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Essendon - Supporter Support

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nulla nulla said:
The mighty Demons turned on a brilliant 4 quarters of football to dominate and vanquish a lack lustre Essendon.
How sweet it is.

Go Melbourne!!!!
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Between Collingwood, Carlton, Melbourne and Richmond - Essendon is arguable the last of the "VFL heavyweights" not to have won a spoon for a very long time. It might be our year!!! :)

Typical of our luck at present - the year there is no reward with a No 1 draft pick we'll win the spoon. :banghead:

There is nothing much to add. It's all been said before - looked slow, unskilled, poor game plan and execution, undisciplined and questionable fitness and commitment levels.

Duckman
 
I feel for you Duckman. But I think my team will have the spoon this year. This weekends game will be interesting...
 
gav said:
I feel for you Duckman. But I think my team will have the spoon this year. This weekends game will be interesting...
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I don't think it will be interesting to watch Gav lol, agree Duckman, I don't know what to say anymore, I found it hard to pull a positive out of the game, they just weren't there to play.

At the end of 2010 season the axe needs to be wielded, cut the deadwood and hangers on out and start again. :mad:
 
I grew up as a Bomber supporter when I was a kid. Hard not too when the whole family is Bombers.

Nowadays I can't watch em. They have a terrible list IMHO. I reckon they have 11-12 full time senior players, the rest wouldnt be standouts at VFL level.

Look at some of the names in the 1993 side and it was hard not to love em!

Calthorpe, Mercuri, Wanganeen, Misiti, Olarenshaw, Denham, Hird, Long, Fletcher, Somerville, Wallis, Daniher, Watson, Harvey, Salmon, Thompson, O'Donnell, Bewick..

Now that was a football club!

They are probably the least intimidating football side this year, and it shows unfortunately :(
 
The bombers are certainly copping it in the press atm. If they don't start winning a few games I think Knights could be looking for a new job.

One thing I don't understand is how/why Knights chops & changes the team so much every week. Guys like Reimers, Prismall, Howlett, Melksham, Dempsey are in & out every week and then a player like Houli can't even get a game. Yet guys like McVeigh & Welsh are under-performing every week but still get picked.

Pretty hard to get any sort of roll on when there are 4-5 changes every week and most of them appear to be by choice. Surely it's time for Knights to settle on a line up and give them a chance to get settled?
 
nomore4s said:
One thing I don't understand is how/why Knights chops & changes the team so much every week. Guys like Reimers, Prismall, Howlett, Melksham, Dempsey are in & out every week and then a player like Houli can't even get a game. Yet guys like McVeigh & Welsh are under-performing every week but still get picked.

Pretty hard to get any sort of roll on when there are 4-5 changes every week and most of them appear to be by choice. Surely it's time for Knights to settle on a line up and give them a chance to get settled?
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It is a clear result of their lack of depth Nomores. Simple as that.

But the revolving door is not all Knights fault. To be fair the injuries and suspensions over the course of the year to Hille, Fletcher, Dyson, Hooker, Hurley, Williams, Reimers and Pears has meant a certain number of changes have been necessary.

However you make a good point. Some players like Houli seem to be forgotten. I totally agree with dumping Dempsey - he had a couple of shockers defensively.

It seems over the past 4 seasons the Bombers have been trying to find the "magic combination" only to be disappointed.

Duckman
 
nomore4s said:
guys like McVeigh & Welsh are under-performing every week but still get picked.QUOTE]

This is incredibly frustrating to hear. I agree entirely with your assesement of McVeigh. I think he has had an awful season and should retire and do media. But Andrew Welsh has to be one of the most uderrated players at Essendon, if not the most underrated. The reason so many people rubbish him, is because they hardly notice him. Why? Because he is constantly tagging the best midfielders out of the game. Judd, Ablett, Hodge (an excellent example as he was in peak form) have all bore the brunt of a Welsh tag. Even last week was no exception. Mathew Bate hardly touched it with Welshy on him. As soon as Lovett Murray went to Bate, Bate carved it up.

Please (and this goes to the Essendon supporters) stop rubbishing Andrew Welsh. There are soo many others at the club much more deserved of a baking.
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Dempsey actually looked better as a forward or a roving type than he ever did as a backman.

Agree about Welsh, if you look back to some of the Eagles glory days, Dwayne Lamb hardly missed a game as a tagging type but wasn't well recognised for the role he played.

Agree about Spike, his form this year hasn't been great, it's like he has lost the fighting spirit that made him great to watch when he was fired up and on the angry pills.

Losing Hille, Fletcher, Pears, Monfries and Hooker haven't helped things lately, lack of depth.

I hate to bang on about this but is Mr Shuffles really the greatest full forward we have in the arsenal. It was pretty clear when it happened that Lloyd was pursuaded to retire given that he wouldn't be playing full forward this year, for the life of me when a guy is less than a hundred goals off the 1000 goal mark why would you not say to him, this is it, your last year, make it happen. That decision was Knights, no one else can shoulder the blame for that one, Lloyd (and Lukus) weren't in the grand plan.

Why Houlli doesn't get a game is beyond me, he can't be that much worse than what we have running around.

Can see why 4's had a chuckle when we picked up Williams.

Paddy Ryder is a good ruckman but he isn't of the ilk of Hille when he is in form, having the two of them in together because of their different styles is a great asset to the bombers strategically, but if one of them is out there isn't much to come in and fill the shoes of either of them, lack of depth. You can't play a first rate midfield style game with second rate ruckmen having to be brought into a side where the midfielders need first hands on the ball to look any good.

There are to many fringe players on the list and not enough starting 18 players, regardless of injuries 4 or 5 changes to the side each week isn't going to help anything or anyone.

While I'm having a sook, I'm sick of someone (usually one of the few who actually played well) coming out after each loss and going on about how we have to do better or the spin of the vision we have. We can see you have to play better (we have eyes) and as for the vision for the future it usually starts with a list worth putting on the field week in, week out.

Sorry to the diehard Dons supporters, just a little frustrated. :2twocents
 
Dustin Fletcher is the best Full Back to have ever played imo. I know people will argue Scarlett, Southby, Dench etc... But that is a hole that Essendon will be forced to replace in the next season or two. Almost unreplaceable.
 
GumbyLearner said:
Dustin Fletcher is the best Full Back to have ever played imo. I know people will argue Scarlett, Southby, Dench etc... But that is a hole that Essendon will be forced to replace in the next season or two. Almost unreplaceable.
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He's been around for a long time now, one of my favourites, quiet and unassuming, does his job week in, week out with little fanfare, not sure how many more years he has left but yes Gumby will be a sorry day when he goes.
 
GumbyLearner said:
Dustin Fletcher is the best Full Back to have ever played imo. I know people will argue Scarlett, Southby, Dench etc... But that is a hole that Essendon will be forced to replace in the next season or two. Almost unreplaceable.
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Absolutely agree about Fletcher. He is in our top three most important players and at his age that is very impressive. I have always wanted to clone him. However one young player most similar to him is Cale Hooker. He has really impressed me, especially this year with some more bulk. His decision making is excellent and he very rarely turns the pill over coming out of defence. This was one of the finest attributes of Fletcher so if we replecate that to some degree it will help us greatly. He does play a little loose in defence but that does enable him to springboard out of the half back line. This did expose him drastically against Franklin however.

The other very impressive defender is Pears. He has had a horror run with injuries this year but once he is right to go again this will boost our backline dramatically.

I certainly don't see the problem as the backline. Remember any backline will look second rate when you are getting smashed in the mid field.
 
The supporters are calling for blood! A couple more games like this, were structural issues+ off field division remain I would not be surprised to see us saying adios to Knights!

We have the best developing spine in the game, but there are specific areas were we are very poor + lack any kind of depth and they are becoming increasingly more apparent!
 
Lachlan6 said:
Absolutely agree about Fletcher. He is in our top three most important players and at his age that is very impressive. I have always wanted to clone him. However one young player most similar to him is Cale Hooker. He has really impressed me, especially this year with some more bulk. His decision making is excellent and he very rarely turns the pill over coming out of defence. This was one of the finest attributes of Fletcher so if we replecate that to some degree it will help us greatly. He does play a little loose in defence but that does enable him to springboard out of the half back line. This did expose him drastically against Franklin however.

The other very impressive defender is Pears. He has had a horror run with injuries this year but once he is right to go again this will boost our backline dramatically.

I certainly don't see the problem as the backline. Remember any backline will look second rate when you are getting smashed in the mid field.
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The flipside to that is any forward line not getting hit with lace out passes or not knowing where or how the ball is going to come into the forward line is also going to look second rate when you are getting smashed in the midfield.

On a brighter note was good to watch Jack Reiwold kick his 10 goal bag the other week, Tiger fans have had even less to cheer about than us for a loooong time now, good to see Hardwick doing well.

Was also good to see Nick Reiwold back playing footy again.

Agree Lachlan, the backline looks fine, not sure where Hurley will end up, maybe forward and back, some players have the ability to be thrown around as the game progresses to good effect and unsettle the opposition. Pears and Hooker both look solid down back and they are both still young and learning, lets hope Fletcher has a few more years in him to transfer his knowledge to a new generation of backline bombers.
 
hmmm, you can hear the crickets chirping in here today, well done to West Coast, they haven't beaten us in Melbourne for a long time regardless of the form of either side, Lecras kicking 12 was good to watch, the rest was pretty ugly to say the least, was going to comment last night but decided against it, wasn't surprised but still wasn't happy, would like to hear your thoughts when you finally simmer down Duckman.
 
Putty7 said:
Lecras kicking 12 was good to watch
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Amazing game, and yes, great to watch no matter who you support.

Essendon aren't supposed to be going backwards at this stage of the rebuild. Someone is responsible.

Knights didn't recruit these guys.

If they're quality, he can't coach them.
 
kennas said:
If they're quality, he can't coach them.
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I think they aren't quality, the list is very thin imo but I also think that Knights is a dud coach so it ends up compounding the problems. I also think he is very quickly losing the respect of the players, which will only make his job harder.

Essendon should have taken Hardwick while they had the chance:2twocents
 
So if the list is thin what do we need when cut and fill time is at hand....

A second ruckman worth his salt would be nice, Paddy Ryder does his job ok, but he was also a good position player, both forward and back, so really he could be a third ruckman on the ground without upsetting the balance of the side and when the first or second ruck is out (injured or otherwise) he could step up.

Hille is not getting any younger, while not old enough to be close to retirement for a few years, it takes time to develop a good ruck unless like Collingwood did you go shopping for a current player. So we look down the list at Bellchambers and Laycock, they have had enough time to prove themselves. Bellchambers looked lack lustre yesterday and Laycock just looks lazy whenever he actually gets to play.

Hille is the first ruck, when he is out like at the present the bombers really struggle, did he make the difference to the 5 we won, no other ruckman we have has imposed himself on the game like Hille. When our mids get first hands they actually look ok even if they do lack pace.

One or preferably two fast midfielders would be nice.

Without going over board this would be a good starting point imho.

I really can't understand why Heath Hocking was left on Lecras for so long, or why for that matter he was in the backline at all, we know he isn't fast but his value is doing the bullock work in the centre like the role smokin Joe used to fill when the Dons were in their prime.

I think Knights will end up going, unfortunately I also have a feeling we will get a wooden spoon this year which will make the event transpire.
 
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