It is clear to anyone with the slightest bit of sensitivity to external events and this dance of atoms called life, that we - are - on - the - fkn - up - finally - and the precise turning point was red fkn shorts.
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#FLAGDONS
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Just you wait till we win our second game in a year. Then youâll see!
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We have an excellent chance to lock in top 2 draft picks in the next fortnight.
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ââTwas the 18th August 2015 when the lid went on.
It has taken a long time for a ray of hope to appear in the darkness.
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Nate Caddy is locked in at Essendon with hard yards on rebuild journey already done
Essendon looks and feels like a basket case. But as Jon Ralph writes, much of the hard work is in the rear view mirror â and the good news for the next coach is Nate Caddy couldnât be more âinâ.
Nate Caddyâs raw interview after another embarrassing Essendon loss was pitched by some as a cry for help.
Caddy said after the 64-point loss to Brisbane that he didnât âwant to take mediocrity, to be honestâ after some minor signs of life in another beat-down.
Was this the first sign that Caddy wanted out?
What Essendonâs new coach will quickly find out is that Caddy couldnât be more âinâ at the Hangar.
A prospective coach casting their eyes over the Essendon list would believe he is exactly the kind of player that might entice them to agree to coach this club.
And they would soon realise that if Essendon is to rebuild its once-successful and feared culture, then Caddy will be at the forefront of it.
A big, powerful, charismatic, aggressive forward who wonât be the solution on his own but is certainly desperately keen to be a big part of it.
Essendon looks and feels like a basket case right now.
A list that canât beat anyone â even a Richmond side with 20 odd players on its injury list.
But for James Hird, or Ken Hinkley or John Longmire, there is one huge positive in Essendonâs list.
Much of the hard work has been done.
The very least that can be said of this Essendon list is that it is not on the downward swing and about to commit to a rebuild, as some have said the Blues might be.
It might not have the A-graders of Gold Coast or Sydney or Brisbane but it does have some of the critical pieces for the next finals build.
It has bookends in full forward Caddy and full back Zach Reid, with Reid not setting the world on fire but at least playing every game this season.
It has dynamic half backs in the brilliant Archie Roberts and promising draftee Jacob Farrow, who looks every bit a 200-gamer.
What we have seen of Sullivan Robey smacks of class and power and precision, and Dyson Sharp doesnât have pace but was showing he was well worth the investment of pick 13 before dislocating his shoulder against GWS.
Every Essendon fan would have loved pick 5 Elijah Tsatas and the delisted Ben Hobbs to showcase their potential to add depth and power to this midfield.
But Robey and Sharp should combine well with Jye Caldwell and Brayden Fiorini, Sam Durham and Darcy Parish to assemble a quality midfield in coming years.
The clubâs second-best player Nic Martin returns from ACL concerns next year.
There are still huge list holes â more small forwards, another quality key back if Jordan Ridley leaves, ruck cover, a foil for Caddy.
But Archer Day-Wicks has had a solid season, the injured Angus Clarke looks a prospect on a wing, Tom Edwards has a nose for goal and Archie May has 14 goals in his last seven games.
If Essendon has so many good kids, why did they sack Brad Scott?
Because he didnât find a way to put together a game plan that maximised the talent or defend turnovers and because this list is still very young and has considerable holes.
Scott did confide to some people over summer that the list had been cut so deep as part of the rebuild that it might end up costing him his job.
It did, but so did the fact few except for Archie Roberts really improved under Scott.
As an example, Archie Perkinsâ first season in the AFL was his best and then he has slowly but surely gone backwards to the point where his career is at a crossroads.
Ben McKay lost all confidence but who wouldnât when playing in this leaky backline, while Kyle Langford went from a 50-goal-a-year forward to injury prone to a defender again.
The very narrow course to success this year for Dean Solomon is finding a way to secure vast improvement from this side without winning very many games.
Essendon simply has to finish bottom two to maximise their draft haul.
None of its current top five selections â Andy McGrath, Tsatas, Darcy Parish or Will Setterfield will win the Dons a final like players customarily taken in those draft positions.
Not winning very much is possible given the injury toll and with West Coast (on three wins) and Carlton (three wins) both eight premiership points ahead of the Dons and on upward swings.
The current draft order for Essendon is pick one, pick 19 and pick 20 given they will secure that No. 20 draft pick if they bid on either Dougie Cochrane or Cody Walker and have their pick pushed back by a matched bid.
Who would know where the latest Zach Merrett twist and turn will take us but if they traded him for two top 25 picks, they would take five selections inside 25 to the national draft.
Or they could try to trade Merrett and involve Gold Coastâs Jed Walter in the deal.
Jordan Ridleyâs issue has been with the clubâs injury management rather than Brad Scott but if he does look around as expected it will be a huge setback.
The best Essendon has looked this year is against Melbourne with Ridley marshalling the troops from defence.
Heâs only 27, heâs a leader and the change of coach wonât fix his soft-tissue concerns but it might maximise his chances of deciding he wants to be part of the future.
You can throw up all the potential trades you want for Ridley but no list build involves trading your 27-year-old intercepting defender when he should have six or seven elite years in front of him.
So Essendon is close to the bottom of a pit of despair but has already started the tough climb up rather than plummeting down at warp speed.
It is an important difference that should give Essendon supporters that much-needed commodity â hope â as Scott departs the scene.
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