Francis definitely needs to go key back and free up Ridley and Lav….we looked much better last year with Francis back there
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16 scoring shots to 20 after quarter time. We had significant periods of dominance throughout the game without putting it on the scoreboard. They made us pay when we made mistakes.
Again, that game was the perfect microcosm of exactly what I said. Our best is excellent, we weren’t good enough for long enough.
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Credit to the ones who can find the positives; maybe I’m just numb and disappointed at the same old sh*t occurring. Worse part is that we were seemingly improving last year but have so far regressed this year - wth were they doing over pre-season
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Look, he may claim to have touched it - whatever. Fir me it was the complete lack of desperation or urgency thats the issue. It sent a message that he DGAF about it. The game was in the balance at that point and this clown meanders back and tries to be cute.
He killed us at that point. Other guys busting their ■■■■■ to win the footy and he trots out that crap? Should be dropped for that effort alonw. Set a damn standard
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Agree. Coincidentally , I suggested something like this in the last membership survey. Diehard supporters are an underused resource for the club.
This is an area of the game which is being ignored. Remember Ambrose, Peverill etc? What great team players. Peverill in particular would sacrifice his own game to block, run with and harass the major ball winners of the opposition. A similar player in the current team would be Snelling? However, when Snelling is not playing, this type of role appears to be simply ignored for some unknown reason.
Peverill won many games for us without even generating much in the way of stats.
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We like nice guys. No mongrels for us.
If a poll was taken asking every player in the AFL who they thought were the softest, nicest bunch of blokes getting around, we’d win it.
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Before the season started we expected to be 0-3. So what’s the fake surprise? Of course we hoped to pick up at least 1 win, but realistically we knew it was a rotten draw to start off with. Great to get a reality check at the start of the season and start building a team that can crash through the barrier. This will come as we get more cattle back - Tippa, Jones, Langford, Snelling, Shiel, and Reid, and then we will take some serious upward steps to being a great Bombers team. Be brave and have some faith!
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I still can’t get over truck playing McGrath forward.
Bloke’s got rocks in his head.
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Without a forward line and without a good key defender realistically means that at best Essendon may be competitive but won’t win many games .
Bottom 4 a near certainty.
you can make that argument for just about every club in the game. its what separates the good sides from the average ones (us)
we’ll agree to disagree
This is definitely a burn that is growing, imagine making a f/s that wants our club train on and only sign up after a great practice game at the end of camp, then embarass the family by engaging in the hype of a debut only to ride the pine for the whole time while a few of our small forwards continued to offer nothing, really showing the love, is he just a PR tool for the club?..
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Ninthmond used to set the bar for consistent mediocracy . Now it’s us .
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Take it to the culture thread!
I didn’t say we were a good side though. I said we are capable of better than middling footy but can’t/haven’t done it consistently. The challenge for us is to do it longer. I don’t think the gap is as big as you or others might suggest.
We lost last night against a genuine premiership contender by <4 goals largely due to our own inaccuracy in front of goal. If we kick straight we either win or lose by <10pts.
This is an Essendon trope that gets rolled out fairly regularly but I’m not sure it’s accurate.
There has been plenty of change over the last 20 years from admin staff to facilities to players and coaches. Certainly enough to suggest that club is not resting on its laurels and accepting being the running joke of the competition.
Incompetent or inept is probably the more accurate descriptor.
The issue in football is that mistakes often only become apparent with time and they are almost always impossible to fix immediately.
If I was to single out only one issue that seems to have been a recurring theme for most of the last 20 years it’s that Essendon (on field) always seem to be a clear step behind the modern game.
The million dollar question is, why?
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True, it is getting harder and harder to care
So I’ve had a chance to sleep, rest, reflect and rewatch parts of the game. My five very long thoughts:
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The effort was much better in Quarter 1. We played ‘our way’ and jumped to a handy lead. Brisbane tried to go head to head with us and lost. Despite the dominance all over the game, our woeful forwardline structure meant we were only 3 goals up. Could have easily been a 10 goal blow out at quarter time. Merrett and Parish were great, Wright played one of the best quarters of his life. It was pleasing that we had a ‘response’ to last week… it is clear there is SOME spirit in this playing group.
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From quarter time onwards we got stomped and stomped hard. Don’t care about margin. We got beaten by a team that ADAPTED and changed their style to beat us. Fagan gave Rutten a masterclass in how to identify a problem and then fix it. Brisbane rolled Berry onto a close job on Merrett meaning he was unable to keep giving bullets to Wright. They also held their forwards back a little deeper and moved Daniher onto the wing where he could use his size and field kicking to get more involved. They switched to a closer man on man style down back and blocked the leading lanes. Zorko stayed out there to act as a general and also to provide quality disposal coming out. Brisbane adjusted and corrected back to a ‘kick first’ mentality to get over our pathetic defensive zone rather than trying to ‘run and gun’ through it with hands. ALL these moves were deliberate and had good effect. We tried exactly ZERO tactics to change the course of the game.
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Rutten can’t coach or won’t coach or whatever… I don’t care but he is a useless pile of junk. He may have tricked me last year but I see him now. Just another in a long line of fraudulent scam artist that will steal money from our great club. NOT ONE positional change… not a single change in approach or style. We “play our way” even when it is clear the tables have turned… that is just IDIOTIC and STUPID. Not even Richmond or Melbourne or Geelong or Hawks in their ‘Prime’ had that stupidity or arrogance to think you are going to be able to dictate every game. You must try to play your way but also be able to counter the opposition. Our head coach is a dead set stone. I’m done with him… now I’m guessing I’ll have to endure 3 years of everyone telling me how stupid my opinion is as we circle the drain again… and then get no apologies when I am proven correct and the masses finally see what is clear as day. Rutten has NFI.
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We had NO real goal threat from our small forwards all day… and yet we had to look at Tex… one of the brightest potential small forwards we have on the list, hot from an amazing pre-season… sitting on the pine. Uh huh. I will never, not ever, never never understand this decision. How you give Ham another bloody chance to spud it up… ditto Smith… whilst we have the pure unbridled energy of a young kid that could become ANYTHING sitting on the pine… duh duh duh. I would say the same with Hobbs… who was recruited as a ‘ready made’ bull… and yet we haven’t even heard a hint of him getting a chance. Just a waste of time and energy following a club that can not and will not accept reality. We need to get serious about selections… serious about recruiting. If you are not performing… then you should be out of the team. Also… I know he took a little while last season… but how did the coaches miss the fact that Heppell is literally a statue compared to modern players. He was never fast to begin with but he is now a deadset liability. Dude looks lost and has NO IMPACT as a player… let alone a Captain. As I saw Merrett slow that lovely running goal and the team rose up around him… that looked like a captains effort. Don’t see anything from Dyson other than a few hair tussles after Cox gave up the pill again and again with shoddy handpassing. Make the tough call and make it early. Heppell, Smith, Ham should all have a big line put through them. Maybe Heppell could play a medical sub role similar to Riccardi a while back for Geelong? The other two should be asked to pack their bags and never ever return to our facility… potentially even the entire Tullamarine district…
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Why are we the least skilled team in the league? Skill error after skill error. However the big one is goal kicking. We were graced by a delightful training report on Tuesday that spoke about a ‘loose goal kicking’ session where everyone just had a bit of fun taking pot shots from whereever… AT that time I posted that we haven’t taken goal kicking seriously enough for 20 years. What a (surprise) that when the pressure came… we can’t hit the side of a barn. We convert our set shots at the same rate as Brisbane and we win by 5 goals. We were deplorable and not just from bad angles. Just really really bad goal kicking and it starts with the fact that you ARE what you TRAIN to be. We don’t take goal kicking seriously in training… and the results are there. STOP mucking around and start having a WEEKLY training session with purpose, drive and dedication to focus on and improve goal kicking. It is a CORE part of the game and yet ignored so frequently.
So whilst some feel we took a step forward yesterday… I feel more anger. Yesterday just confirmed that we have not moved forward one step. We are a middle of the road time that sometimes puts in effort… we are poorly coached, poorly selected, have no leaders and go missing as soon as any heat is applied. Our goal kicking and forward structures are clearly lacking and they seem perfectly content with the middle road.
It is going to be a long long looooooooong season.
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What I don’t understand is he doesn’t seem to care about winning or losing but seems just happy to cruise along with his mates. He could of done that at Essendon, I don’t think wanting to be successful is important to him.
Wonder if Cox had kicked that easy one in the early 2nd quarter to make it 29 points….
I think we go on with the job.
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