Tracking nicely.
Good for him for sure.
But itâs also as there is literally no one else midfield wise left.
This is the first time since the Saga started, that l feel the club us back on track. When the Saga struck, l remember saying that our culture had been knocked into a completely different trajectory. Truck is the first coach in years to embrace our history, another facet of this club that l am very vocal about in my appreciation of all things Essendon. The players have brought into his vision, and Zach is one of the key components of the overall image.
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So, are we saying that Rutten made a â â â â line coach?
I always felt that both Lindsay Tanner and Woosha were AFL appointees rather than controlled by the club. Now, finally, both are gone and we have a coach who truly belongs in the job.
The last of the disgruntled players have departed and in Truck we have the right guy to take this exciting young team forward. Win, lose or draw, this is yhe best Iâve felt about the club for 20 some years.
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Ben Rutten on AFL 360 on Monday
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Could anyone kindly share the Jake Niall age article here please?
I pay $15.00 per month
I donât
From bad things, better things grow: Essendonâs silver linings playbook
By Jake Niall
Dylan Shiel, Sam Draper and recruit Jye Caldwell had all gone down with long-term injuries on the same day the Bombers had been dismembered by Port Adelaide.
They were 0-2, having blown a massive lead against the lowly Hawks in the first game. Adam Saad, Joe Daniher and Orazio Fantasia had walked to other clubs, and homesick Irishman Conor McKenna had returned to his Gaelic roots.
Zach Merrett, a free agent, was being heavily-courted by Carlton, Port and the Brisbane Lions and would put on record that heâd consider his options.
Michael Hurley was subsequently afflicted with a severe infection that made him very sick and skinny and might force him out for the season. Cale Hooker was slowing to treacle-speed. Who would replace those stalwarts down back?
A battered Dyson Heppellâs midfield days seemed behind, if not beyond him.
Ben Rutten had been given the reins outright in the handover from John Worsfold, but what were his chances of making ground, given these adverse circumstances? Heâd be relying on kids picked up in the drafts of 2019 and 2020, on discarded Saint Nick Hind, and a Gold Coast castaway key forward (Peter Wright).
In their hour of need, Essendonâs board had implemented a review of the football department and turned to their most iconic post-war figure, septuagenarian Kevin Sheedy, to soothe the savage fans.
In the three months since that early-season nadir, the Dons have won half of their 10 subsequent games and have improved to the point that if they beat the hated Hawks in Launceston on Sunday (a harder ask than the ladder suggests), theyâll sit on the verge of the top eight at 6-7 with a percentage exceeding 100.
Itâs a scenario that the Bombers, themselves, did not envisage, with their new president Paul Brasher having - quite shrewdly - talked this season down in the short-term as one designated for âdevelopmentâ.
Today, thereâs a slightly giddy optimism about the Dons, who have turned the worries of the 2020 post-season and March 2021 into a silver linings playbook.
The most striking feature of Essendon in 2021 has been that events that looked like setbacks - or even crises - have actually benefited the team and club.
Take Shielâs knee injury. When he went down, along with Caldwell - a third year ex-Giant with a strong body - many of us wondered how theyâd field a competitive midfield.
But the absence opened up a permanent slot in the centre square for Darcy Parish, hitherto a proficient, but small and not overly fast midfielder whoâd never threatened A-grade stature.
Parish, as we know, has been among the most improved players in the competition, adding outside run to his ball-winning talents, by dint of getting fitter - and opportunity. Today, he has taken best afield honours in perhaps five games, including the Anzac Day and Dreamtime clashes.
No one at Essendon is worried about out-of-contract Parish leaving, either. Why would he?
Saad and McKennaâs exits meant they were without two serious half-backs with leg speed. Enter Nick Hind, whoâd played VFL with the Bombers, and been acquired from the Saints at Dimmeysâ rates - a pair of fourth round picks that werenât utilised.
Hind isnât better than Saad, but heâs providing much of the output for far fewer dollars than the latter would have cost. The Dons received a top 10 pick for Saad, which was turned into Zach Reid, a prospective long-term key position fixture.
Joe Daniher, meanwhile, left a veritable crater in the forward line by moving to Brisbane.
Up stepped Harrison Jones, a stripling key forward from Essendonâs heartland, whoâs grasped the chance to show his wares. Had Daniher stayed - and stayed on the park - Jones wouldâve spent much of the season in the VFL.
The same applies to Jayden Laverde, whoâs cemented a spot down back in his seventh season. Laverde was trialled in defence due to the situations vacant created by Hurleyâs ailment and Hookerâs shift forward, where heâs provided an experienced target.
Heppell, whose body had left him down in 2019 and 2020 and couldnât be counted on in the middle, was shifted to half-back to stabilise the defence. The result is another unexpected bounty for the Bombers.
Nik Cox and Archie Perkins have outstripped expectations for first-year draftees and their presence in the 22 - with Jones, Hind and others - has given the long-dormant Bombers a sense of rebirth.
Rather than meandering in the middle of the ladder with a more mature team that wouldnât cut it as a flag contender, the Bombers have given themselves clarity: forced into a rebuild, they know the path ahead.
The danger, as with any big club that picks up steam, is that theyâll get ahead of themselves and assume that the restoration is nigh, when thereâs still list pruning, hard calls and maturation required.
Ruttenâs silver linings playbook has had a touch of Sheedy, in that necessity has been the mother of reinvention. By exceeding budget on the field, the new coach also has deposited a few credits in the bank. And he will need them at some point.
Itâs easier to experiment, and to make good of misfortune when youâre not considered a contender, and have the luxury of losing honourably and not being judged, as Carlton have, on a finals-or-bust dividing line.
Enjoy the free ride this year, Bomber fans. From bad things, better things have grown. The harder judgement days lie ahead.
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I mean, based on this year, he is
Didnât we get pick 8, which was Cox?
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Technically Reid as all picks got pushed back for academy selections
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Yep but after the NGA & academy bids pick 8 turned into 10 which was Reid.
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Our 9 goal loss to port wouldnât even be in the top 10 of our worst losses in the last 5 years. I actually look at that game, where we got off to a slow start and suffered 3 long term injuries as a measure of our improvement.
Parish has always shown glimpses of A grade potential, hence the nashing of teeth here while he languished in the forward like
Hind is better than saad.
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Technically Saad is a better player. However I count Hind as better because he is more team oriented (he will do what is required of him without complaining), he runs in straight lines, he uses the ball well, has a better footy IQ (which is improving consistently imo) and seems more passionate about playing for his team and his team mates.
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In what way?
In terms of pure talent, saad is better.
But hind more than makes up for that with desperation, willingness to do the gritty defensive work that you donât get credit for, be a good teammate
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Yes perhaps but Hind bleeds red and black and that my friends, is the difference.
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