As humourous as that little episode was, you can’t deny the results.
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Are you really comparing any of our recent teams to the 83 or 99 sides?
Both of those teams were good enough to win flags but didn’t.
We are nowhere near that level.
I reckon Sheeds would be backing in the 2019 team this week and looking for positives.
There were some contributing factors under Sheedy, including the salary cap breach and acceleration of the Demetriou equalisation plan which forced us to shed some decent players and which damaged team balance after 2001.
Added to that a CEO focused on profit at the expense of facilities to improve players.
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Great post Mr Deckham.
Oh FFS!
I am a fan of Mr X.
I think though beni you are over-rating the influence of the faceless men. In past years Coteries, ex-Players and fat wallets had some influence, even in Sheeds time. It is less obvious now and while there are still some influential people around, they do not dictate to the President, Board or Xav, and definitely not to the Coach.
EFC is a well-run club, at at Barcelona level yet but improving.
On ground performance is the issue, and no excuses but bad luck, injuries and umpires effected the result in three games we lost. That is football !
Get Joey and Smack back, TBC fit and send DMyers back to Windy Hill.
On ground performance is an issue but it’s not the issue. It’s another symptom of the issue imho.
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Everything in your post is spot on. This club for some reason or other just can’t take the next step where we can have a steel resolve and become a fair dinkum contender and feared side. Richmond had the same issue for years where they were the banter club and joke of the competition and then suddenly 3 years ago it snapped and even at this moment now where they are two down on the bench…away in hostile Perth…underdogs and yet have the mental toughness and competitive nature that they can go over there (most probably they’re 6 goals up) and win. when it’s happened to us in the past we have given up without a whimper. I look at their list and maybe I’m in denial or overeating my own team…but apart from their big name players like cotchin riewoldt Martin and co I see us having way more talent than them. The penny just won’t drop for this club and until someone outside the club can come in change our players mindset we will be stuck where we are for more longer than we realise. I hope I’m wrong.
The saga I believe has much to blame for this. The remaining players I think just don’t have anymore emotionally to give and for that reason will never have the passion to be the very best and fierce winning mentality that we so desperately crave
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Blackburn - they wear a jumper like ours, were competitive when theyb ad a messiah player in Shearer and now relegated into meaninglessness
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Seriously, on BBlitz on ground performance is the only issue. We beat Melbourne, Brisbane and North and the whingers on here go quiet. We let Saints win.
We should beaten Magpies, but lother good Teams in Giants and Geelong were too good. So we are not performing on field, If we had beaten Pies, Saints and Sydney, and were now 6 wins and equal top, all would be screaming in delight, but we have not played one really great game this year as yet.
EFC have a good Board, very good CEO and are well run and financially secure. I actually don’t give a fark about all that, I just want a flag.
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Since no-one else defended Kevin Sheedy from IT’s calumny, I will say that despite losing the league’s best full-back (Paul Weston) who took early retirement, the 1986 side was cruising to such an extent that Sam Newman when he interviewed Sheeds asked him if he was viewing “the rest of the league with contempt”.
Then what happened was that one week after another after another, another champion player suffered a season ending injury: Vanda, Timmy, Daisy, etc
This was on top of the VFL declaring that all clubs had to give the new entrants the Brisbane Bears a leg up by giving them players.
EFC and Sheeds, always wanting to be helpful to the future of footy, gave them a Premiership player, Frank Dunell. By contrast, FCFC gave them a player who retired and went to travel around Europe.
So that great 84-85 side was brought undone by VFL regulations and probably the cruellest run of injuries any team has experienced in history (or at least since WW1). (There were subsequent factors we don’t need to go into now).
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Hooker is still one of our best. Heppell turned the season around for us last year. Wouldn’t blame the saga and the players caught up in it… the saga was a symptom of the cultural problem, not the cause.
We’re being farked by successive bad coaching and football administrative appointments… Sheedy in the latter years, Knights, Hird/Thompson (despite what Hird could have been), and now Worsfold. Let’s not get started on Neeld, Corcoran etc. But the buck stops with the successive boards and CE’s who appointed them.
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Fhe AFL website has an article headed “ESSENDON IS A TEAM WITHOUT SOUL OR SUBSTANCE”
Pretty well sums us up.
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Our club died the moment we capitulated to the AFL’s ransom.
It was a Wednesday and Hird and Little had just declared war on the AFL.
Then a complete reversal of attitude and we have been soft and sufferable since.
Our club is too scared to say Boo.
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So do the other 17 Teams.
Just look at the crazy ■■■ results that keep happening.
That defy logic.
I just want us to play really well consistently, and let our stars shine.
I have seen plenty of grit and fight in our close losses, and but for an awkward bounce of a ball, a series of really bad umpire calls we would have won more games.
Let’s get behind the team and encourage them to succeed and stop whinging.
The problem with this club is the fair weather fans that don’t have backbone. Shame on the whiners, I say strength is born through adversity.
Find a way to succeed.
No need to sack everyone and buy a new team.
What a hollow flag it would be … if won by rent-a-team.
I say stand strong and persevere and believe.
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Hallelujah Brother (or Sister)
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Then what does it say about people like yourself who continue to support what you describe as a “dead club”.
On the AFL site, you say? Oh, the irony!
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Well, if I received a fine/criticism for governance and then proceeded to introduce a coterie group that operated without a proper constitution and was taking money from members, then I haven’t learnt my lesson.
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What about sit tight and be confident?