GWS have 14 players on their injury list this week, we have 3.
Coniglio, Griffen, Hopper, Williams, would all look pretty handy in black and red (wouldn’t say no to Taranto either…or Deledio)
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Yep that is true
Some might say they’d be happy to swap our bottom 14 for GWS’s current injury list, and we’d be right as rain…
This is very true. My first post to Blitz in September 2001 after the GF made many of these points. Proof EFC does not pay attention to BB.
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A problem has to be acknowledged it exists before it can be dealt with and then solved. Spec Savers!
This is the other side of the saga that those at Head Office pretend doesn’t exist because its been over from when
it started for them.
Call it we only need a couple of inside midfielders or a new ruckman, call it what you like. We are where we are
because that’s what we are. Sure things can change quickly sometimes, but; we are still dealing with stuff that
people are blind about and no other club has been through before. Regardless, of the huff and fluff the club comes
out with, we are along way from playing finals and that’s what footy is all about. The sooner we get that, the sooner things start to get better. The word rebuilding hasn’t been used but it needs to be if we are fair dinkum.
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With the benefit of the motorcycle’s mirrors, some of the panic in this thread has been allayed by two wins in a row and an improving ruckman and midfield. I still really enjoy thinking about the wider cultural issues it raises.
As a middle aged 'don I cannot give up the joy of beating Carlton or winning on Anzac Day, or the boast of 16 flags. What was this stuff for if not to enjoy? Would you rather the Ross Lyon approach of enjoying nothing but a premiership? Because that can be a lot of misery.
We have not had the quick fix approach of Carlton or the previous savagery of Richmond eating its own. People ask what we stand for and I would have thought we are strong on developing our own, player dynasties and a calm kind of power- suaviter in modo. The risk here is only to look within, and Worsfold is an antidote to that just as Sheedy was. Xav is similarly considering an outsider for the board.
So I would not hide the cups in a spare room next to the witches’ hats. I would not worry about our supporters being more cool-headed than some of the frothing panic merchants wearing other colours. But we can tweak these things. Why not have some prizes for best banner etc around the ground at home games (after the TV raffle of course)? Why not have a prominent empty plinth for the next cup beside the other 16?
17 years is a long wait, though perfectly average in an 18 team competition. I don’t want to be perfectly average. Four years of the 17 were stolen from us, partly because the AFL knows how resilient we are compared to other fragile, highly strung outfits. In summary, let’s keep looking without for staff and within for the playing group. We cannot be broken but we have more records to break.
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I know there are a number of threads dissecting yesterday.
There is going to be the full gamut of solutions bandied about in those threads - recruiting, gameplan, which individuals are to blame, etc
I still hold a belief that there is a larger club wide psychological issue that plays into these “relapses” and I think this thread is as good a thread as any for those Blitzer’s who may wish to reflect on and discuss the bigger picture of the club psyche and how we mend it / improve it.
It seems that as soon as we relax for a second and start to get confidence, Essington appears front and center.
In the last 2 thirds of last year we seemed to take a step forward towards a base line of effort and culture of playing a certain way - win lose or draw.
AFL is a brutal mental and physical game and if you think success is just going to come your way because you’ve jagged a player in the trade period then you are going to get put on your ■■■■ pretty quickly. We only had to wait until Round 1.
The whole club needs to man up and steel themselves for this brutality. Its the only way forward.
We may not be top 4 but we have find a way to play that we can be proud of.
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Mandatory basic intelligence tests before we recruit players
or just
Stop recruiting stupid footballers
deleted
Maybe we can give the players some real hearts instead of the peas they have in they’re chests at the moment. OHH and brain scan the coach find out if we can get anything done to rectify his lobotomy or Whatever it takes . Teach them to recognise there own players ,glasses , eye implants ,binoculars or maybe when there at training they could practise kicking and hand balling to each other, try to explain the difference between hand balling and kicking to your team mates and the opposition and why its important if you would like to win the game.
I don’t believe the players or anyone for that matter is lacking heart.
Its very difficult to drag a club out of a historical losing cycle.
Being a big club, means the lows are lower.
Its some kind of confidence issue and yet confidence was high over summer.
There is a right kind of confidence.
We were close to finding it last year. We have to this year.
There is clearly a losing culture at the EFC. We know this because that’s what we do, we lose, we all know how long we have been losing and as it happens we are still losing. We revert to type when under pressure. Culture is a direct representation of what you are, what you do, how you do, what your willing to sacrifice, the values you espouse etc… we lose, then we win a little bit but inevitably we buckle and we lose. We have been losing very badly for 15 years, we have had 5 coaches in that time, different presidents, CEOs, many false dawns and in reality not much has changed.
The elephant in the room for me is the senior group, can the likes of Hurley, Hooker, TBC, Zaharakis, Heppel actually win. Do they know how? If they are the leaders and Jobe before him how do they demonstrate winning in front of the next group. How do they articulate what needs to be done. This has to be a significant part of our problem.
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Yep. Totally agree.
Except to break the cycle, I think you have to get the leaders to break that cycle.
Its hard for them because they haven’t got flags under their belt and they’ve had up to 4 or 5 coaches and multiple line coaches all saying to play slightly differently.
I believe you have to aim for a Cotchin / Jack Reiwoldt type result for the club to break the cycle.
Do we have a sports psychologist? If so, sack them and get a new one.
If not? Get the best in the country.
We are so mentally cooked it is a running joke on this forum. Every single Essendon fan knows what games we are going to cook it in, how we are going to do it, what will be said before, during and after. The fact people are surprised about yesterday astounds me. “Worst loss I’ve witnessed” gets said 10-12 times a season for the past decade and a bit.
We need clinical help.
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Look at some of our leaders (not limited to the leadership group) and ask who of them would get even close in terms of leadership to players like Hodge, Ling, Harley, roughhead and a few others.
And do you think any of our players would get into the coaching ranks when the retire? Very very few of our players have footy brains, just guys who run and kick.
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I have been saying that for years even wrote to the club and they didn’t respond.
Get someone like Tony Robins over for two weeks and watch the improvement in attitude.
Why him? Tell me who else at our club is capable of doing and sustaining it???
For some context as to how long it takes a coach
2018 was Adam Simpson’s 5th year
2017 was Hardwick, in his 8th year
2016 Beveridge 2nd year (outlier)
2013-14-15 Clarkson in 9th-10th-11th year
2012 Longmire 2nd year
2011 Scott 1st year
2010 Malthouse 25th year
2009 Thompson 10th year
2008 Clarkson 4th year
2007 Thompson 8th year
2006 Worsfold 5th year
2005 Roos 4th year
2004 Williams 6th year
2001-02-03 Matthews 13th-14th-15th year
2000 Sheedy 20th year
And so on.
People talk about it like you flick a coach and win a flag.
It’s not like that.
It’s a slow process.
Worsfold is at year 4 now ( and one of them with the world’s biggest asterisk )
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Ive said it before and ill say it again.
This xlub as a whole should be thought of and treated as a kid with adhd, eho cant pay attention foe to long and generally forgets what you tell them.
That is why ive never liked or agreed with worsfold mantra of self management, because the culture of this club at present is one of now being able to do that.
Its like telling a drug addict the best way to not be a drug addict is not 4o take drugs , then sending them home and expecting them to you know not take drugs. Or alcohol , or gambling or anything.
Then you add in the constant poor behaviours by coaching across 3 to 4 coaching panels…
Picking injured players
Picking players on name alone or perceived worth
Dropping kids , not giving kids enough of a go
Etc etc.
Its just an endless loop of repeating the exact same mistakes , snd passing on the exact same bad habits feom playing generation to playing generation.
I said that of the last generation and ill say it about this one, you have to essentially gut the senior players and hope the rot hasnt spread to much so as it becomes the noem for young ro mid aged players.
But that would require culling
Zaka, myers, hurley, hooker probably hepp too.
But they wont do that.
The worst part is heppell has turned into a mini version of worsfold. He speaks well , he says alot of big words , snd generally is on the right path, but just regurgitates new age coporate pr speak, that uses alot of words and sentences to say nothing ( i know the usual suspects will have a go at me for that ).
Heppell will also crap on about yesterday is not what we stand for as a xlub or playing group.
Well what the ■■■■ do you actually stand for ??
Besides meaningless words ?
I mean we can all say a whole bunch of words about what we think this xlubs stands for , but history aint gonna remmeber what you said or claim you stand for, itll rmemeber what you DO.
And he just like watson in inevitably go down in history as captains of one of the worst eras in this xlubs history.
So is that what you want to continue to stand for ?
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I don’t understand this, sheedy won it in 84/85/93
Thompson 07
Malthouse 92/94, am I missing something?
Matthews 1990?
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