Adrian, listen mate, you had a good run at the Bombers. Time to move on. Put on another jacket and head over to Sheeds for a nice glass of red. You can tell him again about that time you landed SSS in one preseason. Good times.
PS. please don’t sue me.
400 million thats a 40k stadium in windy Hill 
Every super successful club and organization has one thing in common, all heading in the one direction.
Behind the scenes there will be differences of opinion, but once the direction is chosen everyone gets in behind it with all their support and energy.
no path to success will be linear & last years injury crisis was a disaster, but what has come of it, is major investment.
Essendon had 5 clear issues in a football sense:
What has been achieved
Until then get on board and support the club, be positive & stop being part of the problem.
And it’s not a ‘ rabble ‘ as a few need to tediously keep reminding themselves.
Of course, everyone should sit tight, be confident, relax, be silent and just wait for the organisation with such a sterling record to fix itself.
Nothing zaka or any supporter says makes a difference. The club being a rabble does.
My apologies, I stand down, you bring up some outstanding points. Let’s bring back Dodoro then I guess. And let’s keep the good times rolling with a longer injury list than available list, we should keep that going. And let’s move on from Caddy/Roberts/Kako, our future truly lies with Stringer, Lav, Hind, Draper?
I was reading the article and wondering how the mob would receive it. I didn’t mind it. Maybe a little naive, but candid and refreshing.
At some point, we will all have to decide which side of the fence we sit on. I’m on the fence myself, waiting to see how it plays out. But, I reckon, give him a chance.
There’s some pretty absurd stuff been said, particularly regarding Zaka.
I was one of those who supported his right to say what he wanted, especially given it’s what most of us have thought at some stage. That’s free speech. But then, Welsh is equally entitled to disagree and calling Zaka up to tell him hardly equates to oppression, as some have weirdly suggested.
If I’m honest, I think robust discussion is healthy. Zaka doesn’t have to agree with Welsh; he can tell him to ■■■■ off if he likes, but I’d rather they engaged than didn’t.
I might be out there agreeing with Zaka in a week or two, but I don’t see a need to get my knickers twisted until I have to.
Zaka saying the club is worse than the saga days. That’s hyperbole!
Geez this clubs last 20 years has really fked you’s all up.
He said just about all the right things, but we have heard it all before from previous presidents. Hopefully he will be the guy to actually match his actions to his words
The bit about David Evan’s was…concerning to say the least
Zaka : fine footballer, nice bloke, but not the sharpest tool in the tool-box.
Can’t wait til we beat Hawthorn and I can post this video…
I don’t want Hird back I’m just saying influence from the outside the club want him back not me
My concern is the club will buckle at the knees when the club has a poor year in 2026 by removing Brad and getting Hird back
Scott = Swagger?
He’s the man for the job, no doubt in my mind.
A unifying figure with a clear understanding.
And he used the phrase I’ve been banging on about for years, we need the swagger back.
These are the two biggest things for me.
All the criticism of Scott and his flawed or non existent game plan has been clouded by selection and personnel issues. Some of his own making but most IMO is down to either the poor list and having to adapt the game plan to suit or at least mitigating the size of the loses to buy him time to execute a long term plan.
For almost a decade multiple coaches have been widely criticised for our inability to defend opposition transition while our backs get torched one on one inside defensive 50 yet when BS tries to stem the bleeding by introducing a high possession game plan he is still attacked by the keyboard warriors and junk media for being boring and predictable.
Yes that’s the point because our core senior players have proven over multiple reiteratations to be unable to execute a modern defensive game plan. So BS had to make it so ■■■■■■■ dumbed down and simple it presents as boring and predictable.
It’s a classic chicken or the egg scenario. Do we blame the coach because his game plan is ■■■■ or do we blame the coach because his players can’t execute. Either way he’s in a no win situation.
I’m in the camp that coaches are only as good as the players at their disposal and until we can build a list that is capable of playing elite modern 2 way football then it doesn’t matter what coach we have at the helm.
Ah, yes, ok. So our game plan this year was to stem the bleeding and prevent the blow outs?
An interesting take, given our scorelines.
other than the nino types on here, who the ■■■■ was having a go at scott cos his gameplan was boring and predictable ?
a lot of the criticism of that iteration of the gameplan was based on they would essentially play keeps off, and then turn it over and get torched of the counter attack anyway, and if you’re original premise is predicated off that the list isn’t good enough to begin with, playing a high possession, keeps off game isn’t smart because of point one, you don’t have a ■■■■■■■ decent side to begin with.
and again if your original premise is multiple coaches haven’t curbed the coast to coast transition game, and this team isn’t scotts and it’s ■■■■ and blah blah, why are the backman always running ahead of the play/ball ?
if the list is as ■■■■ as you say, and scotts absolved of any and all issues, why is he not keeping his backman back behind the play, to limit the damage ? apparently he can implement a keepings off, slow and supposedly methodical approach with the ball, but can’t put 2 and 2 together to be like hey we get torched on transition, maybe just maybe i should instruct my ■■■■ players who can’t execute a plan to save their lives, to you not wander up near our forwardline, and not follow their direct opponent behind a certain point, so we are well set up behind the ball.
If the coaches are as only as good as the players, why hasn’t scott done more to move on the ■■■■ players, or the players he doesn’t want ? and why did he recruit some pretty average players to add to an already ■■■■ list ? i mean gresham and mckay were barely setting the world on fire, and goldy was a break glass in case of emergency signing who ended up being our number 1 ruck.
you can’t have it all one way, it can’t be the list is ■■■■ therefore the coaching is gonna be ■■■■ until the list is good. it’s the coaches job to identify it’s a ■■■■ list, most the biggest and weakest links on, all while implementing non negotiable standards across all facets of the club, and then trialling anything and everything to try and find ways to improve quicker than you hope.
it’s not his job to sit back and be like, oh well the list is ■■■■, i’ll just wait til i get a good list to start being a good coach.
It was early days, the end of the season I take little notice of with our vfl team playing. First crack kept going into how Essendon were defending with the ball to protect scores against.
Where did I say BS is “absolved of all and any issues.”
I’m simply making the point that we have burnt through 3 coaches that have all been ridiculed for their game plan while the senior players get a free pass to the point where some have started ■■■■■■■■ to the media and agitating for a trade.
Our issues are many and trying to lay blame at the feet of one or two individuals only serves to paper over the years of institutionalised huberous and complacency that has permeated throughout the club for decades.
Regarding the list you can’t rebuild a list in one season. Yes, we topped up when we should have cut deep but Scott was merely following the mandate he was given when he was approached to take the job.
Did he take too long to identify the mediocrity on our list? Maybe, but unless you’re in the inner sanctum we have no idea what conversations are happening, especially when we’re not even 18 months into the post-Dodoro era . Yet we have turned over more than half the list in the time since Scott took over.
Analysing all our list departures in that time there is a common theme. A lot of rookies and fringe players cut but very little change to our core senior group. We started to see this change last year and we should expect this will continue over the next 12 months.
2022
Cody Brand (del)
Tom Cutler (del)
Josh Eyre (del)
Aaron Francis (trd)
Brayden Ham (del)
Tom Hird (del)
Michael Hurley (ret)
Garrett McDonagh (del)
Devon Smith (ret)
Alec Waterman (del)
2023
Alastair Lord (del)
Cian McBride (del)
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (ret)
Rhett Montgomerie (del)
Anthony Munkara (del)
Andrew Phillips (ret)
James Stewart (del)
Will Snelling (del)
Patrick Voss (del)
Massimo D’Ambrosio (traded)
2024
Dyson Heppell (RETIRED)
Jake Kelly (RETIRED)
Nick Hind (DELISTED)
Jaiden Hunter (DELISTED)
Kaine Baldwin (DELISTED)
Tex Wanganeen (DELISTED)
Sam Weideman (DELISTED)
Jayden Davey (DELISTED)
Jake Stringer (TRADED TO GWS)
2025 (so far)
Alwyn Davey jnr (del)
Sam Draper (FA)
Todd Goldstein (del)
Jayden Laverde (del)
Jye Menzie (del)
Dylan Shiel (del)