Of course. And if we’re not going to blood kids in these last few slots when things are otherwise going well, when are we going to give them a chance?
Just watch though, we will have 2-4 injuries to key midfielders at one point, and we’ll have to get Stanton and Hocking to play full time midfield and hope they turn the clock back to 2014, and everyone on here will say “but how could they possibly know injuries would happen?”
So so predictable.
If we can beat the swans on their own turf, it will put the wind up everyone, including us supporters. More, more, more, we want more. It will be increasingly harder to keep a lid on it even with a hammer and six nails.
unless Essendon go on a record breaking run of 10 consecutive draws
So the SCG is a ground about the same width as, but a bit shorter than, Etihad, ,… and we made our Etihad sized ground a bit shorter than it really is …??
Starting to see method in the madness …
We beat Collingwood: Media says Pendles had an off day.
We beat Geelong: Media says Dangerwood had an off day
We beat West Coasters: Media says . Eagles were poor
We beat Port Adelaide : Media says Port had on off day.
Most likely, when we beat Sydney it will be, Sydney are competing for the spoon this year.
So, OK, when we play the game on our terms we win.
If and when will teams work out how to beat our game plan and make us chase them?
It all comes down to whether the majority of our players can beat their man every week, because once we turn our opponents over we are unstoppable**.
( **Dont tell the players this, you might as well put their bathwater into the drink bottles. )
.
Our midfield will decide if we can manage finals. We rely heavily on Heppell having a good day for us to be able to control games, I reckon his Port game was his best all year. He’s been on for quarters but has had a habit of going missing for quarters and we’re not good enough to be able to cover that. Zerrett is our consistent gun but Parish isn’t the finished article yet, he’s in and out and Watson is more cameo roles these days then consistent star like he was. His kicking has gone to ■■■■■ but he can still handball which makes him at least valuable. Zaharakis has been trash for the first few months but thanks to Geelong not going near him he’s got his confidence back, we need him playing really well more often than not if we’re to get to finals. Honestly we badly need to develop another few players here, perhaps Fantasia will be given minutes and the hope is Langford can improve. Basically we’ll rely on uncontested fast ball movement to dominate teams. We need to develop Mutch and a few others in coming seasons, or trade them in.
Glad to see someone mention Francis. X factor in this equation. He still has plenty of time to make a meaningful impact on this season.
That would make a pleasant surprise.
I’m lid off but I’m always lid off. Just loving the footy this year. The ball movement last week off half back was blistering, was it not? I’ve got nothing analytical to add, just that the footy is awesome. If we can roll the Swans next week then we’ll play finals and we’ll have a ■■■■ hot team coming into finals for the first time in ages. I’m a believer.
Two things I’d like to see us do before the home and away season is done. Beat the Swans at home despite home ground advantage and close checking, high pressure, closing our corridor, etc. The other one is not take the foot off the pedal and bring our best against bottom 8 sides. We do that and we play finals. Hopefully by next season we can lift to another level where we actually are knocking off top 4 sides who are throwing their best at us.
1 win and 7% of 4th. no excuses for poor performances against blues, tigers, dees and the second half fade out against freo. frustrating.
See I thought there were pretty valid reasons/excuses for the Carlton & Dees games.
Richmond was a coulda, … but for a bit of inexplicable shitte delivery, and GWS could have gone either way.
Freo, … yeah,… that was one that befuddled.
I thought I was the only one dreading July 2nd. I can still remember the “battle for the wooden spoon” game last year at Etihad when we got thumped. I will be attending this game, but I won’t be confident about it!!
The Freo loss made a lot of sense to me as I was at the game.
It was 30 degrees and I said to my mate at half time that we were gone…not sure if it was the game plan, the coaching or a combo of the two but we played a very strange game that day, considering the conditions
The GWS game goes the other way for us and we’re 5th on the ladder with wins against everyone in the top 8 except Richmond and Adelaide and only one loss since round 7.
Our midfield is not top 4 and barely top 8.
(obvious guns aside)
I think our forward line and our backs are right up there.
Typical Essendon of the past 15 years.
wot
Getting 1 or 2 areas really strong but the most important (midfield) is lacking.
Except all of Merrett, Parish, McGrath, Langford are young and still have lots of development.
We also have a host of other young players that are showing good signs in the VFL.
Our midfield has great scope for improvement and in a short time.
It does, but we need about 4-6 to step up into roles in the next 2 years to be a proper contending team (imo naturally).
Thats excluding depth, this is for our best 22.