Top 5 mistakes made by EFC since our last premiership (no saga)

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
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letting adam mcphee finish his rep

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  1. Picking Langford
  2. Dropping Langford
  3. Not picking Langford
  4. Picking Langford
  5. Dropping Langford
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Grey clash strip jumper

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  1. Salary cap issues destroying the premiership team. Culturally hurt the club as well IMO
  2. Sheedy’s free reign over recruitment/drafting, under resourced department b/w 2000-2007
  3. Knights - although on hiding to nothing post Sheeds & also lacking experienced support.
  4. Dean Robinson/Dank, via Bomber referral
  5. “Self Reporting”, weak Evans whose own self interest then threw Hird who wasn’t responsible under a bus & nearly lost him.

First 3 direct result of Jackson

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Peter Jackson

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  1. Peter JACKSON.
  2. Matthew Knights
  3. Holding onto players 2-3 years too long because of ‘good character’.
  4. Giving Worsfold a contract extension when it is only this year where it can be truly established as to whether his gameplan is relevant and effective in the modern game
  5. Overall recruitment strategy in recruiting half forwards and half backs with the aim of turning them into midfielders.
    edit: no saga.
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  1. Not listening to BomberBlitz.
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  1. Bombertalk
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Stopped producing The Hanger

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this thread is gonna be mighty depressing. i might steer clear.

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  1. Treating the Board like a boys club.
  2. Not tanking enough.
  3. Moving to Tulla 15 years too late.
  4. Not removing Voss’s head in 2001 GF.
  5. No cheerleaders or disco theme song remix.
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The club has never been the same since they axed the Welly & Teddy Cooking Show

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This could change but I’ll have a go:

  1. Poor early round draft picks
  2. Poor choice of recruitment of players from other clubs (post Banard/Wellman)
  3. Matthew knights appointment
  4. Moving from the MCG to Etihad.
  5. Caving in on the clash strip.
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34

it wasn’t a salary cap mistake the afl didn’t increase the salary cap by the usual amount instead it only increased it by 3% or something low like that & we had budgeted for the usual increase (which it has been every year since !!!)

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There’s nowhere to steer to, other than off the site.
This place is truly morbid and loaded with manic depressives.
We could win the next 5 games, and it will be hollow.

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I thought it was something to do with the veterans list

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Not Drafting Aboriginal players

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  1. Resting on our laurels for the past thirty years.
  2. Always thinking the next premiership is just around the corner because…Essendon
  3. Recruiting nice players, nice coaches and a nice CEO
  4. David Evans
  5. Hanging Hird out to dry.
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Wasn’t it that they were going to change the veterans list rules (which meant half of Hirds salary would have been outside the cap), but then they delayed the change by 12 months, which destroyed EFCs cap, and broke up one of the superteams of the era

Every “superteam” since the AFL have spent every ounce of effort they have to build them up (possibly to cash in from their supporters), but the vibe of the time was always that they wanted to bring Essendon down, and this late change seemed all very convenient.

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1. Very poor development of recruited/younger players (2016 aside when we were forced to play youth)
2. Egos in leadership at the club with little to no idea about how to run a successful organisation.
3. The charade that was the coaching “selection” at the end of 2010. Many wise (outsider) heads were interviewed for the role at the time (a complete and utter farce) but the club was already adamant that Hird (with no prior coaching experience) & “poaching” Mark Thompson from Geelong would be the answer to all the problems. As we know it resulted in further issues that nearly sunk the club altogether.
4. Adrian Dodoro. Granted it is only three weeks into the Stringer/Saad/Smith experiment but he was lauded as some sort of recruiting “genius” in procuring the three to the club when the clubs onfield needs were very clearly elsewhere. Also applauded for the recruitment of Andrew McGrath (bit difficult to stuff up the Number 1 pick) & two top 10 picks in 2015 (Parish & Francis … jury still out on both).
5. On reflection this should probably be number one… but whatever. Just a culture of accepting mediocrity and the fact that solely because we’re Essendon (an ex-power club, we are certainly not one anymore) that “it will all be OK” … nothing drives me more mad than seeing some of the delusional masses applauding the team off the ground after another one of our many predictable farcical losses. “Good job boys… we will try and get the win next week” - no, get fuc*ed. In an already soft & ultra sensitive club environment that our players clearly thrive in, this is inexcusable. I know it happens at most other clubs as well but we are the WORST at it.

And I’ll add a final number six…

6. The amount of pathetic, soft, predictably HORRIFIC losses to equally mediocre sides or lower that we have to contend with every single year. This one is a direct link to my number five for the reasons already outlined. We might have some talent on our list but they are incapable of handing expectations.

I’d rather be known as the biggest pric*s in the competition (80s, 90s and early 00s) and be at least mildly successful than the “nice guys” of the AFL who aim to just sneak into the top 8 every year. What has happened to our current coach? I used to despise the man when he played because he would regularly dish it out to the opposition, verbally and physically. Something we desperately lack right now! Worsfold’s coaching just seems a little “too nice” now… but something our playing list would probably love. I hope it is different behind closed doors but there are far too many external indicators that it isn’t.

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