Yep, definitely a disconnect between atleast a decent amount of the team and coach.
Whether thats because the players are spoiled or the coaching is poor, I cant quite work it out.
Maybe a perfect storm of crapness.
But the digs at Truck in player media interviews, although subtle are definitely there.
Its not good.
What did Merrett say? I missed it.
These seem like the types of results required by the āproper bottom outā proponents. Who have bemoaned the fact we never truly see the bottom fall out and collect multiple years of top draft picks.
So the question is, if achieving this comes at the price of disfunction at various levels of the club, is that acceptable?
Not many clubs have had a sustained spell at the bottom end of the ladder with a stable football management and consistent āhonorable lossesā.
Clarkson wonāt make much difference. He wouldnt have the delegation to make the changes needed at this club.
Our coaches need to do their job with an arm tied behind their back, just by how poorly the club is managed.
You couldnāt get him to sign up without the assurance that he would have the authority required.
May I respectfully suggest that you sir are a procrastinator. Iād be texting them today and telling them not to come in on Monday and have security clean out their offices.
Yet he re-signed last year having been convinced we were on the right track. I am honestly shocked at how the coaching set up could tinker and tweak a seemingly decent game plan into the utter horror show we have this year.
If there are āissuesā amongst the playing group, its the captains job to be aware of them, attempt to resolve, and convey to the coach what the fark the situation is. I do wonder if several senior players are sick of the āfree rideā other senior players may be getting?. All the young guys are going out and trying their best, but, honestly very few of their senior team mates are.It all smacks of disunity amongst the players, coaching group induced, ???
Clarkson and Campbell are mutually exclusive concepts. They can not coexist. For Clarkson to come, Xavier must go. Clarkson would need a Brendon Gale/Neil Balme set up which would provide him with the exact support he would need to turn this rust bucket of a club around. While Campbell exists, we will continue to hire non experienced coaches on a whim and sack our football dept head every 18 months.
Geez I would have sent the cleaners in last night and had the locks changed before half time
It doesnāt say great things about Truck.
It also makes me question Merrett. And explains a lot of what we see on game day that is on the players and is persisting through coaching changes.
This is coached into them. Donāt worry about the other team, donāt risk any free kicks, donāt risk getting reported. Itās bullshit though. They should be coached to stick up for each other.
We are also embarrassingly unfit. Have a look at 32 year old retired Alex Rance leading our running drills in pre-season. That is inexcusable.
Itās a sobering thought that the most spirited Essendon team weāve seen in years was the 2016 team that barely had any Essendon players in it.
They fought and scrapped. Were terrible, but they fought.
Much harder to change a club culture than a coach, but the culture is the root problem.
Recent recruiting has been better in that regard though. Caldwell, Durham, Hobbs, Snelling, Martin are competitors.
One good thing for whomever takes over this side going forward is that there is some young grunt to work with.
His biggest knock is he hasnt landed a superstar when hes had a top line pick nor has he traded one in.
And recruited multiples of the same type of player; undersized mids, so many that the coaches are forced to play small mids as small forwards, as half forwards, as backmen, as wingmen.
I think I can see the problem hereā¦
Our club was described as āSoulless ā in one media headline about last nights game. We are not the only ones noticing this . Jonathon Brown was saying we have the personal ,but something is wrong at Essendon for us to play that bad. The media is noticing. A few more big losses and they will be yelling it . When it happens , the change has to be bigger than coach turnover this time.
Our mens football program has won just 2 games between AFL and VFL.
Itās a complete and utter failure. It lands with The Board and Campbell.
The sooner we get a Board challenge, the better.