I think the saga broke the club and it’s many facets in many ways.
Perhaps this is still playing out?
I have NFI, but I’m close to cooked…
2 Likes
i said it earlier…
Hinkley dropped ryder wines westhoff…wooosha well everyone knows who gets dropped its so vanilla just like our club!
Wait…
So the players are saying it’s a STRENGTH, yet you are patting the back of Blitz members for their couch observations saying it’s bad?
Despite the players liking it?
Sometimes I think you guys just want him to throw tantrums like a fan.
1 Like
Some players (thinking Zaharakis) have coasted through their whole career, so it’s no surprise he in particular likes a coach who doesn’t rock the boat.
1 Like
I
M
A
T
R
O
L
L
If every supporter shoves pencils up their noses, wanna know what happens?
1 Like
A lot of posts after a loss are about personal emotional investment -
If I think the club should tank, then I won’t get upset when they lose.
And the subsequent frustration when others don’t think they should tank.
This club’s sent 99% of us mental
1 Like
I can respect that, even with the passive undertones.
I didn’t say 4 years… I said 3.5 seasons - 2016, 2017, 2018 + over half of 2019. That is not being anything other than mathematical. If we want to ‘exclude’ 2016 then fine, but I would argue that one of the main reasons why some people defend woosha is how he handled 2016… so if we ‘ignore’ that season then arguable it makes the situation worse and not better. I cannot, in any meaningful way, understand where the figure of 18 months would come from.
I don’t think you have to be a ‘hater’ to say injuries are no excuse… I think that is just how some people feel. I have no problem with you believing it is a contributing factor. However by that logic it will be a ‘contributing’ factor every season and thus you can, arguably, never be disappointed by our finishing position.
As shocking as it seems, our injuries have not even been close to the worst in the comp, in fact I think we are closer to the top of the scale. As in the number of front line players lost to injuries. The fact they are all forwardline… maybe sure. However I have maintained that JD was done and needed surgery since the injury was first publicly acknowledged last year. I got howled at as per usual and all the junk that goes on… but I’m pretty much not surprised at how it has all played out. Our handling of injuries is problematic and predictably awful. Building depth and building a plan that can cope with players missing IS part of the head coaches job imho… and thus it shows again the Woosha is not the man for the job.
So I have no problem if you want to sit on the fence and hedge your bets… hoping for a miracle turn around this season - nothing would make me happier - but I don’t think those who have a different opinion to yours need the ‘hater’ tag and all the other BS.
1 Like
Joe didn’t play round 1 because he was injured. So our forward line issues started before round 1?
I actually think our forward line was ok until we went through the period of losing Brown (r6), Daniher (not right r7, missed r8, ruled out r10) and then left with McKernan coming back after a 6 week break as our only tall. Combine that with Raz only playing once during that period too.
Even if you don’t rate our forward line talent, there’s been no continuity and you need that to be able to score efficiently.
1 Like
I’m a bit busy atm, but I think you focussed on the hater comment a bit too much. It was just a throw away word.
Anyway, back later. 
1 Like
I believe injuries to be a contributing factor every year - some more than others.
I think that missing good footballers make it harder to win games. Some years I look at how many good players miss games and think “that was probably why we lost so many games”… other years I think “we had a few injuries, but not too many”… I don’t think the same thing every year.
Whilst I’ll always be disappointed if we finish poorly on the ladder, I can also recognise that at times missing key talent has an impact on my team’s ability to win games.
In 1997 we finished 14th. I wasn’t happy we finished 14th. I also understood that a team missing Hird, Mercuri, Long for large parts of the year had a pretty good reason for falling down the ladder.
1 Like
Me too somewhere in the bottom 5. We are not going anywhere or getting anywhere fast. We can forget about finals or playing finals. We need to get our skills by hand and feet right. We have shown our lack of skill in that area all season. Play those youngsters who show potential and get games into them. Injuries will help us to do that. Obviously, with players being delisted and perhaps others leaving at the end of the season.
I don’t think we have any high picks in the draft. This only leaves player trading for us and I don’t know if we have anyone to trade?
1 Like
Plenty of good players get picked outside of the first round and many of the games top players have been rookie selections.
Not having early picks is no excuse for not bringing talented kids into the club.
The type of player he recruits is what i have an issue with.
1 Like
One word: OUT!
Robbo’s article in the HS was spot on!!!
Robbins article has to be backed up from somewhere. It’s a big call given the odds of us making it were less than 5% after round five.
Mark Robinson: Essendon must make the finals to save John Worsfold’s job
The die is cast at Essendon.
If John Worsfold is to coach the Bombers next year, his team needs to play finals.
If they don’t play finals, he’s almost certain to be replaced, despite having 12 months to run on a contract.
The Herald Sun believes the frustration levels at Essendon are peaking after another middling and mediocre season and the focus has turned to the coach and his coaching group.
The lack of consistency of effort and performance is central to the frustration.
The club must be questioning if Worsfold’s philosophy of empowering the players is the right philosophy for this group.
That might say more about the maturity of the team and the players’ inability to accept responsibility more than it does about Worsfold.
But the game plan and match-day tactics are increasingly questioned by former players, led by club great Matthew Lloyd and to a lesser extent Tim Watson, and former coaches in the media.
There are positives, such as the improvement in defence, and there are excuses, such as the expansive injury list.
Essendon coach John Worsfold is a man under pressure. Picture: Michael Klein
But it’s apparent the Essendon board and senior officials believe the results should be better than their mid-table standing.
Essendon is 6-7 ahead of tonight’s match against Greater Western Sydney.
A defeat would mean they would have to win at least six, probably seven of their remaining eight games to play finals.
The outlook is bleak, but not impossible.
Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell has made some strong calls in recent years.
He axed James Hird, Mark Thompson, Mark Neeld and Neil Craig, among others, so a decision to move on Worsfold would not daunt him.
Campbell and football director and premiership defender Sean Wellman would ultimately make a decision on the coach, before making a recommendation to the board.
And it would be a tough call. Worsfold is held in the highest of esteem at Essendon.
He was appointed coach in October 2015, becoming what’s been termed a “wartime’’ coach.
John Worsfold was all smiles in October 2015 when he was unveiled as the Dons’ new coach. Picture: Michael Klein
His first year was Essendon’s worst, winning three games in the face of mass suspensions, before drafting No.1 pick Andrew McGrath.
He made finals in 2017, prompting a surge of off-season signings which included Jake Stringer, Adam Saad and Devon Smith.
At the end of last year, they added dynamo midfielder Dylan Shiel.
A combination of top-shelf recruits and existing All Australians, including Michael Hurley, Cale Hooker, Dyson Heppell and Zach Merrett, presented lofty expectations.
The simple question Essendon has to ask itself is: With this talent, should the team be better placed? The answer is yes.
Worsfold has been a pillar through difficult times, a calm, strong character when the team and club climbed out of the darkness.
To that point, the drugs saga is yesterday’s news.
How does Robbo think the Bombers will fare in the back half of the season?
While external observers have suggested the club is still struggling after those years of torment, internally the club won’t accept that as an excuse.
A respected figure, Worsfold is also a curious figure to Bomber fans.
His game style has been a team that creates drive from halfback through the corridor.
When that system fails, fans wonder about the Plan B.
They are a bit of a furphy, these Plan Bs, but what has come under focus is Essendon’s inability to fight in games.
The Bombers can’t adapt to situations in games when things are going against them.
It’s often wondered just how a player of Worsfold’s tenacity can coach a team that is often exposed for a lack of tenacity.
There are basic questions, too, such as a lack of improvement outside Darcy Parish and Mason Redman.
What’s happened to David Myers, Aaron Francis and Kyle Langford?
Darcy Parish is one of few young Bombers living up to his potential. Picture: AAP
The Bombers have only kicked more than 75 points in one game since Round 5.
That probably correlates with a defensive adjustments — because there’s always a reaction — but again, why is Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti so inconsistent?
The situation will be a delicate one for Campbell and Wellman.
If the Bombers’ finals aspirations end soon — they play five top-eight sides in the run home — do they start shopping for a new coach alongside Carlton and North Melbourne, or wait until the season officially ends.
It would be terrible situation if they made inquiries about the likes of Fremantle’s Ross Lyon while Worsfold was still at the helm.
But can they wait until the end of the year?
Anybody else’s think Woosha’s line in his recent press conference of we have have only been at it 2 years (think he even cut it to 18 months) will com back to bite him.
I know if I was X I would have brought him in and said WTF were you doing in 2016/2017 then?
Because whilst the players being banned and then coming back was a challenging coaching task, it certainly should not have significantly altered the development ability of the coaching group. Some may say it even would have enhanced it with the opportunity of 2016.
9 Likes
A free hit with the youngsters in 16 would have had its advantages.
The whole ‘only been at it for 18 months’ call might be what he’s remembered for in 19…and that’d be a shame.
Think his coaching and footy days are done, but seems like a nice enough bloke who deserved to end his footy career on a better note. Suppose few coaches get to go out on a high.
2 Likes
Can we blame the loss on their injuries instead?
2 Likes
’
They had more fresh guys come in than us!’
1 Like