Fletchers 400th game against Richmond
Proceeded to lose, he got injured, never played again, and got banned by WADA.
A terrible end to a club legends career. Hurts to think about that one.
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Worst Loss Since 2000 No. 49
Round 11 2011
| Essendon | 3.2.20 | 6.5.41 | 6.6.42 | 10.8.68 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | 3.0.18 | 5.4.34 | 11.6.72 | 15.11.101 |
Notes
- Essendon were 4th at the start of the round, while Melbourne were 10th.
- Jordie McKenzie claimed the 3 Brownlow votes for Melbourne. Jordan Gysberts and Jack Trengove claimed the remaining votes. This trio averaged 63 AFL games between them over their AFL careers.
- Alex Browne’s debut for Essendon.
- Max Gawn’s debut for Melbourne.
Click here to go to worst loss #48.
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So sorry, did I offend you. FWIW, the standard in AFLW is absolutely appalling. Too many teams, too soon. My cousin plays for Essendon and I support her fully. Attend all her Melbourne games and even she says that the AFLW is the sporting version of WWI trench warfare. The field dimensions is too big, the ball cannot be moved with the speed and distance as the men’s game and so scoring becomes virtually impossible. Did you watch the last game. 3 goals scored over the entire game.
I find your response to my perfectly legitimate observation petulant and not welcome at all.
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Can’t believe how many of these games I saw in the flesh
Oh the humanity!
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I was watching it at crown and was very close to a meltdown. The whole season was a ■■■■■■■ disgrace and Raz had the ■■■■■■■ gall to come out after the finals drubbing and said we had a successful year, ■■■■ off you rat
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I reckon Rutten still has a job too
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It’s been mentioned already, but the single worst Essendon loss since 2000 outside of finals for me was the Sheedy/Hird farewell game at the MCG in ‘07 against bottom-placed Richmond. Huge crowd, a finals spot on the line and we were farewelling two of the biggest legends in club history. We didn’t fire a shot after quarter time.
I’ve sat through a lot of garbage over the past 20 years, but I’ll never forgive the club for that one. Criminal.
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I had the same feeling, but can’t agree with you about the first bit; that performance was an abomination.
We’d finished 2018 in really good form and were widely expected to push on in ‘19. Round 1 losses like that, especially for clubs as fragile as ours, cause so much damage. We fought back as the season progressed and played some good footy at times, but everyone knew we were never really in contention after that round 1 debacle.
The highlight of the game, from an EFC perspective, was Ambrose’s hit on Perryman (?). Totally legal, absolutely brutal, Perryman ended up in hospital. I liked Paddy Ambrose, wish we had a couple of his type on the list now.
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Poor guy played 5 games over two seasons, then missed 2 years with ACLs, then played 3 games, then delisted, then suspended for 2 years by WADA.
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I haven’t been able to do a top 50.
But here’s my reminders against each team…
Adelaide - the Nick Gill game at Docklands. There was also a massive smashing at Football Park when Courtney Johns played. I recall Sheedy parroting his ‘we’re just one jet away’ thing after that game. The round 3 game this season is up there too. The final in Adelaide is up there.
Brisbane - the game at Docklands during Worsfold’s first year coaching. We let Rich run unattended. There was also another game against them at Docklands when they got a run in the last quarter and beat us.
Carlton - Wet day at the MCG when we kept kicking it to their loose man (think it was Docherty). There was also the game where we played Reynolds on Fev and he feasted on him. Of course, the final isn’t a game I’d want to re-visit. There was a game in 2001 (maybe it was after the North comeback) when we hit the post around 6 times and lost a close one.
Collingwood - Anzac Day when we played Courtney Johns. Game was over 15 minutes into the first quarter. I wish the 2023 late in the season game was forgettable.
Fremantle - Can’t think of one off the top of my head.
Geelong - round 1 in 2022. Game against them in Hird’s last year as coach. It was a terrible night when we went goalless in the first half.
Gold Coast - Can’t think of any. This years would be the nearest one to the list.
GWS - The 2023 game towards the end of the season. Round 1 in 2019 is definitely up there.
Haw - The game when Buddy kicked a big bad on Paddy. Can’t think of others. We’ve been nowhere near them to be so disappointed.
Melbourne - Did we lose to both Dean Bailey and Mark Neeld? I think they were both night games too.
North - The Elimination Final.
Port - I have a unique one here. I think it was 2001 (maybe 2002) pre-season and we got smashed by 100+ points. It was the first time I truly sure the Essington born when players just didn’t care about the result. There was a massive loss to them at Docklands in the graveyard shift on a Sunday one year. That one is memorable.
Richmond - Dreamtime Time at the G when Dean Polo had his one flash in the pan game. Hird’s last game of footy at the G is memorable. That was a terrible way to say goodbye to Hird and Sheedy. I didn’t think Richmond were that much better than us that year.
Saints - The last game of one of the seasons. Think there was that passionate speech by McVeigh to remember the feeling of that game. I wish I could forget it.
Sydney - The memorable ones are Courney Dempsey (I’m pretty sure it was him) playing on after the siren. And obviously, the Myers kick after the siren. Those two games stand out. The Elimination Final was disappointing too.
West Coast - The Elimination Final against them is the only one I can think of.
Bulldogs - 2019 game stands out. This one is my worst loss. The first time we played them this year is up there too.
If I could include ones before 2000…
It would be the Carlton Prelim, Brisbane and Sydney finals in 1996, the finals loss to Richmond, the Collingwood Grand Final loss, the Hawthorn smashing (Dermie laying out Van Der Haar) in the 89 final and the Hawthorn loss in 1992 was a terrible listen.
There’s probably others that I’ve forgotten by now, but these ones definitely stick in my mind.
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Yeah, that one’s up there. It was a pivotal game in terms of our season going from scraping in status to top 4 potential.
Xavier’s comment is so symbolic of the saga era culture and how this culture manifested itself throughout an entire club. From the top (X tweet) down.
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We did indeed. #49 is the Dean Bailey loss. I can give away that the Mark Neeld loss is much higher on my list.
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It came across as a cheap shot at the women’s game. You must understand why I would have thought this way given your comments about Eleni Tee on your YT show discussing the St. Kilda game - “she should go back to the kitchen” and “go put your hair in curlers, luv” amongst a tirade against her. I agree she was appalling in that match but the sexist crap dribbling out of your mouth was pretty embarrassing.
When I saw fairly recently that you hosted a YT show I was keen to give a fellow Blitzer some support, but I had to unsubscribe after that. No way I can support a show that thinks that is okay. It might be a good idea if you want your show to grow that you don’t alienate a large section of the population with that ■■■■.
Best of luck with it.
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Yeah. I figured it might be that one. I just couldn’t remember if it was the 2010 loss to Melbourne that was the one I was referring to.
Both of those games blend into each other.
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The pre-2000 list is gonna be a doozy. I have four that stick out already, and that’s before we get to the Sydney prelim in ‘96.
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2024 when we lost after the siren after kicking 1.9 in the last quarter.
Gold Coast hadn’t won an away game in 18 months so of course it had to be against us.
That game has to be a top 50 contender.
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The McPhee game or the game Taberner kicked 7. Both pretty awful.
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There’s none that I remember as vividly as the others I listed.
I recall McPhee kicking a goal from the boundary against us, but not the rest of the game. I do recall Taberner as well, but by then I was already conditioned to the spud goal kickers making our defenders (including Fletch) look silly. The Kent Kingsley game would be ahead of Taberner.
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I’ve never seen as much goodwill evaporate so quickly, as I have in the first quarter of season 2022 vs Geelong.
Within 15 minutes we went from up-and-comers to also-rans, and Rutten went from promising young coach to dead man walking.
All the good work and optimism from season 2021 was destroyed before the quarter time siren.
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Oh yeah, I remember that game.
Ben Graham kicked a goal from the goal square and put the ball a good 10 rows back in level 3.