Analysis Why are we s**t?

[Lore]

I do love the excuses on these pages.

We have an amazing brand, amazing history, amazing supporter base and previous success.

But injuries, players leaving, drugs saga, list profile are a result of decisions but we talk about it as if it's more about luck.

Essendon pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for ppl to manage these issues.

Player welfare
Injury management
Player development
List management
Governance
Leadership

The club spends millions on staff, consultants and programs that are accountable to these KPIs. Yet quite a few on here talk as if it unlucky or harsh. Accountability is lacking from not only the midfield defensively but the whole club and some of supporter base lack accountability.

Barring player development, I’ll give the coaches a pass on all the other stuff. And in terms of coaches, the current coaching staff can’t help the development that came before.

The people who are in charge of the other stuff need a broom put through it. And the people that hired them and their predecessors and their predecessors’ predecessors and set up the whole framework they work within needs a broom put through it too.

 

[Dan26]

This might be controversial, but I think a lot of this stems from the decision to leave the MCG for Marvel Stadium at the end of 1999.

Consider the situation at the time. We were the biggest club, getting the biggest crowds with the best team. We set an all-time record for attendance (at the time) in 1998, despite winning 12 games and continued to generate monster crowds in '99. Not only were we the biggest and the best, we were AMIBITOUS.

That's what struck me about the move to Marvel Stadium. It was a decidedly unambitious thing to do for a club in our position. It felt like a "cap" on how big we could be. I was always against the move and voted that way. Things like ambition are a cultural trait and on-field results are a couple of years downstream from the culture. Once our list started to disappear after 2002, we never really found ourselves again.

At the time, the pamphlets from Essendon (imploring members to vote to move) were curious. It was all about finance, with talk about the new stadium having corporate facilities that the MCG lacked, despite the MCG starting redevelopment 3 years later, rendering those excuses meaningless.

Collingwood were hopeless in the late 90's, but when they started to improve after 2001, they set crowd records at the new MCG. They were ambitious, they wanted to be the biggest again, and playing at the MCG with a good team, it felt they were. There is a goodwill and a buzz that comes from being a highly-supported MCG club, and I believe this can feed into the culture. I've never felt we regained that. There has been something missing from the club for 20 years and making unambitious decisions, can unknowingly fast-track a poor culture - a bit like boiling a frog in hot water. I think the move to Marvel, was, in retrospect a poor decision.

 

[hurlygurdy]

Further to my last comment, i'd like to see us engage in a full rebuild of culture. * rebuilding the list, move players on based on culture. Even better if they are high profile because then you get a return on culture and picks.
Perhaps more importantly rebuild the corporate culture. I've got a feeling that's where the s**t started regardless. Bring in the likes of Simon Madden etc to drag a nit comb through.

 

[owen87]

rebuild the corporate culture

Bring in the likes of Simon Madden

These two things aren't compatible.

 

[Lore]

These two things aren't compatible.

Madden is probably the next president

 

[owen87]

Madden is probably the next president

I'm far from convinced that's a good thing

 

[Lore]

I'm far from convinced that's a good thing

Depends on how much backbone he has and whether he's as clearheaded as he needs to be.

But in terms of succession planning, he's already there and invested in whatever the plan is. Parachuting in a coterie member or ex-federal government minister is likely to lead to a change in strategy, which they'll try to avoid because Team Essington.

 

[brutus76]

Because since Sheeds was not renewed as coach we've sucked

 

[owen87]

Because since Sheeds was not renewed as coach we've sucked

Sheeds was cooked.

 

[brutus76]

He was still a 4 time premiership coach and could win finals

 

[owen87]

He was still a 4 time premiership coach and could win finals

Was being the key word.

He was a great coach, his time was up, the list needing rebuilding. Moving on from Sheedy was the right call. Knights was the wrong coach to do so.

 

[Lore]

He was still a 4 time premiership coach and could win finals

If he was still coaching now he'd be the oldest coach in the league by like a couple of decades lol. And he's been back with the club in some capacity for like eight years and on the board for 18 months now. Don't think it's a defining factor.

 

[Lore]

What is more telling is that the people at the club now still haven't managed to really fill that void. Not in terms of the actual coaching so much but in terms of the overall cult of personality required to bring this freight train of a club with you, from the board to the bootstudder and in particular members and coterie groups. Perhaps Hird had it but you know how that ended.

 

[owen87]

you know how that ended.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Small-target strategy: The trouble with Essendon

There’s an argument that Essendon people have demonstrated that they can’t save Essendon, and that outsiders should be prevailed upon to get the men’s team up the ladder and winning finals.

www.theage.com.au

 

[BomberManU]

As much as I loved Sheeds as coach, my enduring memory from close to his end is that final vs Port. It was pi55ing down and we got smacked. Sheedy took it upon himself to 'promote' the game, in the week leading up to it. I remember he was even at a train station, welcoming Vic fans to SA. It was clear then that he was no longer invested/bored.

 

[citizen-erased]

Small-target strategy: The trouble with Essendon

There’s an argument that Essendon people have demonstrated that they can’t save Essendon, and that outsiders should be prevailed upon to get the men’s team up the ladder and winning finals.

www.theage.com.au

I do like niall.

This largely hits the nail on the head , except for saad, who has been nothing but a positive even in leaving and perhaps could have been engaged on what he saw was wrong.

 

[the PILL]

The more one digs around for answers about WWAS, the more pain it seems to inflict unfortunately ...

• Out of touch butt covering boys club administration.
• Dodoro for years playing the smartest guy in the room while his adversaries sfellow and walk him off cliffs. Apparently his influence has been addressed by some reshuffling in this department and should be all hunky dorie according to a few highroad ITKs kicking around, but i have my reservations tbh...
• An unbalanced and seemingly direct contrast to the modern day midfield which has been discussed at great length here by many.
• No forward line. * injuries, personnel etc...
• A confusing defense strategy or implementation that leaves our poor defenders confused and exhausted.
• Our develpment and depth virtually forgotten about as far as VFL, (I must admit I thought this was covered and stupidly assumed there was a system in place for garnering like for like replacments alla Richmond, Geelong, Melbourne etc...) to hear that it was let float in the breeze and Xavier got his mitts on it was a real crushing blow tbh.
• A now seemingly deer in the headlights head coach who from day one I've liked but have been concerned the clubs issues may chew him up and spit him out.
• The rather cruel hollow propaganda the club unleashes on its fans and members via social meadia and mailing lists. I must admit i did giggle at RoCo's comments about Wallpaper Wednesday.
• The player exodus of 2020 (2019 rumblings) which seemingly has been swept under the carpet because of last years suprising over achieving result. Yes we didn't do too bad with our drafting as a result but come on, if you've got stars literally running away, that is a huge red flag that something is smelly despite the picks it garnered.
• So many more things in the 1% category we just don't do as a supposedly big 4 club.

I hate to say it but we need the place blown up like Carlton did.

Yes, at first i laughed at Sayers bravado and ruthlessness as i didn't think he'd be able to cut through the Carlton ingrained culture of scapegoating but he had the stones to actually bring in external reviewers.

 

[Bombermania]

The more one digs around for answers about WWAS, the more pain it seems to inflict unfortunately ...

• Out of touch butt covering boys club administration.
• Dodoro for years playing the smartest guy in the room while his adversaries sfellow and walk him off cliffs. Apparently his influence has been addressed by some reshuffling in this department and should be all hunky dorie according to a few highroad ITKs kicking around, but i have my reservations tbh...
• An unbalanced and seemingly direct contrast to the modern day midfield which has been discussed at great length here by many.
• No forward line. * injuries, personnel etc...
• A confusing defense strategy or implementation that leaves our poor defenders confused and exhausted.
• Our develpment and depth virtually forgotten about as far as VFL, (I must admit I thought this was covered and stupidly assumed there was a system in place for garnering like for like replacments alla Richmond, Geelong, Melbourne etc...) to hear that it was let float in the breeze and Xavier got his mitts on it was a real crushing blow tbh.
• A now seemingly deer in the headlights head coach who from day one I've liked but have been concerned the clubs issues may chew him up and spit him out.
• The rather cruel hollow propaganda the club unleashes on its fans and members via social meadia and mailing lists. I must admit i did giggle at RoCo's comments about Wallpaper Wednesday.
• The player exodus of 2020 (2019 rumblings) which seemingly has been swept under the carpet because of last years suprising over achieving result. Yes we didn't do too bad with our drafting as a result but come on, if you've got stars literally running away, that is a huge red flag that something is smelly despite the picks it garnered.
• So many more things in the 1% category we just don't do as a supposedly big 4 club.

I hate to say it but we need the place blown up like Carlton did.

Yes, at first i laughed at Sayers bravado and ruthlessness as i didn't think he'd be able to cut through the Carlton ingrained culture of scapegoating but he had the stones to actually bring in external reviewers.

Carlton was ruthless in culling its list, whereas Essendon has only cut around the edges and whilst I was supportive of that approach however its time to review that and become more aggressive.

 

[the PILL]

Carlton was ruthless in culling its list, whereas Essendon has only cut around the edges and whilst I was supportive of that approach however its time to review that and become more aggressive.

They did a lot more than just culling their list. They "Externally Identified" then flipped the head coach out, some line coaches, board members, operational staff, recruiting/development was bolstered and also booted the CEO... It was savage and would seem at this point something we should look at.

Carlton reveal independent review findings

The review resulted in David Teague being sacked. Check the full summary of findings!

www.zerohanger.com

I agree, once the saga players are extinguished we must get more progressive/aggressive.

 

[FootyGuru]

I’m going to focus on football rather than admin.

These are the issues I have seen with this season.

Midfield - due to injuries to Langford, cox, stringer our midfield is very small and similar.

Parish Merrett and Shiel are all good players individually but as a collective don’t work well together. All can’t kick over 40 metres. Shiel and parish have never been able to tackle and merrett has forgotten how to. All choose to handball before contact unlike stringer Langford and Perkins who actually stand up in tackles and find the free player. All are pretty soft and not overly strong at a contest. We don’t have diversity in the middle at the moment.

Parish is having a good season particularly last two games, but if we want to become a serious contender we need someone with size in his position. Parish is elite at centre bounce and I’d continue to go to him there but around the ground at throw ins and ball ups he doesn’t have the size to compete. he has to stand by himself and get momentum at the stoppage to have any effect. Parish standing free gives the opposition all the cards to play and compromises our midfield structure. It means that the oppo frees up their best mid and they go head to head, it also means we can’t have a defensive mid either because that leaves our stoppage unbalanced meaning we might have to send fwds( strikers) up and leaving an oppo back man free in our fwdline.
All in all we need to recruit someone who’s big enough and good enough to beat parish out for the go to role in throw ins and ball ups. Stringer Perkins and Langford are all potentially good enough.

Also our zone is easily beaten because we are small across the middle of the ground we are struggling to compete in the air and make it a contest. Oppo shouldn’t be able to go from our defence to their attack so easily. Draper has forgotten how to take a grab.

Defence -
Rutten has turned ridley into a lock down defender and Heppell into the intercept defender. Ridley has had a good season and beaten plenty of key forwards but we have lost his usual drive. Heppell isn’t as good a mark as Ridley or as good a kick. The oppo coaches usually put a crumber on Heppell because they know he’s not an elite mark or that quick. It has hurt us plenty. Also Heppell is far too safe by foot in the back half and it’s because he’s simply not a great kick unlike Ridley. I would look to develop Reid and find another key back to free up Ridley and turn him into the weapon he’s shown he can be. Heppell I’d move to the midfield and if his body breaks down there soo be it. McGrath needs to come back too because he only looks dangerous when he can run through the footy. Leverde I like down back but he’s not a full backs size, and shouldn’t be expected to hold that position. I actually think we have a good backline for the future, Ridley ried, McGrath kelly is a decent start.
As a defensive unit they have had to deal with a lot but they need to be more daring by foot. We can’t afford to go slow because we simply don’t have the height in the middle of the ground. Maybe this mossimo might give us some skills and dash.


Forward line -
We have missed Harry Jones and snelling, their link up play through the midfield was huge last season. If we can find a hit up forward oppo can’t sit deep on 2mp. Wright has been terrific but oppo know they can help on him aerially because we don’t have crumbers either. Devon smith

5

Devon Smith

Age

30

Ht

176cm

Wt

78kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.8

5star

K

11.1

4star

HB

7.8

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

5.3

5star

G

0.9

4star

D

16.3

4star

K

9.1

4star

HB

7.1

4star

M

2.3

2star

T

5.0

5star

G

0.6

4star

D

15.6

4star

K

9.2

4star

HB

6.4

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

4.0

5star

G

0.2

3star

is only good after having 2 games off, wanganeen isn’t ready yet and doesn’t give the required pressure. I’d look to play cox as a forward. I think have Jones cox working up and down the ground with their speed fitness and height would be a nightmare for the opposition. Perkins has looked dangerous as a forward but at the moment should be developed in the middle. We obviously need some speed and crumbers in there too. Davey boys or this jye kid in the mid season. Stringer, Langford and snelling would be nice too.

All is not bad. This is the season we expected to have last season. Sorry for the rant

 

[Call Me Cake]

Personally never thought it was right to have a coach on training wheels trying to teach a team on training wheels. Especially one who was already a part of the inside group beforehand, thereby being a byproduct of the era we were trying to shift from.

At the moment it feels very 'winging-it', see as we go-ish. And now we're at a point where we are having a review... about putting more training wheels on him, short of saying, 'we're kinda lost'.

Meanwhile, amongst all of this, our young team, starving for solid direction, is looking at our coach and wondering when he's going to stop being coached and start coaching them.

Despite embarking on what the club has called a 5 year plan, Truck was signed for 3. This tells me that whilst Woosha was to be the one to pull the club past the saga, aka phase one, Rutten was to be the sacrificial lamb for the hardest years of a rebuild, aka phase two. We've left the door ajar for an experienced coach to come in at the latter stages of the rebuild where the ripening of the team is most likely and when it would be most in need for premiership guidance, aka phase three.

The only other scenario is Truck pulling off a miracle and earning himself another 2 years. But I would say that we were up against it from the start if the entire plan was to just put all of our eggs in the Rutten basket - and the hail-mary in taking it would be quite a fragile action considering how fresh and in need of immediate direction we were/are. Such blind risks that this club perennially takes is probably the answer to the thread title in question.

 

[Mootsy]

Just randomly decided to watch the Port Vs Lions 2004 grand final, and the poise and skills from that game alone is something I’ve never seen from our side in an entire game from our team in terms of four quarters straight of quality football in one whole decade, and it’s usually our senior tier players that just don’t really improve all that much to this sort of level of intensity.

Even in the games that we won, it was usually because the game was so low in energy that it made us look far better than what we are.

We play like an overachieving VFL side in an AFL competition, fumbles, looking lost, dropped marks, shocking kicking, and what’s even funnier is that we are THE team that finished middle to lower middle of the table so always in that spot where you never obtain higher draft picks or any luck in trades, so that middle of the table became the standard like some badge of honour.

Just watch this to see what I mean..

 

[ant555]

He was still a 4 time premiership coach and could win finals

He did not even know all his players in the last couple of years. He was done with us.

 

[ant555]

Personally never thought it was right to have a coach on training wheels trying to teach a team on training wheels. Especially one who was already a part of the inside group beforehand, thereby being a byproduct of the era we were trying to shift from.

At the moment it feels very 'winging-it', see as we go-ish. And now we're at a point where we are having a review... about putting more training wheels on him, short of saying, 'we're kinda lost'.

Meanwhile, amongst all of this, our young team, starving for solid direction, is looking at our coach and wondering when he's going to stop being coached and start coaching them.

Despite embarking on what the club has called a 5 year plan, Truck was signed for 3. This tells me that whilst Woosha was to be the one to pull the club past the saga, aka phase one, Rutten was to be the sacrificial lamb for the hardest years of a rebuild, aka phase two. We've left the door ajar for an experienced coach to come in at the latter stages of the rebuild where the ripening of the team is most likely and when it would be most in need for premiership guidance, aka phase three.

The only other scenario is Truck pulling off a miracle and earning himself another 2 years. But I would say that we were up against it from the start if the entire plan was to just put all of our eggs in the Rutten basket - and the hail-mary in taking it would be quite a fragile action considering how fresh and in need of immediate direction we were/are. Such blind risks that this club perennially takes is probably the answer to the thread title in question.

The bold part is worth discussing.