Target fixation and the Essington cycle

did he actually say this somewhere ??

Just wait for the physiologically experimental program to hit the headlines!

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I know they have in the past so I assume they still do.[quote=“Mex, post:18, topic:10891, full:true”]
Does the club employ a shrink?
[/quote]

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Very true.

But it is the same reason over the last decade or just under. We just aren’t that good and supporters constantly overrate our list.

We’ve gone over the ■■■■■■■ handlebars. What is he on about.

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I think it’s a Whoooshhh to you.

I think he recognised the reference and countered with a (T)B4.

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I think poor sides show us respect and try to block our run and carry. The good teams back themselves in to take us on head to head and allow us the space to play our game.
Unfortunately we have no idea what to do when plan A is taken away by poor teams and we allow ourselves to be drawn into a scrappy ■■■■ fight.

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Handlebar moustache?

Significant cultural change is required.

Strong leadership from people with legitimate vision is required.

A willingness to do what is necessary is required.

A culture of innovation is absolutely required.

We need a revolution both on and off field.

Which is unfortunate because the Essendon Football Club we all know is as conservative as they come and will do nothing to sway too far either side of average.

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Just as long as whoever they hire keeps paperwork!

I like your post and the bigger picture thinking Rhino.

I will throw you something more to ponder.

Do we know what we stand for as a club?

Some say its ruthlessness. What kind of a sick value is that.

Conservative? Look at what our most recent effort at being aggressive and non conservative got us?

Do we simply need to get back to basics of a footy club?

Loyalty. Comradery. Bravery. Fun ffs. Defend your people. Believe in people and value and foster their best qualities.

Just let our huge supporter base get behind that and create massive pride and momentum.

The quick fix is such an instinct for us at the moment. Drop this bloke, delist this guy hes finished, sack this guy etc. How does anyone operate with any confidence in a toxic environment like that?

What do we stand for?

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Just to clarify, woosha didnt say the opening post. I said it in the “Worsfold” thread.

As I posted in another thread, the amount of ■■■■ that these guys went through over the last 4 years, you’d think that they would be breathing fire every gamd and every contest!
Absolutely disappointing!

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If I’ve learnt anything from the essington cycle it’s we’ll lose at least one game befire the end of july by 70 points with two more big beltings to come in the final stretch.

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SMJ’s posts in the Review thread sum up the problem perfectly. Here it is below.

And I should add as well, that born to rule arrogance isn’t just restricted to the players and the club. Its also the supporters. We’re sh !t. Essendon supporters are, as a general rule, arrogant farks with nothing to be arrogant about.

We make fun of Richmond for being crap? Guess what? They’re top 4 and will likely win a final this year. And when they do, guess who’s got the longest finals winning drought? That’s right, us.

We give it to Carlton, well they beat us all the farking time don’t they? Same with Collingwood. And neither of them have been any farking good for years.

We give it to Port Adelaide for their tarps at their games - well you know what, sometimes there is 40 thousand Essendon fans at Etihad and you could hear a god damn pin drop. Plenty of polite clapping, but no passion and no actual support. 10,000 Port fans would make more noise than 40,000 Essendon fans. A few weeks ago, the visiting West Coast cheer squad made more noise than the entire rest of the stadium and it was farking embarrassing.

We give it to North for being poor when we’re massively in debt. We give it to St.Kilda for being a pissant club - they’re just about to start their second successful era in the last 10 years during which we haven’t fired a shot.

You think that arrogance doesn’t filter through the whole club? Right down to the players? Of course it ■■■■■■■ does.

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A theory held by some of the footy community is that Carlton and Essendon have had messiah cultures.

One man will come and be so good that he drags everyone along with him.

Rather than a collective of lesser lights working hard and building something that becomes great.

When a messiah doesn’t live up to expectations, we dump that one (scapegoat) and look for the next, rather than when one man has a bad patch - supporting them, taking the blame as a collective and working hard. Taking ones medicine.

The year before Ratten was sacked Carlton played some of the most consistent footy I’ve seen. They rarely dropped (if at all) a game to a team outside of the top eight. They won every game they were supposed to.

The disloyalty they displayed as a club towards him was disgraceful and they got what they deserved.

What Gale and Balme are doing at Richmond is the opposite of that. Loyalty and nuts to get through the bad times.

That’s strength of leadership. Balme is calm and non emotional exactly like Worsfold is. He doesn’t have pissy petulant displays. Dimma is a hard nut.

Times have changed. Messiah’s don’t pull you out of the crap anymore. The only messiahs that do pull you out of the crap are those who build an attitude to collectively work hard and HTFU. - Roos, Balme and hopefully for us Worsfold

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I’m sick of the club boasting about it’s 16 flags. Nobody but Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood give a ■■■■. The new clubs don’t look at us like we’ve had any success. Our successes were in a long gone era when winning a premiership was a lot easier than it is today. Hawthorn’s three peat is equivalent to a six peat 100 years ago or a 5 peat 30 years ago.

After a couple of wins against sides higher on the ladder that don’t rate us our fans start talking about premiership number 17. Stop comparing ourselves to Carlton. These rivalries between Carlton and Collingwood are no longer important. I wish the Anzac Day game was taken off us. It’s only ever 4 points but it’s made out to be like it’s a final. It’s usually two ■■■■ teams battling it out at the start of the year.

I’m sick of being reminded of what a great club it was. There’s always an anniversary of something. This year it’s 50 years of Sheeds, next it will be 25 years of the 1993 flag, and we have the way back Wednesday videos celebrating past champions. It’s so depressing. I agree with SMJ that the 16 cups should be locked away in a basement.

Anyone under the age of 20 following this club has no memory of good times. You owe this generation a lot. So start acting like underdogs who have something to prove Essendon. Punch above your weight. Stop dropping your bundle like a bunch of petulant 5 year olds when bottom teams challenge you and the ball doesn’t bounce your way or umpires make a 50/50 decision.

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Yeah nah, don’t buy it.

I’ve heard this “we’re farked, club never wins these ones, i knew it was going to happen, blah blah ■■■■■ ■■■■■” a few times this year.

In the lead up to Hawthorn…, but then we won.

We NEVER win ANZAC day. … but then we won.

This idea of some cultural baggage preventing success is just mistaking us with being a not very good footabll team. Citing a 2012 loss against the Dees!? Aside from the it-would-be-funny-if-it-wasnt-sad factor of talking about any matches played under the guidance of the weapon, go and have a look at our 2012 list and ask yourself whether it was bad Essendon voodoo, or the fact that we were giving regular games to the likes of Lonergan/Dyson/Slattery?

Sunday was a disgrace, but we are a remarkably lopsided team this year. Our F50 efficiency has seen us look amazing at times, but a combination of inaccuracy and lairising meant our only real weapon failed us. Our midfield is probably the worst in the league, and that has meant we are unable to wrest control back when games start to slip. When the game was on the line (when the Lions drew to a point), we lined up with Langford and Parish in the guts, this was either idiocy, good development, or reflective of our best mids being unfit, but either way it shows where we are at.

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what’s that got to do with players not putting their heads over the ball?!?

We just need to stand up in the last quarter.
Given what worsfold said we would be better in the second half of the year and we are still fading away in games it is a worry.

Need more hardness/Edge to the midfield. we let the lions destroy us in the last quarter.
Last quarter every week need to inject - Tippa, McGrath, Fantasia into the midfield with Watson and run over the top of the opposition. (Heppell back for McGrath, Goddard, Parish forward)

27 points up…could have sent Hooker back as a loose player.
If we have a good lead I am not against this move. And think we should be doing it throughout the match late in quarters to avoid red time goals against us.

Yes we may not have increased lead, but may have held on…winning matches is whats important.

Lions had youth and energy - Debuting Begley or Mutch or Ridley will give us a bit of spark.

Bellchambers last quarter performance was poor, slipping over when we went down the middle at the end was poor. might have to bring Leuy back in.

finish off tigers, swans, lions and we would be sitting pretty.

Winning doesnt need to be pretty just ask the 2005 swans.

Last week Kennedy smashed us in the last quarter, and so did rockliff last week.

Cant wait for Ambrose to be back as well, just think he adds more competitiveness.