Quiet week

[Philzsay]

A quick glance through the front page of Bay 13 and the main football board and I can not see one single thread posted by opposition trolls bagging Essendon. Amazing I wonder why?

 

[Longy413]

Probably more to do with Hawthorn and Richmond getting spanked than Essendon actually winning.

Although getting off the bottom probably helps.

 

[Audemars Piguet]

Hawthorn, Richmond & Carlton fans are digging thier own graves by bagging Essendon.

Everybody knows they are the disgrace of the competition, and have been for some time.

 

[DaSawx]

I could quite easily put $100 on Essendon to win their next flag before any of those teams do

 

[Barnsey3150]

Supporters of other teams don't realise that we aren't as bad as they think. They just see us on the bottom of the ladder and think we are sh**. We have just been the unluckiest team this year. We have a greater % than Carlton, Richmond & Hawthorn whilst having the 2nd most injuries in the competition behind the Brisbane Lions.

How good was last Saturday nights game...just to get another win on the board and put an end to our winless streak, especially to a team who have destroyed us in the passed 5 years.

 

[Crave]

Supporters of other teams don't realise that we aren't as bad as they think. They just see us on the bottom of the ladder and think we are sh**. We have just been the unluckiest team this year. We have a greater % than Carlton, Richmond & Hawthorn whilst having the 2nd most injuries in the competition behind the Brisbane Lions.

Our percentage isnt exactly flattering though. Another win will permanently remove us from the bottom of the ladder, otherwise...we're still not any better than Carlton.

 

[Karlostj]

I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon again for the Bombers, however it is important to remember that we have only won 2 games for the season. Sure we've had some close losses and we've had some injuries, but we've still only won 2 games.

I think that Lloyd is a massive loss for us, and no doubt not having him has costs us a couple of wins... But even that only takes us to 4 or 5 wins... hardly a stellar season.

In terms of injuries, we've lost lloyd for almost the entire season, and he'll be back next year, but there aren't too many other senior players to be injured. There's hird, Rioli and Rama that have been out (but in terms of the future, we can't really count those guys). The truth is that the vast majority of senior players that will be in the side next season have played a majority of games this year. Albeit some have played injured and down on form....

But take a look at the side that played Brisbane on sat, we were probably Lloyd and a laycock away from close to our best side.... Brisbane we're short Brown, Lappin, Charman (for the last Q), McGrath, Johnson, Scott, Leppa, MacDonald etc etc We beat them by 37 points, which is a strong win, but we were far from convincing considering the subst injury problems at the Lions are our relatively strong line up.

We're improving, however until I see some consistent winning performances I'm not going to be overly confident... When was the last time we won two matches in a row?? Not this season, and I don't think we did last season.

Don't kid ourselves, we're down the bottom for a reason and its not just because we've been unlucky with injuries!

 

[zafa23]

Our percentage isnt exactly flattering though. Another win will permanently remove us from the bottom of the ladder, otherwise...we're still not any better than Carlton.

Well think of it this way, if Carlton lost Fevola in the 3rd round like we did Lloyd, their percentage would be in the 50s. We are better than Carlton.

 

[Audemars Piguet]

Well think of it this way, if Carlton lost Fevola in the 3rd round like we did Lloyd, their percentage would be in the 50s. We are better than Carlton.

Definately. Had Lloyd, Hird and Fletcher been available we would have beaten them by at least 6 goals (lloyds worth 4, hird at least 1, fletcher saves at least 1).

Our youngsters are far better than Carltons also.

 

[DaSawx]

I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon again for the Bombers, however it is important to remember that we have only won 2 games for the season. Sure we've had some close losses and we've had some injuries, but we've still only won 2 games.

I think that Lloyd is a massive loss for us, and no doubt not having him has costs us a couple of wins... But even that only takes us to 4 or 5 wins... hardly a stellar season.

In terms of injuries, we've lost lloyd for almost the entire season, and he'll be back next year, but there aren't too many other senior players to be injured. There's hird, Rioli and Rama that have been out (but in terms of the future, we can't really count those guys). The truth is that the vast majority of senior players that will be in the side next season have played a majority of games this year. Albeit some have played injured and down on form....

But take a look at the side that played Brisbane on sat, we were probably Lloyd and a laycock away from close to our best side.... Brisbane we're short Brown, Lappin, Charman (for the last Q), McGrath, Johnson, Scott, Leppa, MacDonald etc etc We beat them by 37 points, which is a strong win, but we were far from convincing considering the subst injury problems at the Lions are our relatively strong line up.

We're improving, however until I see some consistent winning performances I'm not going to be overly confident... When was the last time we won two matches in a row?? Not this season, and I don't think we did last season.

Don't kid ourselves, we're down the bottom for a reason and its not just because we've been unlucky with injuries!

Although it's not just Lloyd. Hird, Fletcher and Campo are important players who have missed games as well who are influential and may have got us over the hump in the close games they missed. Fletcher never played against Carlton or St. Kilda, Hird didn't play against Hawthorn (1pt) or Richmond (2pts) if I am not mistaken, if we are lucky with injuries next year (we are due) we could give the finals a shake.

We weren't even that lucky in 2005, Fletcher, Hird, McPhee and Solomon missed a lot of football, could of been more as did Rama in the second half of the season and we only finished 3 or so games out of the 8

 

[Karlostj]

Although it's not just Lloyd. Hird, Fletcher and Campo are important players who have missed games as well who are influential and may have got us over the hump in the close games they missed. Fletcher never played against Carlton or St. Kilda, Hird didn't play against Hawthorn (1pt) or Richmond (2pts) if I am not mistaken, if we are lucky with injuries next year (we are due) we could give the finals a shake.

We weren't even that lucky in 2005, Fletcher, Hird, McPhee and Solomon missed a lot of football, could of been more as did Rama in the second half of the season and we only finished 3 or so games out of the 8

I realise that a fit player here or there could have got us over the line a couple of times, but there won't be a season where that won't be the case.

Injuries to key players happen all the time (esp when they're 33 years old or 30). If hird plays on, then I'd say we'd be really lucky to have him play 15 games. Fletcher, if we get 18 or 19 games we'd be happy. Lucas, Lloyd, JJ, MJ will all be the wrong side of 28... 20 games out of each of those guys would be great.

Good sides are ones that may lose a match or two if they're missing enough stars, but still win more then 2 matches....

The saints aren't far off having similar injury problems to us, they've lost Lenny Hayes, Hamill has bearly played, Kosi has got a match or two in. Harvey has been in and out with hamstrings, and the clark brothers have struggled to get on the park.

yet they're battling for a top 4 position. Brisbane are going to just miss out on the finals, despite their injury concerns, Western bulldogs look set to make the top 6 with all their injuries. Even the dockers have had a substantial number of injuries on their path to the finals. Or richmond...

Lets face it, every team has injury problems, ours have perhaps been worse then most, but not by a significant margin. We keep saying how good we'd be if we had a full team - we'd make the finals! However if you were to rate every side in the AFL against each other based on a injury free line up, how many teams are we better then???

Carlton - yes, richmond, hawthorn, north - maybe. That still leaves us in the bottom 4 or 5 though.... We're not the only side playing with injuries, people just need to remember that, we didn't have fletch vs saints, however they didn't have Kosi, hamill or hayes...

 

[Longy413]

Fair point, although Rob Harvey has played every game.

 

[Karlostj]

Fair point, although Rob Harvey has played every game.

oh... well, I could hardly be blamed getting that wrong, the guy normally has hamstring injuries...

I want to get enthusiastic about Essendon, but realistically to make the finals next season Essendon would have to have a great run with injuries and senior players hitting form, and other clubs having a poor run with injuries/form.

Sort of whats happening a bit with the Pies this season....

 

[Crave]

If we're going to use injuries as an excuse, we only need to look at the Bulldogs...theyre got some VERY capable players out, some wont even appear till mid 2007, yet theyve been able to put some wins on the board.

Most of it comes to list management. We're a young side, our seasoned campaigners are learning to play with this massive influx of younger kids. In a number of years, we'll possibly be referred to as a successful 'Baby Bombers' side once more.

In the interim, we've just got to cop that we're having a season we'd much rather forget.

 

[Corrosion]

Hawthorn, Richmond & Carlton fans are digging thier own graves by bagging Essendon.

Everybody knows they are the disgrace of the competition, and have been for some time.

We are bagging you guys?

I don't think so. We respect you more than any other club. As for Richmond and Hawthorn, they're just bitter towards the Dons. Just like Saints and Swans are for the Blues.