Do we have a dedicated sport psychologist?
If not add it to the hiring of a tackling coach and a goal kicking coach.
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Sheedy wasn’t allowed to pick up Pike for a 3rd rounder in 2000 after coaching a near perfect season but the myth that he overruled every list decision till the day he left remains. Again if all Dodoro did was read out the names Sheedy gave him then why have him at all???
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I for one would like to hear much stronger, bolder and realistic messaging out of the coaching circles.
Its neccessary for big clubs like us Collingwood and Richmond. Or else the pressure of the suppoorter base will savage and get on top of you.
I dont want to hear that we are good enough if we can just switch on. Like the job is done but we just need to get their heads right.
The job isnt done.
I want to hear where we fell down and what changes are going to happen to fix it.
I dont hear anything about the direction we are heading. I dont know what the plans are.
I dont even know if THEY have an opinion on what is wrong.
The path forward should be apparent to the players and supporters.
Its a prerequisite for a big club.
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Why were they no longer recognised as a coterie group?
That’s a fair point, but Shiel also said that he wanted to play finals with us. How long before he realises?
I respect the introspective view that it could be ‘our fault’ but really, if it takes your fans not buying memberships to motivate your club… then I’d suggest the problems are beyond the fans! If the fans take a stand, and that was a magic elixir for the club to make changes and then the new changes failed again… well wouldn’t you become st kilda or norf. Its not about having a lot of members or fans for mine…
Sorry to hear, robmur13. My experience comes from one of the newer coterie groups and the club’s lack of oversight and governance. Just proved to me that they didn’t learn from the saga.
Can you expand on the coterie problems a bit?
Xavier told him that they could be part of Past Players group. Apparently, not too many took up the offer. It was a stupid decision as none of the DRC were past players, except Barry Capuano.
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I’m only 44 and I ask myself that very question. I feel for any supporters that are 25yo and below. You’ve seen nothing but crap. I’d be more disillusioned than I already am.
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What is wrong with Francis. When he plays in the VFL, he plays as super star, displaying all his great football attributes. He gets promoted to the AFL team and plays like a meek and mild mouse. He is a backman, not a forward. He strength is never used at centre bounces. He can be tough, but he needs to build up his tank to play out of the centre. Does he train hard enough, is he dedicated, or does he want to go back to SA to Port or the Crows? Does he get on with Whoosa?
Francis is a talented footballer. The football world could be his oyster. But for some unknown reason/s he isn’t giving Essendon his best. Another problem within the Club?
because the vfl doesn’t punish lazy play as much.
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I am going to be a little…DKP here about Sheedy:
If he was as good as people like to paint him, then why did he not have repeat premierships with such powerful teams that he built? We had one set of them, 83-85, after that we dropped off until 90 which was a disaster on every level, then a sudden GF in 93 out of no where, then back to nothing until the 99-01 team which severely underachieved, then fell off a cliff.
Sure Sheeds was great, no doubt about it, but i also think he underachieved as a coach too. He knew how to build a team and then rebuild it, but he didn’t seem to have the ability to sustain that team for longer periods.
I would take a Sheedy again in a heartbeat, but we also need to look at what Bomber, Chris Scott, Clarkson and Horse have done and see how they did it.
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This is probably my biggest concern with the last two decades - player development. And it’s such a knife-edge proposition because every club has regular and multiple failures, and it’s a relatively small number of successes that can make or break a side . We may have one kid come through, another has three , and those two can feel like a world of difference. It’s not just drafting, you have to unlock the players potential. Gameplan is involved too.
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The Rampe issue illustrated the problem for our club. Essendon have become the fall guy for the AFL. It may not have been deliberate but it is the way it has turned out. It was best shown by the saga. The rules of the AFL are too discretionary. Essendon has paid the price…because we are too gutless to stand up to a competition that has been corrupted by too much money. A few thoughts
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The Rampe incident showed beyond reasonable doubt that umpires can decide the outcomes of games. Of course it was a free kick and Essendon would have won if the free kick had been paid. It is irrelevant that we may not have deserved to win.
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What it showed also is that non-decisions are as important as decisions. It was not that the umpire did not see it. He either didn’t know the rule or didn’t invoke the rule.
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There will be a lot of bullshit speak about this during the week about the intention of Rampe. If someone knocks someone out and they die, it is the outcome that matters, not whether they intended to kill the person. It is the same in this case. Rampe intended to climb the goal post. The post shook as a result. Clear free kick under Section 17.11.
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What is interesting is why the three umpires and the video umpire did not confer. Why do we have a video umpire? Why do we have three umpires? I would suggest it is for just this type of problem.
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What this incident showed was lack of courage. Lack of courage by the umpires against the home town crowd. Lack of courage by Haydon Kennedy and Gil in not acknowledging the mistake. Lack of courage by our team in not demanding the umpires look at the video footage there and then. Lack of courage by the club in not standing up to the AFL and their bullshit.
During the saga the most significant piece of information was an article by Chip Le Grand on November 13 2015. Here is an extract
“Unusually high levels of the banned peptide at the centre of the Essendon doping scandal were detected in samples randomly taken from footballers at other AFL clubs. The test results raise serious doubts about scientific evidence the World Anti-Doping Agency will rely on when it opens its case on Monday against 34 current and former Essendon players accused of taking the banned peptide Thymosin Beta-4.
WADA earlier this year commissioned a specialist sports drug laboratory in Germany to develop a test for Thymosin Beta-4, a substance that is banned for use by athletes but occurs naturally throughout the human body. The WADA-accredited Institute of Biochemistry at the German Sports University in Cologne used the newly developed test to screen 27 samples taken from Essendon footballers during the 2012 season, when sports scientist Stephen Dank was employed at the club.
Of the 27 samples, two collected after a mid-season match against Port Adelaide showed elevated levels of Thymosin Beta-4. WADA in its submissions to the Court of Arbitration for Sport claims the results are further circumstantial evidence that Dank injected Essendon players with the banned peptide. The Weekend Australian can reveal the Cologne lab has since conducted further tests on samples taken from AFL players at other clubs with no known connection to Dank, a Queensland-born biochemist serving a life ban from sport.Some of these samples also returned elevated readings for Thymosin Beta-4. When asked to explain these results, an analyst from the German lab suggested the footballers from other clubs must have taken the banned substance. There is no supporting evidence for this and the players are not under investigation for doping. Another explanation is that Australian rules footballers, like other athletes, can naturally produce high levels of Thymosin Beta-4, particularly when recovering from illness or injury. Previous studies have shown that osteoarthritis, a chronic injury common among footballers, and platelet-rich plasma therapy, an increasingly popular treatment for the condition, can both cause a spike in Thymosin Beta-4 production. The medical histories of the two Essendon players who returned samples with elevated levels of Thymosin Beta-4 will be led as evidence in next week’s CAS hearing in Sydney.”
Any reasonable person would conclude we were no different from other clubs. Our players were not adminstered with TB4 but our club lacked the guts to stand up. We were wronged by the AFL , by WADA and by CAS. We were wronged most by our club.
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bingo. But this can only work if the club is prepared to LISTEN to the results and ACTIVATE the recommendations thereof.
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Wow, I thought I was the oldest Blitzer. I saw my first game around 1951 . I am ever so glad to relinquish the title.
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Of course there is
Big broom needed
I love this great club and I’m very saddened by what we’ve become. Each year I’ve had high hopes, only for them to be often dashed early.
I’ve tried to rationalise why we can’t get it together and more importantly, why we continually to lose games we should just win. I don’t think it’s the list. I’m not sure it’s the administration. But I do think we have problems coaching and a big cultural and mindset issue. I’ve seen it said on here a few times, and I agree we’re mentally soft. How are we not fired up for games we should win. I’ve often questioned whether winning really drives our players and it’s their number one goal.
I know much has already been said about Myers and Heppell smiling after the game, but to me its representative of the culture at our club. This loss wasn’t the time for jokes and smiles. I want our players to hurt and at least show they’re hurting. I want them to remember each loss and for it to drive them further and not to have it happen again. Instead it feels like we’re ok with losing. It feels like it’s ok because we got close to Collingwood. It’s ok because we could have beaten Sydney if only we’d kicked the goal. It’s not ok.
Now I don’t know what goes on behind doors and it may be that they are hurting - I really hope they are. But at the end of the day we can only go on what we see in terms of how they perform on the field and how they respond after the games (win, lose or draw). Sadly, I don’t think we’ll change much next week or next season. We’ll do enough to give glimpses of improvement only to take another step back.
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Geelongs review found Bomber was a bit nuts and needed a very defined and limited scope.
Richmond’s found Richardson wasnt quite up to it.
Essendon implements the the failures other clubs have already corrected.
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