HoF
Shaka sheâll be right mate
out of curiosity, is james hird one of these sooks ?
cos he fits your mould pretty damn on point.
the entire football industry didntâ rate nic martin, 1 club did at the very last opportunity they had to do so.
itâs as stupid an argument to make (not you the OP ) as the idiots who run around with the mantra âthe club knows bestâ.
Can very much relate to parts of this as being my experience when running for re-election. I couldnât talk about the details of a lot of my tenure, while those running against me could say and promise whatever they wanted, based in reality or not, and often did. It contributed to that re-election campaign being a pretty frustrating and disappointing experience - one I swore at the time I wouldnât go through again.
Letâs be honest. It was former player credential that couldnât be matched.
Yes I apologise for questioning the hivemind.
Itâs not like itâs been only a year and everyoneâs decided the utility key position tall is overrated it seems.
That too 
iâll jump in seeing i was one of the first who coined and ran with accepting mediocrity, difference is i can back it up with more than just sound bites.
what you say is true, success is never guaranteed, the process by which you give yourself the best chance at success however is pretty proven.
you point out in this paragraph all the right things, and then the bolded bit, itâs not being met right now.
A no itâs not
B when was the last time it was, across all weeks of the season ,let alone half the season ?
it is a common and continued theme now across Knights, hird, thompson, worsfold and now rutten.
Itâs not a new thing that just magically popped up over summer. 2019 rd 1 was ruttens first year and game as leading the gameday direction of this club, how did that go ? i can go find the herby video to show you exactly how it went, with a fair few of the same players who produced the same efforts against freo.
fast fwd to rd 1 20222, what has changed ?
you can hide behind the excuses of young side, but as you so eloquently point out the things that you ask for in this paragraph donât require you to be 10 year veterans.
and itâs not SOLELY the young kids who are making all the mistakes and putting in a â â â â â â â â â â â effort.
rutten wanted to be known as a blue collar defensive side, are you saying that mantra requires the likes of Stringer and zerrett to actually work ? 2 players who actually offer very little to the defensive side of the game ?
people could buy that IF we were restricting sides to say 60 odd points and not being able to score much ourselves. ironically all the things you mention in your praragraph and implementing them would produce said results.
but they are getting belted in every aspect and sitting 18th in all the defensive stuff and the excuse or catchphrase people want to run with is, oh if we had stringer and merrett weâd be right, 2 attacking players who were key elements last year in the side and didnât fix the defensive issues are somehow going to come back and fix our defensive woes ?
and here is the main accepting mediocrity part ( and you donât have to delist 15 players yada yada)
you start by dropping players. this club couldnât even drop devon smith after a 4 possession game, what do you honestly think that says to him and other players ?
do you honestly think it makes the younger blokes think hey if i put in the work and effort iâll get a sustained go at making a career for myself ?
or do you think it says oh wow as soon as i have a poor performance that guy sitting on the bench over there is going to take my spot without having to put in anywhere near the effort ?
now do i need to remind you of how 2020 went for us and how the toxic environment about senior players was exposed ?
so you accept devon smiths game as ok be default, because there is no visible punishment, thereâs no going back to the vfl , thereâs no setting standards that for a senior player a 4 possie one tackle game for a defensive forward is UNACCEPTABLE.
it merely becomes, oh well thatâs just DEV, thatâs what happens.
by default again you merely accept that mentality that thatâs the best there is to offer, no one else can do better blah blah blah.
again the same poor defensive efforts and mindset have been a core part of the EFC for 20 odd â â â â â â â years, but we will run with merely the rutten years.
2019 he started here and was in charge of the direction of how the club wanted to play.
from the starting 22 what decisions has he made and owned in relation to setting high standards for the required minimal effort ?
daniher leaving wasnât his decision, ditto raz, they wanted out, ditto saad by the end.
so what decisions has he made about the starting or perceived best 22 of the club, to improve all the stuff you say is lacking ?
has heppell been dropped ? demoted as captain despite such poor skill and decision making and his decline in being an impact player ?
has smith been dropped ?
shiel was rushed back after 16 odd weeks injury , what msg do you think that sends ?
oh but let me guess, he dropped tippa last year cos he didnât meet fitness standards (not cos he was struggling with personal stuff right ? ) ⌠and heâs keeping him out of the side this year for fitness right ?
the thing is, you donât have to delist 15 players, you need to remove 2-3 of the core players who continually produce the lackluster efforts in all facets of the game, and let everyone know that if they donât want to follow your lead and do the things you want, they can â â â â off too, and thatâs all youâd need.
but they wonât do that, they dontâ want to upset the boat, the club as a whole almost still think they can get the ultimate success with the current list in the current state, just need things to go our way a lil more.
at the end of the day, you accept mediocrity, because by default you arenât rectifying the issue of what you pointed out is still lacking, 4 years into rutten being at the club, in the 2 hours it matters most.
you accept it when you continue to pick the same old players knowing thy will do the same old things, where you merely hope they wonât.
you accept it by not owning decisions and relying on injuries to try new players
you accept it by not dropping players
you accept it by not trading out core 22 culprits who donât commit to your gamplane
you accept it when over and over they donât execute what you want.
and the biggest irony is what iâve always said, the coach is always going to be the first to go, so i have no â â â â â â â idea why any coach isnât as demanding as â â â â to make sure the players they choose to go into a season with, are not all on the same page as him and wanting to put in as much required effort as him to ultimately allow him to keep his job.
the tide has turned and like it or not the âyoung sideâ and âdevelopmentâ year was a good con for last year as the media brought it, itâs not going to fly now, so more heat and pressure is going to be applied to rutten this year and beyond which means his time to change things is very limited.
We perennially overestimate ourselves. Fans, coaches, administration alike.
1 or 2 years down the bottom, get half a sniff from a good run of injuries, top up, fail spectacularly, rinse repeat.
The first thing that needs to be fixed is fitness and conditioning. We are getting pushed aside and run off our feet by opposition teams. Look at the gains made. by Collingwood, Carlton, Freo and Hawthorn in fitness and conditioning in one off season? What are those teams doing that we arenât ? Our guys never seem to bulk up or get fitter. For example Bryan is skinny and gets pushed aside. Compare him to the size and condition of Luke Jackson (same draft year). Bryan looks like a twig
Yep, and 2016 aside, we always win a few too many games, particularly late in the season once some teams are out of the running. Push up from 12th to 9th, miss out on the top end draft talent, give supporters something to hang their hats onto for the next season and then come out completely unprepared for the start of the next season. It is quite the pattern.
Mitch Brown has barely played since we let him go, and Harts played very few games for a weak Hawks outfit because they identified the same weaknesses in him that we did.
SeriouslyâŚwtf ???
Do know if itâs the guernseys, colors, stripes or whatever, but the upper body size of some of the Hawks like Newcombe, Worpol, Impey, JOM, Mitchell appear much larger then our guys.
Itâs related to culture, which in and of itself is abstract and canât be defined, but exists.
I think the biggest example of Essendonâs accepting mediocrityâ culture was Razâs comments after the West Coast finals smashing. He said something like in their view the year wasnât unsuccessful as 10 other teams would have been jealous they didnât make finals.
Itâs also in Heppell saying after this game, âwe have shown we can turn it around before, we can do it againâ. What so playing crap for the first third of the season every year is fine because at least you limped into the 8 at the end of the year? What a successful turn around
What would we not do that other clubs mightâŚ
They say black is slimming
Not all of us do.
Maybe those good adminstrations hired good coaches.
The right coach, CEO, GM footy and list manager makes a huge difference.
When was the last time the Essendon board got one of those appointments right. Especially given our current coach, ceo and list manager were not appointed through a competitive and open appointment process.