So you want us to tank and develope our players into losers fark that ■■■■
We can do both you know develope and aim to win games. Previous groups of Essendon players knew nothing but a losing culture i want this next batch of kids not to suffer the same loser culture.
our list is so young will be doing that anyway really.
only maybe Heppell or Kelly taking a spot and no gun young small defenders, massimo might go ok but no need to rush him in. He should get lots of opportunities given our lack of players in his position.
Believe Bryan should be played ahead of Phillips if injury.
And Stewart will be like a stop gap if young talls are not fit. which is highly likely.
other options might be Guelfi /Snelling ahead of youngsters like Davey or Menzie.
But i don’t mind the idea of young forwards coming through together in VFl.
Davey will likely debut very soon in the year regardless of not round 1.
I kind of want us to have more pre-season injuries, because Essendon having a fully-fit list would just be unfair on the opposition and make for zero competition. The AFL should just cancel the season now, save everyone the time and just award us our 17th flag.
I’d sooner think I’d be capable of flight than this club achieving success.
Just reminding everyone i started the 23 version
Yes im drunk
You’ll be cited by the MRO for this bump.
Just quietly, there’s certainly a few laggards buying memberships with a potential home final victory becoming a distinct possibility.
Fans rightly sent a message with their wallets as membership is behind last year still. However, reasonable to say that all available evidence points to genuine reason to be confident our improvement is based on strong foundations. And the membership team will be ready for the phone calls this week.
Watching 2000 QF vs Kangas on youtube
How i miss that team destroyed North in the first qrt after they kicked the first by King
2000 the last time i was proud to be an essendon surporter
2001 no good?
(Pre grand final)
Fairly bang on call, even though we were the only club in the league that looked super tired, so tired that VFL teams would’ve beaten us.
Bloody Gather Round!!
Yes and hopefully we repeat the Carlton pattern in 2024.
We shouldn’t forget were respectable against the top eight up to round 23 when the wheels fell completely off:
Collingwood - R6 - we lost by 13 - after we lead for 85 minutes of the match - and still only one point down at 26 minute mark.
Brisbane - R9 - we were beaten at the Gabba where they haven’t lost this year and us with no Ridley, Laverde or Wright and fricken Joe kicked straight (6.1) - any chance of a fit full size KPD for 2024?
Port Adelaide - R8 - we lost by 7 points in Adelaide, us leading a couple of times in the last quarter. Remembering, during the season, they were only beaten by Collingwood and Adelaide in Adelaide. Also Ridley being taken out by Rioli was probably the difference.
R16 - when Port were level on wins at the top of the ladder - with only 2 losses, we lost after leading at the final siren, and they needed a goal from outside 50 near the boundary to beat us.
Melbourne - R5 We beat them by 27 - Dees would be in the preliminary if they kicked 10.16 instead of 9.17.
Carlton R13 - We beat Carlton by 34 and shamed them into a Preliminary Final.
St Kilda - R3 - we were beaten by 18 after a scoreless opening 17 minutes dropping 34 points behind - in Q4 13 minutes in we were level, but ran out of gas after working hard to catch up.
GWS - R4 We beat Preliminary finalist GWS by 13.
Sydney - R20 a 2 point loss, after being 37 points behind in the third quarter we rallied well, but falling just short.
Admittedly, we weren’t quite the same after the Bye, with Draper and his mojo leaving the team, with losses to Fremantle, Geelong and the Bulldogs showing some chinks in our armour. But we also had very memorable Dreamtime win against Richmond, and another good win against Adelaide kept them out of the finals (not to mention them being pipped by the umpire assisted Swans).
However, our overall very good season was all forgotten against the Giants in round 23.
Scott dropped Baldwin and Bryan, and brought in and underdone Sam Draper and Jake Stringer (as sub but, with Guelfi’s injury, ended up playing the majority of the game). They admittedly did need games if we were to be ready for the finals, so I can understand that roll of the dice to some extent.
We also had our undersized young mids who had been holding the fort bravely - Hobbs, Perkins, Martin, Durham and Tsatas running out of steam. Wright was out of form (fit?) and Kelly inexplicably playing on a wing after being displaced by Cox in defence; with Cox still to find form and full fitness. We also had Setterfield waiting in the wings to come back into the side, but that would have added another underdone player.
This, together with the absence of Ridley, and having no player capable of stemming the bleeding of 9 goals and 17 marks to Hogan - meant we were decimated.
Our Achilles heel does seem to be an opposition with a decent power forward, so the pursuit of McKay is not surprising, despite the fact he could end up being an improved version of Stewart to add to our list of tall KPD’s who we can’t get on the park and/or their bodies aren’t ready (Reid, Hayes, Cox).
So despite gaps in our list - fit, big and tall Key Position Players, fully developed X factor small forwards who run both ways, and having a midfield beast on the park for most of the year - I think we did very well.
I think Scott would have better maintained supporter respect if, against the Giants, he had stuck with fit young players like Baldwin and Bryan, despite us all wanting Sammy back. And maybe brought in Setterfield instead of an unfit Stringer. Kelly on a wing was another puzzling choice. As supporters we can accept losses much better if we can see players giving their all because they know that is how to get selected, rather than underdone/injured players getting automatic selections by reputation, but not being up to it.
I think there is every chance we can do much better next year, but even if we don’t, if we can see 23 rounds of players having a crack, and getting opportunities based on form, that will still be an improvement we will be happy to see. Add a bit of better fitness management and a more balanced improving list, we will be over the moon.