Analysis Why are we s**t?

[Nuts4Bolts]

Why are we shit? Because players have never needed to be hell bent on team success. We've been a team of individuals worrying about themselves (and their own contracts) that they couldn't give a shit about the team. Do you really think Zaka, Heppell, McVeigh, Stanton etc are burning inside that they've never won a final? They are happy that they have had good careers and been great players but that is it.

 

[foj1]

Probably a mix of A, C, D and E.

We had the second youngest side in the league today and quite comfortably the least experienced side. Freo are 4-1 and are 2nd as things stand. They're a strong side and I think they'll probably finish between 3 and 6. Their young midfield is very strong.

Today was bad but it shouldn't be cause for panic.

Panic is on the tram at puckle street heading to windy hill and tullamarine
150th year celebration is officially a wake
heads will roll
my guess is Campbell and dodoro are finished
They should have gone with Richardson truth be told

 

[bomberlegend2007]

Read my comment again.

I didn't say the positions they are holding are for people on the list currently.

The reality is the positions being held by Guelfi and Smith are to be held by people not on our list yet. We went after Hill and Rosas last year, does that not indicate the club agrees with you? We have 2 Davey twins coming and maybe we go after Hill again.

Stewart and Zerk Thatcher likely holding the spot of Reid and Brand/McBride

The reality is the majority of our next successful list aren't drafted yet. The sooner Essendon fans realise this the better.

This.

If we look at our side now, there is a lot of positions being held for future drafts.

B _______- Reid -________
HB ______- Ridley - McGrath
C - Cox - _______ - ________
HF - Perkins - ________- Caldwell
F - _______- Bryan -________
FO - Draper - Hobbs - Parish

This is minus the interchange cause it doesn’t matter at this stage.

So, we are still waiting for these pieces of the puzzle before we are even close to challenging. This is the reality we are facing. This why it is going to take time.

Not only was the drug scandal terrible in terms of what we want through, it masked the ending of a rebuild which would have eased this pain that we are now feeling. But, the reality is that I believe the club has turned the corner. Rutten and Co will have another two years before the club even considers moving him on, if we event get to that point.

 

[eth-dog]

This.

If we look at our side now, there is a lot of positions being held for future drafts.

B _______- Reid -________
HB ______- Ridley - McGrath
C - Cox - _______ - ________
HF - Perkins - ________- Caldwell
F - _______- Bryan -________
FO - Draper - Hobbs - Parish

This is minus the interchange cause it doesn’t matter at this stage.

So, we are still waiting for these pieces of the puzzle before we are even close to challenging. This is the reality we are facing. This why it is going to take time.

Not only was the drug scandal terrible in terms of what we want through, it masked the ending of a rebuild which would have eased this pain that we are now feeling. But, the reality is that I believe the club has turned the corner. Rutten and Co will have another two years before the club even considers moving him on, if we event get to that point.

I'd have Jones and Baldwin ahead of Bryan at this stage, and Jye in the middle.

 

[bomberlegend2007]

Panic is on the tram at puckle street heading to windy hill and tullamarine
150th year celebration is officially a wake
heads will roll
my guess is Campbell and dodoro are finished
They should have gone with Richardson truth be told

Ok, what do you think we should do?

All you talk about this change needs to happen, change needs to happen. What do you think the club has done the past two years? Change has and is happening as we speak. It takes time. Do you think Melbourne just popped up overnight? Richmond?

 

[bomberlegend2007]

I'd have Jones and Baldwin ahead of Bryan at this stage, and Jye in the middle.

Totally forgot about Jones.

But either way, the list is missing quite a few before the challenge is happening.

 

[Yoda_]

This.

If we look at our side now, there is a lot of positions being held for future drafts.

B _______- Reid -________
HB ______- Ridley - McGrath
C - Cox - _______ - ________
HF - Perkins - ________- Caldwell
F - _______- Bryan -________
FO - Draper - Hobbs - Parish

That isn't a bad effort to guess what a challenging side looks like. Concerning we have no small defenders in there, McGrath to a back pocket?

 

[bomberlegend2007]

That isn't a bad effort to guess what a challenging side looks like. Concerning we have no small defenders in there, McGrath to a back pocket?

Yeah, 100%. That is a major concern for me. I think McGrath to back pocket should be the move going forward.

If I were the club (and I’m sure they are doing this already) they would have this side on a whiteboard somewhere. And to be honest, if we are in year two of a reset, I would be happy to know we are 9 players away from having the challenging side ready.

 

[Bjchan13]

 

[NAB777]

There is something just not right at our club.

 

[carloss]

It's like we've turned into the 90s version of Richmond.

 

[windyhill]

There is something just not right at our club.

Has been for 2 decades, just can’t put my finger on it. Drug thing still hangs in the air. Just can’t get it right.

 

[BratPack]

Are we:

• Still very much in a development phase?
• Badly coached?
• Coached well enough but still learning the gameplan?
• Recruiting badly?
• Still clinging to a culture of mediocrity?

Yes

 

[maskmcgee]

Getting a board and coaches with a hard edge and a actual plan.

 

[Great8]

Gutless board and a pathetic CEO plus a list manager who is absolutely useless.
Get rid of the lot of them and start again.

 

[windyhill]

.

 

[The Dustbin]

Adrian.

It will end well with supporters when AD commits to the Davey Twins and Munkara.

 

[citizen-erased]

Depth
Attitude
Standards

And we're too nice.
to players out of contract. to players out of form. to opposition teams on the park.

Sum it up, i reckon we jump at the shadows of the drugs saga still.

 

[ant555]

Pretty easy to answer. 15 years of 5/10 recruiting. Too many players who have average footy IQ and just chase the ball around like dogs in the park.
Our only hope is if the current football manager can implement what he did at Melbourne where their basket case recruiting was turned around over a 5 or so year period.

 

[TheFrenchCut]

I don't think we are as bad as we seem, which might be a problem in itself. But here's my scattergun response:

• We don't seem to know about recruiting, developing and selecting a balanced midfield. 10 years ago we were big and/or slow through the middle, with really only Zaharakis offering any outside pace. Now we are predominantly small and dynamic but flakey. We don't absorb contact at all (aside from Stringer and Caldwell) and it puts us under the pump in contested situations all the time. You have to nail every quick handpass in tight if you can't get your arms free
• We keep prioritising talls. We had three top 10 picks 18 months ago and used two on project talls that will probably end up in defence (not wrong but not an ideal use of early picks imo). We then took two more talls in the ND and another in the SSP. The previous year we'd taken three talls (Jones, Bryan and McBride). Taking as many as we have was always going to mean we would be slow to truly develop a significant part of the list
• This also means we have zero depth outside the top 25(?) as far as the midfield. Generally when injuries happen we just move people from other parts of the ground or boost someone's minutes. We need more mids - I don't particularly care if they're a long-time mid or a new convert, it's incredible that today in the VFL we basically didn't have an AFL listed mid in the team. How does this happen?
• We pushed Heppell into another spot to keep him in the team, which had some minor success as a move but probably didn't and now doesn't make the team better.
• We want to provide pressure up front but have few players who can do it and hit the scoreboard. For small/medium forwards this is basically the prerequisite which is a problem. In fairness to Dodoro he's tried to fix this but to no avail, and obviously absence/injuries for Walla and Snelling, as well as Mozzie retiring has hit us here.
• We are stuck using Laverde as an undersized KPD. He's a gun defender so plays above his weight but it's not ideal. Stewart hasn't come on anywhere near as hoped, and considering the above, it is a minor miracle BZT is still on the list.
• Our back six/seven is stacked with average to poor users from Kelly, Heppell, (at the moment, BZT), Laverde and guys prone to brain fades like Stewart and Redman. I give Hind a pass because he is usually trying to create when he ***** up - we desperately need another runner to take the heat off him.

As an aside, I desperately need to hear we aren't the ones chasing Daniel McStay

11

Daniel Mcstay

Age

30

Ht

195cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.6

2star

K

5.3

2star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.9

4star

D

8.6

2star

K

5.3

2star

HB

3.3

2star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.0

2star

G

0.9

4star

D

8.4

3star

K

4.8

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.0

3star

G

1.2

4star

with a six year contract offer but have an awful feeling it's just the kind of complete dumbarsery we totally would do.

 

[Blind Turn]

Playing in, and getting smashed in, an elimination final when playing well above ourselves last year was always a concern to me. It serves little purpose to play a final (especially interstate devoid of true finals atmosphere) when you aren’t in contention. I was optimistically hoping that it would whet the appetite and the experience could serve us well but deep down I knew it was set up for us to fail. As soon as we fell in a heap in the second half against the Dogs I was concerned about our rebound this year. Finals failure in an experienced group can drive you to redemption but a young group doesn’t really have that fortitude that evolves over numerous years of toil. In hindsight, a top 4 pick and a gradual improvement would serve better than a yo-yo year to year pattern.

 

[CBombers17]

The Saga gets a lot of the blame but is it really a cause or a symptom of our deeper problems?

The same lack off process and due diligence that caused all that crap still exists in various senior appointments at the club today.

I'm no student of the EFC history but even going back to Sheedys start he had to navigate all the interest groups that seem to want to pull strings and throw their weight around behind the scenes.

We still have protected species at the club - and still haven't done a proper coaching recruitment process for example. Too many float to the top at Essendon. It's been too insular and ready to take the fast and easy option. Perhaps clubs with less baggage have a clearer run at making decisions without all the interference.
Whatever the cause unless we have sorted this out 100% we won't be back at the top any time soon.

 

[Blind Turn]

It's like we've turned into the 90s version of Richmond.

The pattern has been there for all to see.

Win a premiership at the start of a decade (1980/2000)

Come runner-up on the last legs of a champion team (82/01).

Poor list management and key players depart.

Past champion takes over as coach heading into the next decade (Bartlett/Hird)

Past champion becomes estranged from club after turbulent exit.

Next part of the decade brings abject failure and becomes laughing stock in tge industry with a pattern of failure headlining the demise (Ninthmond/xxx number of days since finals win).

Which leaves me thinking that we will win our next premiership in 2037 when ex-Richmond premiership defender Nick Vlaustin coaches us to the holy grail.

 

[MattyB3150]

I don't think we are as bad as we seem, which might be a problem in itself. But here's my scattergun response:

• We don't seem to know about recruiting, developing and selecting a balanced midfield. 10 years ago we were big and/or slow through the middle, with really only Zaharakis offering any outside pace. Now we are predominantly small and dynamic but flakey. We don't absorb contact at all (aside from Stringer and Caldwell) and it puts us under the pump in contested situations all the time. You have to nail every quick handpass in tight if you can't get your arms free
• We keep prioritising talls. We had three top 10 picks 18 months ago and used two on project talls that will probably end up in defence (not wrong but not an ideal use of early picks imo). We then took two more talls in the ND and another in the SSP. The previous year we'd taken three talls (Jones, Bryan and McBride). Taking as many as we have was always going to mean we would be slow to truly develop a significant part of the list
• This also means we have zero depth outside the top 25(?) as far as the midfield. Generally when injuries happen we just move people from other parts of the ground or boost someone's minutes. We need more mids - I don't particularly care if they're a long-time mid or a new convert, it's incredible that today in the VFL we basically didn't have an AFL listed mid in the team. How does this happen?
• We pushed Heppell into another spot to keep him in the team, which had some minor success as a move but probably didn't and now doesn't make the team better.
• We want to provide pressure up front but have few players who can do it and hit the scoreboard. For small/medium forwards this is basically the prerequisite which is a problem. In fairness to Dodoro he's tried to fix this but to no avail, and obviously absence/injuries for Walla and Snelling, as well as Mozzie retiring has hit us here.
• We are stuck using Laverde as an undersized KPD. He's a gun defender so plays above his weight but it's not ideal. Stewart hasn't come on anywhere near as hoped, and considering the above, it is a minor miracle BZT is still on the list.
• Our back six/seven is stacked with average to poor users from Kelly, Heppell, (at the moment, BZT), Laverde and guys prone to brain fades like Stewart and Redman. I give Hind a pass because he is usually trying to create when he ***** up - we desperately need another runner to take the heat off him.

As an aside, I desperately need to hear we aren't the ones chasing Daniel McStay with a six year contract offer but have an awful feeling it's just the kind of complete dumbarsery we totally would do.

Spot on. Had a lot of the same thoughts today. Especially the lack of midfield depth with none playing in the vfl today.

 

[brutus76]

Points leakage = midfielders not 2 way running and defenders poor 1 v 1 and too slow in rebound transition (I'd put Pidge back there on HBF)

We have enough of the ball - forward line bereft bar 2MP - no structure

2 rucks please

Hard to hide Hepp in the backline - not like a Pendles, Rich, Zorko, Fyfe who can use either their speed, skills or agility to get out of trouble or to create forward transition - i'd be playing him off the bench exclusively

Laverde is not a key defender - until Reid is in you might have to go BZT and force the Riddler to be KPD

Kelly, Martin, the Guelf, 2MP, Durham try their hardest

Love Hobbsy's first game

Perks is like a Cam Rayner - needs to put his head down and get into it - has something just hasn't given us that 4Q game

Coxy you need to play him somewhere - IMO lead up half forward

Cutler on a wing - Perks on the other wing and take the game on and run ****** run