Season 2022 - Essendon

[Milanista28]

If McGrath does play half back, he’ll need to be tagged every week. I think Oppo coaches would rather him play through the middle more so they don’t need that headache.

[Glu]

@alex.f.94

I reckon it could go on a death spiral

@choppsuey

they’re not gonna spiral, the group’s too invested and resilient for that now.

[aboods]

@westozziebomber

i am not as worried about our forward line as others

i think we’ve proved we can kick scores even with names missing up there. how we execute is far more important than the names up there.

we really, really need a fit stringer and walls though. that helps massively

I totally agree. We had no problems scoring last season and there is an argument our forwardline will/could be better this season.

• Hooker was a liability last season. Yes he was kicking goals regularly in the first half of the season, but even then he was providing absolutely nothing else. Defensive pressure was zero and his contested marking was no longer a serious threat. So his contribution to other team goals was pretty minimal imo. So even if none of young forwards (Francis and Baldwin in particular) don’t step up, our defensive pressure as a group should be much better
• Wright has had a season with us and should be better this season. He also improved his goal per game average when Hooker was out
• They’ve known this situation since the start of the off-season. So there has been plenty of time to plan for it. Plus we have a new forward coach who is very highly rated. As a result of these things I’m very confident there will be 1 or 2 guys who surprise to the upside and overall we’ll have an improved method

[choppsuey]

At any rate, even if we don’t score quite as well (albeit that I think at least from stoppage we’ll still be very effective at scoring), I reckon we’ll make gains defensively so the difference will be balanced out.

[chris_64]

@Glu

I don’t think Dangerfield has been at his peak performance level for the last couple of years. He’s still very good, but not the unstoppable force he used to be. Selwood must eventually drop off you’d think, but he’s been pretty consistent in the last few years.

Chris Scott believes this group can deliver a premiership in 2022.

[SplitRound]

Hooker (totally agree he died in the ■■■■ over the course of the year): 33 goals, 8 goal assists, 103 score involvements, 19 tackles inside fifty
Wright (more games): 29/7/99/10
Jones (fewer games): 20/7/60/9
Snelling (more games): 12/9/99/30
Smith (more games): 16/13/110/19
Stringer (more games): 41/13/129/18
Without the names there, you’d be hard pressed to guess which one was providing “absolutely nothing else” besides goals.

[Tipoofthesteinberg]

You get it.

[Humble_NSW_Fan]

7 to 10 for mine.

Forward line an issue and younger bodies will get tired.

Next year top 6.

[choppsuey]

Wins range likely 11-14. Something’s either gone very wrong or very right to finish outside of this.

That could have us finish anywhere from ~4-10th.

[Paul_Peos]

Hooker did plenty of work at ground level and off the ball, by any key forwards standards.

It was in the air that he became a liability.

[ivan]

Langford’s numbers actually stack up really well against Langdon’s don’t they. That surprises me a bit too be honest

[Borgy95]

Looking forward to a server crash once we win our first finals game in what feels like decades (funny that).

We finish 6th, Parish wins the Brownlow & Perkins the clubs most improved - oh and Franga to kick 35+ goals.

[Ants]

@choppsuey

Improvement isn’t linear, but all signs point to improvement again and I expect we’ll be there abouts for a top ~6-8 spot in the run home to finals. We’ve got a very good fixture to start the season. Some tough matches no doubt, but 8 straight in Melbourne really is a bit of a dream start to set up the back half of the season and something that many on here have lamented not getting in years previous.

What signs? Beyond Blitzers hype on youngsters?

You think every club who finished 5-10 last year doesn’t have supporters doing the same?

[Anabelle]

2023 will be a contender

[Fairybread]

@westozziebomber

i just hope the players dont start buying into their own hype

I think I know what you mean.

[bidzy]

I have us top 6 this year, and winning 2 finals to get to the prelims.

Making it to week 3 of the finals consistently, is the benchmark of a consistent team. Looking at Geelong here, who have been the most consistent team in the past 20 years to make it to the prelims

[Anabelle]

There forwardline is better than ours

Only difference is another season or two to gain muscle and experience is all.

[westozziebomber]

ok…

[Anabelle]

I think the team is focused on just improving. Thats how their interviews have been anyway.

Quietly they may be confident but they would be aware they are still young and learning the game plan.

Our midfield will take us to finals it’s now in the elite category and can match it with the best in the comp

[aboods]

@SplitRound

Hooker (totally agree he died in the ■■■■ over the course of the year): 33 goals, 8 goal assists, 103 score involvements, 19 tackles inside fifty
Wright (more games): 29/7/99/10
Jones (fewer games): 20/7/60/9
Snelling (more games): 12/9/99/30
Smith (more games): 16/13/110/19
Stringer (more games): 41/13/129/18
Without the names there, you’d be hard pressed to guess which one was providing “absolutely nothing else” besides goals.

The tackles part there is surprising. I’m going to guess most of those were in close contests Eg straight after a marking contest when the ball hit the deck.
Aside from that sort of situation I still reckon he was of zero value defensively.
In terms of score involvements, I’m going to guess (too slack to look at stats) he was our main forward target for the first half of the year.

Maybe I’m underselling Hooker’s season or the last half a dozen games are etched too much in memory, but my feeling is that any tall forward that is basically replacing the role Hooker played, has a very low bar to jump over from last season