

I think we'll struggle on field with our aging and largely unfit core, an undersized midfield and a lack of match winners inside 50.
 
Hello pot, meet kettle.

I think we'll struggle on field with our aging and largely unfit core, an undersized midfield and a lack of match winners inside 50.

unfit core?

what does that exactly mean ?


it’s our backline that’s let us down lately


good back lines get you to finals

i’m sure Truck knows this and hopefully he’ll make it a priority to get that right

Hurley is cooked

i have faith they will fix our biggest deficiency

If you don’t have faith you might as well not watch the games

it’s a brutal game
 
unfit core?

what does that exactly mean ?


it’s our backline that’s let us down lately


good back lines get you to finals

i’m sure Truck knows this
Hooker, Hurley, Heppell, Smith and Stringer have spent significant time on the sidelines the last two seasons or are recovering from a serious injury currently, or both. That's a significant part of our core group, the other spots would be Merrett, Shiel and Walla.

And it's not entirely the back line's fault we've been bottom 6 for inside 50's conceded and inside 50 differential the past two seasons. "Good back lines get you into finals" is a meaningless statement.
 
Hooker, Hurley, Heppell, Smith and Stringer have spent significant time on the sidelines the last two seasons or are recovering from a serious injury currently, or both. That's a significant part of our core group, the other spots would be Merrett, Shiel and Walla.

And it's not entirely the back line's fault we've been bottom 6 for inside 50's conceded and inside 50 differential the past two seasons. "Good back lines get you into finals" is a meaningless statement.

ffs ..you’re in la la land

name one premiership side that didn’t have a rock solid back 6

go ahead and wallow in pessimism


i for one am very positive about next year



for a variety of reasons

we shall soon see
 
ffs ..you’re in la la land

name one premiership side that didn’t have a rock solid back 6

go ahead and wallow in pessimism


i for one am very positive about next year



for a variety of reasons

we shall soon see

The lack of midfield defense has exposed our back six a lot in recent years. I think the back six have been under estimated given the lack of pressure we put on other sides moving the ball and the amount of midfield turn overs we commit. Very hard to defend well when your team mates up the ground allow their opponents to run their own race.
Yes premiership sides have a rock solid back 6 and we have some questions on older players and a couple of the young blokes but they have been left horribly exposed a lot of the time.
 

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