I find it alarming that X’s tenure persists. Was here during the saga - how the ■■■■ did he survive. Talks in corporate speak or baby talk depending on his audience. Walks around as if just being Essendon is a success in itself. He’s a ■■■■■■■ AFL house POD, I’m sure of it.
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Yes, but I’m not sure many of them know how to process it positively, apart from a couple of them.
I can’t imagine it’s fun going out there and getting belted, even when they have played some good footy and only lost Anzac day by a kick or so and probably should have won 3 games, but they are the ones who have the ultimate control to turn it around.
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Why change a winning formula? It works on most of the brain dead morons.
Hey Egg, how ya doin?
One of the few positives of the last few years is that those people seem to be becoming fewer and quieter.
If it’s as simple as that then there’s little wonder the club is in the state it’s in.
The problem is “the club” (in the context you are using it here) and “the structure that keeps making these decisions” are basically the same thing. The problem elements of the club aren’t just going to sack themselves, so it’s hard to get any deep organisational change.
It’s just replace the coach and fitness guy, slap on a shiny new coat of marketing paint, and away we go.
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Yep. Refresh. Do that for twenty years and see if anyone notices. Or cares……
Probldm is, it would a complete fluke if he was replaced by anyone any better, those that do the sacking at essington are the ones employing, remember. What a cockwobbling shitshow of a club. Burn it to the ground.
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It’s hard to know what goes on behind closed doors.
In reality, the start of this year has been very similar to last year, with a few more injuries, and a younger team.
Early last year our ball movement was slow and defensively the players at times seemed confused and we were giving up similar ‘out the back’ and ‘coast to coast’ goals.
The St.Kilda game was an anomaly, as they simply did not turn up that day.
FWIW I think it is a training block of 8 games where the coaches, and the players, are focused on defensive structures and a gamestyle on wresting back momentum and stifling the opposition, hence the slow ball movement so the d zone can be established.
When Rutten and Caracella started they talked of building a team and gameplan that stands up in finals. What we have seen this year is not the ‘gameplan’ it is a phase within it, that the coaches are trying to embed.
Like last year the senior players get a bit sick of it towards the end of the ‘training block’ and there is a drop off in effort. We also have a group of players who have had little exposure to AFL, and thus our gameplan and structures, and they need to learn it.
I support what Rutten and Caracella are doing. They are not taking short cuts. If they think we need to learn this phase of the game before we progress, then that’s what we need to do.
The senior players (and the supporters!) are obviously getting frustrated, same as last year, but they need to suck it up and get on with the job. We were 2/6 last year before we moved on, 1/6 this year. Would not be surprised to see a completely new outlook, if not this week then definitely the next.
Some things are wrong with the club? Yes, but Rutten and Caracella aint it.
Recruitment? Yes, needs a shake up.
As endlessly discussed on here we have too many small, outside mids, and no bigger, harder bodies. To put all our eggs in the ‘Stringer becoming the next Dusty’ and ‘Langford becoming the next Fyfe’ basket was both shortsighted and foolish (and perhaps desperate to cover the lack of proper recruiting). Both are better than average forwards, but both have obvious shortfalls as mids apart from cameos. Even this year both Brodie and Dunstan went very cheap, both are playing good footy, and both would be walking in to our team at the moment, and both provide some grunt that we seriously lack. Did we even look at them? Melbourne have both Petracca and Oliver, and still saw the need to recruit Dunstan.
Club Culture. I’m not sold on Tulla, it’s a soulless gulag. Over the years we have had chances to move from Windy Hill and should have been looking to move closer to the city, closer to the MCG, not further away. Anyway that horse has bolted, so FFS plant some trees and gardens, put in a playground, make the players and the Hangar more accessible to the fans. I’ve seen ovals in the desert with more appeal than this place.
Rutten recognised the disconnect between the players and the ‘club’, and has taken steps to address it - mostly last year with past players etc. I expect this is ongoing.
There is obviously still some angst among club powerbrokers, stiff ■■■■, nearly every footy club in Australia does. As long as they leave Rutten and Caracella to do there job and don’t interfere then who gives a ■■■■?
They totally lost me when David Evans got invited back, and this showed the mentality of some of the people running the show. I am all for a board spill as long as we clean out some of this lot and they are replaced with capable people to represent the membership, not the top end of town.
NB. Whover has been incharge of the VFL the last couple of years needs to get in the cannon, pronto.
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There is NO comparison between the start of this season and last year. None whatsoever.
In 2021 Essendon we’re largely very competitive in their first 8 games and we’re playing a decent structured game style.
This year Essendon have been dreadful and are lucky not to be 0-7. Teams have been able to beat Essendon by going at half rat power. If Geelong hadn’t lost interest before half time they would have won by 150+ points.
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CONONING
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conning
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Who is that?
Con Oning, apparently.
Josh Mahoney
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He got fat and old.
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