Time up Sheeds?

[Longy413]

True, but I think this close loss myth stems primarily from the Hawthorn and Richmond losses in consecutive weeks.

It does when they are the only ones you look at.

 

[red+black]

It does when they are the only ones you look at.

What I'm saying is that in my opinion, around mid-season, the Essendon optimists focussed on those two games in particular as evidence that we were better than our ladder position showed. I'm sure there are still many here that would say we were better than the 15th best team in 2006.

 

[don4eva]

imo sheeds should have been replaced when richmond last came sniffing now he older more stale in his ways of thinking i reckon u missed the boat on harvey and even someone like eades as he was still in tv but could have been bought

Why? Because we've had 2 poor seasons? Every team goes through it sooner or later. As a Richmond supporter you should know all about that. Wallace has been at your club for 2 years now and still no finals yet.

Essendon has had poor seasons before and Sheedy has brought it back up to a premiership. This will probably be his final test seeing he only has a year left on his contract. We obviously aren't good enough to win the premiership next year but I wouldn't be surprised to see us in the finals.

Let's just wait and see who we draft and who we get rid of.

 

[Longy413]

What I'm saying is that in my opinion, around mid-season, the Essendon optimists focussed on those two games in particular as evidence that we were better than our ladder position showed. I'm sure there are still many here that would say we were better than the 15th best team in 2006.

I don't think we had the 15th worst list last season, we did have the 15th worst team on the park last season, results prove that.

There is the view that winning those two games could have made a difference, increased confident and in effect changing the whole mindset of the group for the rest of the season. But that's a long bow to draw.

However, my point had nothing to do with those two games in isolation. You chose to debate a point that our close losses were to ordinary sides and that wins against those sides doesn't actually make us any good. Fair enough, but in doing so you blantantly forgot to include matches we lost by small margins to top 8 sides. That's pretty weak.

 

[Nuts4Bolts]

He's got great foot skills. Most opposition supporters Ive spoken to prior to this trade period have enquired as to his position at the club..specifically if he might be part of a trade. Suggests to me that he's on other radars also.

Most opposition supporters I've spoken to have never heard of him. Most probaly they will next season, but his foot skills aren't great.

 

[don4eva]

True, but I think this close loss myth stems primarily from the Hawthorn and Richmond losses in consecutive weeks. So since then, it's been "We're not far off the pace because we lost some close games." We've also had the occasional close win; we shouldn't be marking down close losses as wins and saying well, we're a 5 win better team than the ladder shows.

This is a good point.

The fact is, we're not very good, whether we're losing by whatever margin to whatever team, and we're 3 years from finals action. The majority of teams in the AFL are better than us.

This part I disagree with.

With atleast a close to full list of players to choose from who aren't carrying injuries ie. JJ, MJ, McPhee, Solomon etc who are also in good form, we can make the finals.

 

[red+black]

From my point of view, I won't let this descend into a slanging match. Your point about squad v matchday side is entirely valid. Then again, our squad is not finals material.

But we can't look at all narrow losses as possible wins. We're going to have close losses and we're going to have close wins. So we've been close to Sydney, WCE, St Kilda, Bulldogs, we're still not even in the ballpark compared to those teams.

I'm just not sure how long we can keep on making excuses given stats such as my earlier one (see below). We weren't even that good prior to this year WITH Lloyd. Hird being injured can be discounted, and Fletch played more games in 2005 and 2004 than this year. It will take time for us to clear out the deadwood (such as Soloman, Bolton, Henneman etc) and to develop the youngsters, and 2007-8 will obviously reap improvement relative to 2006, but finals is not a possibility.

Last 57 games (since the "line in the sand"):

Hawthorn - 17 wins
Essendon - 16.5 wins
Carlton - 15 wins

 

[Longy413]

From my point of view, I won't let this descend into a slanging match.

It wasn't a personal slang, it was a crack at your arguement. But fair enough.

Your point about squad v matchday side is entirely valid. Then again, our squad is not finals material.

That remains to be seen, our current squad has yet to play a game.

But we can't look at all narrow losses as possible wins.

Just as long as we are looking at all of them.

We weren't even that good prior to this year WITH Lloyd.

One major difference, Stanton, Watson, Monfries, Lovett, Lovett-Murray, Winderlich, Nash, Slattery are better players than they were when we had Lloyd. We've actually been able to develop some extra players inbetween.

Plus we have the opportunity to add some quality kids and some experience through the PSD and improve our list.

Keep in mind, I'm talking about improvement here, not a race for the flag.

and 2007-8 will obviously reap improvement relative to 2006, but finals is not a possibility.

Finals is always a possibility, injuries pending.

I honestly believe we will have a better list in 2007 than we did in 2004. 2004 we were four games out, it's not impossible but we need a lot to go right.

 

[dave_27]

but his foot skills aren't great.

Are we watching the same player?

Seen him at Bendigo and Senior level and I'd rate his foot skills as certainly one of the better at the club, very good user of the ball.

I know Im comfortable when he has the ball, shame he cant find it enough.