Ben Rutten - Back to the grindstone (Part 2)

There’s not even a statement in getting rid of those names, that’s just dead wood that’s aged out. I can’t even fathom it being controversial outside of maybe Hepp.

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TEMPLATE.

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Not the proud club that I once played for”: Lloyd doubles down on stinging Essendon criticism

By Seb Mottram

Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd has doubled down on his criticism of the Bombers’ performance that led to their 58-point loss to Sydney on Saturday night, declaring: “that’s not the proud club that I once played for.”

Ben Rutten’s troops have been slammed multiple times this year for disappointing games that have led to their 2-7 record, however the struggling club hit a new low in Round 9.

Their tackle count of just 30 paints a startling picture of what happened at the SCG, Lloyd stating that his former club is as low as they’ve been in decades.

“This is as challenging a time as Essendon has had, I know they’ve had a lot of challenging times due to the supplements saga and the scandal, but with a full complement of players, this is as low as it’s probably got in a number of decades,” Lloyd began on Sportsday .

“(They’ve conceded) 922 points against, only North Melbourne are 970 and West Coast with 977 (are worse), we know how bad they’re going.

“So Ben Rutten, coming from Richmond and looking to stiffen the defence, Essendon always move the ball really well but he came to stiffen the defence and that’s just going backward at a rate of knots.”

Even more shocking was the lack of fight Essendon had against Sydney. The taunting incident involving Luke Parker mocking Dylan Shiel has been widely viewed, while James Rowbottom has since copped a suspension for a bump on Zach Merrett.

Neither incident warranted any retaliation from Essendon teammates or Rutten in his post-match press conference, and Lloyd views it as a startling insight into just how low the Bombers have sunk.

“I teach my kids never to be walked all over. I’ve only met Dylan Shiel a few times, he’s a lovely guy, and it wouldn’t have mattered if he played for Essendon or he played for Richmond, I would have said exactly the same thing about that because I just don’t like seeing people get walked all over,” he said.

“I think it just shows how low they are at the moment… Ben Rutten, he’s a young coach fighting for his own career and has so much spinning in his own head that he’s not in a position to fight the fight for Dylan Shiel, he’s thinking, ‘how am I going to get my team to defend, how am I going to get my team to make an effort’?

“So that was probably the last thing on his mind in the post-match press conference. He looked shell-shocked after the game with what his team served up.

“To see Merrett get bowled over and no one goes to Rowbottom, to see Dylan Shiel get walked all over and no one take a stand and Dylan not take a stand, I didn’t like seeing it.

“That’s not the proud club I once played for.”

Despite the criticism of Rutten, Lloyd wasn’t willing to declare that he isn’t the man for the job.

“He’s only into his second year, and at this stage, there are big question marks,” he said.

“(However) I’m not going to stand here now and say he’s the wrong person… as we sit here right now, the players don’t stand for anything and the team doesn’t stand for anything and that’s going to put any coach under pressure.

“But he’s a year and a bit into his coaching career, so I’m not willing to say he’s not the man at this point.”

The loss raises the stakes even more for Essendon’s massive Dreamtime at the G’ clash against Richmond this week, Rutten’s troops simply needing to find a way to show fans something.

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Again with the banging my small drum. Dr Amanda Green to the club. If you’d heard her talk about her role and the things she was involved in the way I heard her talking in 2016, you might be on the same page.

Autonomy has to be balanced with responsibility. It’s no good having 22 autonomous players doing whatever they want. It doesn’t stack up against good sides who are given that autonomy but are held accountable for their role within a team.

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Wasn’t aware of this, makes me sick

Love Lloydy … say what you like but he’s a champion of this club. He wasn’t a physical giant although 6’4" high. But he coped with the old school full backs and kicked 926 AFL goals. He cares. And he absolutely hates what he’s witnessing.

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He really is chomping at the bit too come off the line and make a statement isn’t he

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Sam McClure said last night we are stripping back our game plan… i.e. rutten defence is being put in the bin just like after round 2 2019.

Thank goodness but at the same time no defence will get us as high as 8th on the ladder and an EF thumping.

Well then Rutten has failed so he needs to go now rather than 2 years time.

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Did he actually say that? I must’ve missed it

This is so true. We have never asked the hard questions. So we haven’t set ourselves up for success. We have set ourselves up to bounce between 7th and 12th on the ladder.

Until we open ourselves up fully and have the tough questions asked we are never going to be truly successful. Someone in a senior leadership position, ie the President should be stating the club will undertake a wide range fully external review of everything inside the club.

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He’s not alone there. Some fairly drastic changes need to happen now. A new coach, following a proper process, would be a good start. There’s a lot of other changes needed. We’ve had 17 years of ‘good’ intentions that have got us nowhere. We need change.

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I’m thinking Lloyd is just stating what all of him and his team mates from what was a relatively successful era are thinking. They must be so frustrated watching us be a basket case.

It’s a shame the one player from 2000 actively involved in the club outside of coaching, in Wellman, is one of the quietest players from that team.

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At this stage, Matthew Knights implemented a better defensive game plan than Rutten has, and Knights didn’t even understand how a zone works.

Yep, the guy whose gameplan was based on all-out attack and little defence, had a better defensive plan than the ‘mastermind’ of Richmond’s team defence.

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Not sure if already posted in this thread….

Don’t think Lloyd was skipper til 2007?

We don’t know what the specifics of the game plan are but could it and the confusion around it be contributing to such low tackle numbers?

Scrap that, he became captain in 2006.

Definitely is a contributing factor. Our players our second guessing themselves and are too worried about trying to follow whatever the game plan is rather than actively doing the basics.

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