Played 2 good games, both against FC
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The team fell apart physically after being pushed too hard by the weapon in the preseason.
I remember this game pretty well.
Courtenay Dempsey looked like 1980s Long. When he touched the footy he made something happen.
Unfortunately he did a hammy. For memory before doing his hammy, he marked directly in front 30m out and missed. We were still in the game (only a goal behind for memory).
After that came the usual capitulation. Richmond kicked goal after goal and led by 40 just ten minutes later. The end margin made it look better than it was.
After this game, I was pretty certain that seeing the end of Sheedy was the right thing to do.
The team was so rubbish, yet he continually said we were ‘one jet midfielder’ away. The guy was so passed it. We were never competing with a Cousins, Kerr and Judd midfield group.
And of course…
That didn’t mean that things were going to get better. It just meant things would be different after that. Unfortunately, things got worse.
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Yeah.
They probably did.
But we’ve had similar years before and after that year. Good to decent starts to the season, followed by the capitulation ending to the season. We did blame injuries back then too.
That’s where all the ‘sack Quinn’ stuff was born.
It’s why I laugh at the Tullamarine turf conspiracy theory that causes more injuries.
We had injury issues before going to Tullamarine.
We still have injury issues 10 years after moving to Tullamarine.
Across the whole 20 years, we’ve had below league average training standards though. And we’ve rarely had multiple good pre-seasons to bridge the gap.
It also didn’t help that we never got the balance of running power vs football skill / IQ. It was one or the other with us. If we had a weakness, we got a player who had that as a strength. But their weakness brought up another issue. So we were constantly playing whack a mole. But that’s probably more for another thread.
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This was pretty well known though.
ESSENDON’S injury crisis deepened last night, with Kyle Reimers becoming the 21st soft-tissue victim since high-performance fitness guru Dean ‘‘The Weapon’’ Robinson took over the club’s training program in the preseason.
Hours after coach James Hird defended the program - aimed at making the side bigger, stronger and more competitive at the end of games - football manager Paul Hamilton confirmed Reimers had suffered a ‘‘low-grade strain’’ to his hamstring that will sideline him for about two weeks.
Kyle Reimers at Essendon training this week.CREDIT: SEBASTIAN COSTANZO
‘‘It’s really at the lower end of the scale … it’s not a tear, it’s a low-grade strain,’’ Hamilton said.
''The point Hirdy has made is we have pushed them a little bit harder over the course of the pre-season and I suppose there is a penalty to pay at some stage.
‘‘Last year we were struggling from the third quarter on, this year we are actually doing quite well late in games. [But] we don’t want to be losing too many players, mind you.’’
The sixth-placed Bombers will also be without defender Michael Hibberd, who added to the soft-tissue injury toll this week, injuring his quadricep muscle. He will miss two matches.
But despite the latest injuries, Hird can soon see a time when he will have different headaches at the selection table.
Fresh from seeing the almost-forgotten Scott Gumbleton in an Essendon guernsey for the first time in ages, the Bombers still believe they can assemble their best team before the finals begin.
Stewart Crameri (suspension) and Angus Monfries (hamstring) will return for tonight’s game against Geelong at Etihad Stadium, while Jason Winderlich (hamstring) will play in the VFL
Hird says centre half-forward Michael Hurley will be close to ready for the game against Hawthorn next Friday night, ruck-forward Paddy Ryder (hamstring) should be ready the week after, and half-forward David Zaharakis (quadricep) soon after that.
Hird acknowledged that the harder training regime under Robinson, who had success with Mark Thompson at Geelong before moving to the Gold Coast Suns for a year, had caused a glut of soft tissue injuries, but was adamant the side needed to become tougher.
‘‘We’ve decided to go a way that we can compete at the end of games, not just the start of games,’’ Hird said.
‘‘To do that, you’ve got to train your players pretty hard. It’s documented that we’ve had some injuries doing that, but there’s also been some reward in the way we’ve played in last quarters as well.’’
Hird is wary of Geelong.
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‘‘I don’t think anyone in the past five or six years has exploited them,’’ he said. ‘‘You’ve got to match them in some areas and hope you can take some opportunities.’’
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I’m with you. I’m so used to us losing games we should have won easily, failing to put up even a semblance of a fight against any halfway decent team, and generally just not turning up to play crucial games, that I don’t remember any of them. One loss against Geelong is basically the same as any other. I’ve supported the Bombers since 1961 (technically earlier, but 1961 was when I began to understand what league football was), and I’ve never been through such a bad period as the last 10 years.
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And had the ball on the goal line and missed the ball
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I’ve seen worse games…. but I have very rarely left a game more upset. Maybe in my top 3.
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Dreamtime shouldve been up there too. We had absolutely zero right to win that. 2 pathetic efforts against an equally pathetic tigers side that couldnt beat a ■■■■■■■ egg if they tried
This got me thinking. When would be the worst time to be born a don regarding coping with recent failures? I’m thinking early/mid 70’s. By the time you’re old enough to get a grasp of footy, we’ve begun an extended period of success. Then Essington.
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Im putting in an argument for the mid 80s.
I was born in 86 so my childhood was pretty good, 2 flags, 4 grand finals, always there abouts.
My adult life has been nothing but Essington.
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@James98 what’s your journey like?
How long have you got?
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Born in ‘84 so I share your pain. The beginning of my understanding of footy coincided with rise of James Hird’s and Dustin Fletcher’s careers. Got to see some peak Michael Long. Scott Lucas, Matthew Lloyd and plenty of other honourable mentions come along soon after.
If you wanted to torture a fan base, you’ve give them that as their intro to footy and then put them through 20 years of Essington.
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‘88 and can confirm. Was lucky enough to be there for the 2000 GF live but too young to truly appreciate the win. It felt like the good times were there to stay, that’s all I had known
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Mid-late nineties, easily. Not old enough to remember or appreciate any real success, plus you had to endure the drug saga.
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Worst Loss Since 2000 No. 9
Round 24 2023
| Essendon | 0.2.2 | 2.4.16 | 2.10.22 | 3.13.31 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood | 8.1.49 | 12.2.74 | 14.3.87 | 16.5.101 |
Notes
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Essendon lost to Collingwood’s QT score by 18 pts.
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Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti’s farewell game. Walla came on as the sub to replace Kaine Baldwin earlier than expected, who was KO’d in the early stages of the game.
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Andrew Phillips and Will Snelling’s last games of AFL football.
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Brandon Zerk-Thatcher’s last game for Essendon before being traded to Port Adelaide.
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Contender for worst disposal quality seen by an Essendon team.
Click here to go to worst loss #8.
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Will Snelling gave Nic Martin an absolute spray during that game for missing an easy tackle on Steele Sidebottom.
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Thanks for reminding me that this was also Snelling’s last game.
Legit one of the worst and most boring games I’ve ever seen. Collingwood didn’t give a ■■■■ after quarter time and still romped it in. I’d probably rank this one a fair bit lower as I discount “playing out the string” games with nothing to play for.