Sorry this is a long post, its started short, but I have been thinking for a few days.
@efc1robbo has a really good starting point.
We keep talking, in the other thread, of needing to get Caracella, and that may well be a solution. But before we, (the “royal we” the blitz we) go to solution mode we need to work out what the problem is.
And from @efc1robbo post we have an indication that its not just about the team and the coaches, its about the whole club.
Communication issues, problems with membership cards, problems with memberships, (just as an aside my sons membership wasn’t rolled over as it should have been) can be indications of some internal issues.
And as far as coaching is concerned the real issues seem to be that firstly the team has gone backwards, and secondly that neither the coach nor the captain know what needs to be done.
I know our captain is supposedly very well liked by the players, and thats why they voted him in. It doesnt mean he is a good captain, and personally I dont think he is a captains bootlace. I know people dont see his hair as an issue but I see personal presentation as part of the deal. We dont want everyone to be clones of each other, but do we really think a captain that looks like Tom Hanks in Castaway is going to inspire people? If he gives the appearance of not caring, and talks aboout his life as an EFC player as just a job, then why should anyone else care?
I have heard that Worsefold is a good man manager. Well so am I. I managed teams of people including many men for years. I got great results. Doesn’t mean to say I can coach a football team. You need to have recent relevant experience, and hopefully top class outcomes.
I could probably manage a football department becasue it is one step removed from recent relevant in depth technical knowledge. So long as the team of coaches has the technical knowledge then the manager doesn’t need it.
However Worsefold is not managing the football department. He is the coach.
And he needs recent relevant experience with high level outcomes to demonstrate that he has the knowledge. As do his assistants.
And none of them appear to have that.
I know if I were employing a person for a role, any role, I would certainly try to avoid employing anyone whose demonstrated results, if any were 10-20 years ago.
If they havent been able to do it recently then chances are they are not up to date with modern methods and processes.
And the problem is that there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the coaching department with the possible exception of Kelly, that have any recent results.
I believe the club needs to review the requirements of modern coaching and cast the net wide. Certainly we should be looking at people such as Caracella and FWIW I would be looking at Fletcher as a back line coach, not because he is an Essendon person but because he played 400 games in a stellar career as a back man in two codes (the internationl series) and has therefore demonstrated recent relevant results at a high level.
But I would also in some cases be looking at coaches in other sports to ensure that I was getting the best possible person for the job.
We havent done that. We have literally cast our eye over a few people and said he’ll do.
The other worrying part is player development. I know players are supposed to be partly responsible for their own development, but when you have players that are going backwards you need to be able to pin point the reasons and move quickly to change them.
As people know I have never been a fan or Worsefold, I think he was given the job for all the wrong reasons, and as for the decision to renew his contract, words fail me.
However something needs to happen and I believe it needs to happen soon.
And I think the club needs to have a good hard look at a few other clubs, Hawthorn springs to mind, to see what it is they are doing, how they are set up, what they are doing differently that enables them to get consistent results.
And them we need to look at how we want our club and coaching department set up and do something about changing it. This could be done in weeks, not months.
I dont have any faith that anything will happen because EFC are a very conservative club and rapid change is not part of their nature.
The board and the executive really has a lot to answer for.
Who pushed McKenna out?
Kerr/X/board…
"Following an end of season review, the Club has restructured the midfield coaching role, and as a result Guy McKenna will not be continuing.... ..... The duties of the Midfield Coach have been restructured in order to align more effectively with the distinction between the roles of our Strategy Coaches and our Performance Coaches,” Kerr said.
Nothing effective has come of it
Can we stop trying to justify keeping McKenna? He was ■■■■■■■ awful.
Disagree entirely.
Made finals
One of highest scoring teams in the league
All whilst had to work with midfield full of returning players who struggled physically and mentally
Zerrett AA. Zaka in career best form.
The players played for him and enjoyed working with him.
Personnel wise lacking pace & pressure in midfield so kept having to get TIPPA and Raz taken from fwd line to do so.
Yep he was doing an “awful” job & the club could not have possibly let opportunity to promote the dynamic duo of Neeld & Skippy pass
If we weren’t going to keep him despite the very good job he was doing IMO it had to be in bringing in the best midfield coach from a current top performing club.
Instead we got a setup that NO other team in the league would have ever considered.
Problem #1 We have a surplus of first receiver type midfielders. Players who use the ball well but are too small to ever be bullying extracters. Zerret, McGrath to name a few.
Problem #2 is our ball use in the back half, we continue to chip away laterally which allows the opposition to set up a beautiful zone until we turn the ball over again. It is terrible to watch and I don’t understand why we do it.
Problem #3 we lack heart within the team. That kid Mutch kicked his first goal, that should have been a hair raising moment for the fans who watch in joy as EVERYONE gets around him. ■■■■ me why bother turning up to games.
Also Stringer looks overweight for mine and Myers can’t chase.
The exact reasons are uncertain, but here are my views. A few have been picked up already, others have not:
- Opposition teams worked on us over the preseason. More time is being spent in stopping JD and Zerrett, and that is impacting their performance. JD is also probably just down on performance as well. They probably also spent time on Walla and other key players.
- The forward line is totally changed. Last year we used Hooker as the rock, JD and Stewart as mobile targets and the smalls ran off and around these three. We also manned up in there (usually), which meant opposition teams couldn’t double team and quickly clear the ball. This year Stringer is in instead of Hooker, who is doing alright but doesn’t attract a second man or take pressure of JD/Stewart. Fatasia, Green, Colyer and Begley are injured, and Walla is either injured or way out of form.
- No Hooker means a change in going forward. Previously we could just hit the long ball to him, and know that he’d mark or create a crumb. JD & Stewart also had more room to present as Hooker pulled players to him, as teams knew the strategy. But with no Hooker, injured crumbers and the coaches often allowing the opposition extra players in defence, this option is gone. So the team has to hit a good pass, JD & Stewart are less free, and crumbs come back out fast. All of which means that we are taking more time to figure out how to get in and our skills are being tested more (and found wanting).
- And we also don’t keep forwards back out of the congestion like we did last year. Its frustrating.
- Moving a successful forward coach out after one season may have been stupid.
- Players are down. Kelly and Goddard were two of our best players in the first two thirds of last year. One is gone, one is a shadow. Bags has dropped off. JD, Walla, Zerrett are down on form. Heppell and Hurley can’t hit the side of a bus. Parish and McGrath are not having the impact we expected, and Stringer isn’t assisting in the midfield. Zaharakis was huge for us last year, but has dropped off a lot and made more mistakes.
- Last year we had an incredible run with injuries. Not so much this year.
- The backline is not working well. Playing Hooker, Hurley, Goddard, Ambrose, Bags is incredibly slow. Goddard, Hurley are making terrible decisions, and Bags is on his last legs. And if the opposition don’t put it on Hooker’s head, his impact is pretty limited.
- The midfield is not working. Maybe Jobe did have that much influence last year, but I think its more a combination of game plan and opposition targeting Zerrett. We’re missing Jobe, Goddard and Colyer from the midfield and added Smith, McGrath and kids. Its made a bigger difference than expected.
- I think we underestimated Colyer’s impact last year. Sure he fumbled, but he put on tackling pressure (including forward pressure) and could transition fast. We have missed him.
- Our skills just seem way off. Missing players in the open by 5m so that the process is slowed as they pick up a ground ball rather than a mark. Dropped marks. Hand balls to feet. Kicks to the opposition. Its been absolutely disgraceful.
- Too often our players are getting sucked in and playing 2:1, and they release to the free player. Other teams are also winning more 50/50 contests, and that’s always a problem.
Agree. The game plan should be built to our strengths, not to our weaknesses.
What’s gone wrong? giving Worsfold a contract extentison.
I know you’re ranting, but you forgot to add “per current form and injuries”. Hooker is slower than Stringer but that didn’t stop us having the most efficient forward line in the league last year.
Having your top four small forwards crippled by injury makes any set of talls look crap (and that’s before you consider the delivery from the midfield…)
Hooker works 10x as hard as stringer does. I just don’t think the 3 talls is sustainable allthe time no matter who they are.
I agree, we are way too tall for modern footy which has become an endurance game focussed around consistent repeat efforts.
We either need to start playing where we use the tall advantage, different to the tigers etc. or put more runners in.
Bartel this morning ’ Zaka, Merrett, Parish… you want them on the outside, running into space.’ With Jobe, Hocking gone, who are the first possession players at Essendon? I don’t think they addressed that properly last year.’
The plan would be for stewart & stringer to be able to provide forward pressure. They should be able to as they are both big and quick. Lav is aggressive and tackles hard - but can’t apply forward pressure? Tippa & Fanta are very good on attack and defence. JoeD was apparently going to be the best player in the competition by year end.
That forward line should be capable but for whatever reason we have 6 players all playing well below their best.
Bartel’s inside mid question - Myers, Smith and Hepp are the inside extractors, with many others rotating through, and they are also clearly struggling. Spreading the load is the best we can do as strong, creative, quick inside mid is a gap in the list.
Oh for the days when we had BOBCAT, JOBE, BIRDY and HEATER…
Big bodied mids everywhere.
What terrible list planning to let them all go in the one year, with no obvious replacements.
Lol so much structure and list stuff.
We just don’t try because we are mentally ■■■■■■. We are Toronto vs Lebron except against every player in every team.
There are no minimum standards, the CEO is dictated to by the playing group and we give soft little bum taps that it will ‘be alright’, but it won’t, because that takes some actual planning.
Throw Dustin Martin in our team and we would send him backwards, our culture is terrible.
I fundamentally disagree with his assessment of parish. He doesn’t have outside weapons. He needs to model his game on tom libba. They’re a similar size and have similar skill set. Parish needs to be given the opportunity and responsibility at the ruckman’s feet and he needs to play with the same reckless abandon and intensity that libba does. He could also look at dalhause for inspiration. Parish would have CMS and kgs on dalhause.
Since when have you been back? Nice to see you here again
Start emailing the club weekly after every pathetic loss
EFC were about the second worst in the comp in 2017 for scores from back half turnovers. Now once we could get it forward of centre our kicking into f50 was elite, hence why we nearly the most efficient team in the AFL. This year we are no worse for back half turnovers but our kicking in the forward half has been deplorable, hence our low efficiency converting F50 into scores.
This thread has turned the corner when some claim we miss Gleeson’s kicking. He has many fine attributes but kicking is not his strong suit.