Lid on 2018 - have we gone to soon? Nervously hanging out for Friday

Remember how we were going in the first 5 minutes of the game vs Richmond. I’d love to know what Hardwick did that turned that around. We kicked 7.6 for the rest of the game. That’s near on as bad as the woeful effort vs Carlton where we all blamed the rain.

I’d love to know what we tried to do to turn the game back in our favour.

Everything went our way… the umpiring, the bounce of the ball, their accuracy in front of goal… and we still lost.

And worst of all, we looked soft.

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Was no coincidence that Fanta was running amok that first 5 minutes on Grimes and had a hand in all 3 goals. Hardwick to his credit nullified him after that

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Lots of people can Hardwich but he is a good coach and when you consider what he started with and now. He obliterated us and it was easy work. He didn’t need the team to win by ten goals altho’ if they had have kicked accurately they would have, he just wanted the win.

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Reckon there’s a culture problem at Essendon at all levels. Seem happy and content to be mediocre as this is a safe, non-challanging place to be.

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Lots?

I’d say some can, but not everyone has the ability to Hardwich.

Best player he’s brought in is out of Grigg, Bach, Chaplin, Maric or Ellis - some handy gets, but no superstars.

4 of the 5 players they’ve had (Deledio, Cotchin, Rance, Reiwoldt) were there before he started, and Martin got there the same time.

He’s proof that if you stick with a coach for long enough, eventually they rise to mediocre.

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They’ll probably sack him if they don’t win a final the list he has,has reached it’s peak cant see it improving.

Only a semiwich here.

After a hot start against the Tiges the ball found its way into Essendon’s D50 where inexplicably defenders on cue haphazardly banged the ball out of defence. There was no system. No attempt to pass their way out or down the field, just panicked kicks which in turn handed the Tiges ascendency and with glee they took full advantage. It wasn’t that their defenders dominated our players. The whole team collectively moved away from what made them such a dominant force the 2 weeks prior. Basically, they panicked (turnovers, poor skills, dropped mark). It was like a cancer spreading through the team not necessarily any brilliant/inspired coaching moves from Dimma

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Didn’t think we were too bad last night.

Next week’s probably a write off. After the bye, barring injuries & or suspensions, we should take care of sydney.

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I reckon we thrash one of the next two. Get dat scalp.

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We weren’t. Which is why it’s hard to grasp the angst.

If we lose next week, the lid is back on pretty tight, with a better 2nd half of the year making finals a line ball proposition.

What looks to be a complication is that Woosha is in a phase where he is trying to give all of “the 10” a chance to be in our best available 22 and may well give the likes of Stants, Howlett and Hocking (an emergency this week and a getting a good write up for his form in the VFL) a bit of a run at it in the seniors which could extend to after the bye if they are played next week and show improvement.

Heppell, Hooker, Colyer, Watson, Bellchambers and Myers seem to have be in the side at the moment. and it will be interesting if they play Stanton, Howlett and Hocking next week, which could either be a celebration of the return of the 10, or maybe an attempt to bring them up to 2017 speed and then start to rotate the younger players like Langford, Francis, Mutch and Begley through the side.

I am in favour of a youth policy and working towards our best 2018 side and onwards from now on; there is still a very real possibility that this could turn into a 2017 finals side which would be the best outcome for the EFC in my opinion.

But I think Woosha is in a “trying to get the best out of the 10” mode at the moment, with a view to still having a crack at 2017 finals with them and the best of the ready to go younger players in the side.

Regardless, Stanton and Howlett and probably Hocking will struggle to make the best 22 in the second half of the season. Myers will be lucky to stay fit enough, but I’m still rooting for Heater to find some form, because he could still make a difference for a year or two if he can find the pace of the game again.

Still it would be magic if we can have a crack at the 2017 finals with the veterans in the mix, but I’m definitely in the wrong thread to be talking like that at this point. My heart wants to go there, but my head says, play the young’uns, if they are close enough to ready. Which is the mindset I started this thread with.

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I think we are tracking pretty well. We should have beaten Carlton in the wet but other than that we’ve been fairly competitive - particularly given that weeks 4 through 12 of this season see us playing only sides in the top 10.

If we beat Port and turn at 6-6 we have a good chance to play finals as we only play sides in the top 8 three times through the last 10 rounds

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Howdy, gloomers!

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See you in 2 weeks

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GO DONS!!!

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Great win tonight. But not convinced that we are good enough when teams play man on man and we don’t have that link up player free. Give us space and we will burn you, shut it down and we will make error after error.

Sorry to quote myself, but it is apparent that we are doing a little better than I thought when I opened the thread and the 50 50 win loss ratio before the bye I thought we would need in order for it to be season on, for the finals, has come to pass.

So it has taken our midfield a little longer to hit its straps than I first gave it, which should have been expected, but if we can continue to improve or at least not have too many more lapses and not too many injuries, I say we are giving 2017 a real crack.

As far as whether we are a premiership chance goes, round 21 will be our D day against Adelaide. They are the only side we haven’t been competitive against so far this year and we had a lot going against us, and it will be a big issue if we will tag Rory Sloane given this now seems to be the key to taming Adelaide.

Come to think of it, it was that match which started this thread in the first place.

So I guess you could say I am a traitor to this thread who over reacted after 1 bad loss.

Lid off again for me Blitzers!!!

For those who want to stay here, you can find the keys under the mat.

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Someone mentioned the P word in the lid on thread? Wowsers!