Four Weeks Ago, We Were Anybody

[Windy_Hill]

So what the f*** happened

David Hilles Hammy?

No Gus, No Essendon?

Dustin's Suspension?

Tayte Pears is worth 10 goals?

We were beating top 4 sides with relative ease? Then it all fell apart. How could this happen, Team selections? Or were we simply lucky to win those couple of games?

[Bomber_wiz]

How i have seen the season so far.

Rd 1 - Geelong - Fell apart when the presure was applied
Rd 2 - Freo - Poor skills killed us
Rd 3 - Carl - they played worst than us
rd 4 - WC - Interstate (say no more)
Rd 5 - Coll - just smashed
Rd 6 - Haw - played a b rate team that night (most their stars missing)
Rd 7 - PA - Fell apart when the presure was applied (cant put a team away)
Rd 8 - SK - caught them at low point of there season (good win)
Rd 9 - Rich - won 1st qrt. Outplayed after that.
Rd 10 - WB - they had a shocker. Nearly beat us with 10 mins of football
Rd 11 - Swans - Interstate (say no more)
Rd 12 - Geelong - Its Geelong.
Rd 13 - Hawthorn. Their bad kicking kept us in it.
Rd 14 - Adel - Interstate (say no more)

Knights is hanging his hat on good quarters and halfs of football but he is missing the big picture. There is a huge flaw in his game plan and he is the only person who cant see it.
Is our view of the team to biased. As supporters we know we have the core of being a great team, we just cant produce it often enough.

WIZ

[Boyler_Room]

Most of those excuses make me want to smack you, Bomber_wiz. Geelong is Geelong therefore we should lose? Playing interstate makes it ok to lose? Etc, etc. I know that's not what you're getting at but that is the exact mindset our players seem to have, and it's becoming more and more obvious that people are just accepting that.

What I witnessed last night was the single worst performance by an Essendon outfit that I've ever had the 'privilege' to endure. I've seen some abysmal performances, but when I see players kicking and handballing to opponents inside their F50, when I see a player try to take on a player on the mark only 15m away from their goal and get done, and so on, I know that something is not right with the club. I don't live in Melbourne anymore so I don't get to see how they train, but based on what I saw at the Hawthorn game (I happened to be in MEL 2 weeks ago) and what I saw last night, I'm fairly convinced that Knights and his crew of bludgers haven't got a clue about how to coach a club. I could have coached that side better with a blindfold on.

The basics are gone (have they ever been there since the Knights' appointment?), player confidence is gone, it's like watching a bunch of school kids going out and learning a new game "on the job". I have no idea how half of those players get a game each week. They get paid to do what they do. Not a small amount either. If they can't cut it, then they should get the boot. Simple as that. It's business.

Knights clearly can't cut it, so it's time to go. Get someone in that can actually identify skill and talent, and that knows how to coach. I don't care where they come from as long as they know what they're doing and have a track record (not necessarily at AFL level).

[Bomber_wiz]

Their not excuses, they are the facts as i see them. I agree with all your comments 100%

WIZ

[MH_Bomber]

What I dont get are the decisions at the selection table. Why has Prismall been dropped twice ? Why arent Dempsey and Atkinson in instead of Slattery and Quinn ? There has been constant tinkering when the team was playing winning football to the detriment of the side. Quite frankly Knights is a f*** wit.

The rationale to drop these blokes is crap. So they need to improve certain areas of their game. Well your don't throw the baby out with the bath water. You dont include an overall lesser player because of a perceived flaw in someone's game.

[Windy_Hill]

I agree that most of our wins have come as a result of Bursts of Brilliance as opposed to just commanding the game for 4 qtrs.

Problem for us is our Good Wins also have Moments of Madness where all the good work can come undone by 10 minutes or poor discipline or just a drop off in intensity.

We should be grateful we have 5 wins when you think that we really had no right to beat St Kilda, Bulldogs or Hawthorn.

based on yesterday's game - we are a bottom 3 side.

[Rossoneri]

Simple: Slattery and Welsh weren't there from round 6-11 (or missed large chunks of it), so there was only really one passenger in the team.

Honestly, is Henry Slattery the worst footballer to have played for Essendon? I was actually stoked he got injured in that second half!

[robrulz5]

We were looking pretty good a month ago, a good win against the Dogs and then we lost against Sydney when we were the better team. We had chances to go ahead of Geelong just before half-time but couldn't and they blew us away, since then we have been rubbish.

Could it be a case of the young players running out of steam?

They have had alot of pressure to perform put on them with senior players not doing much.

[Boyler_Room]

We were looking pretty good a month ago, a good win against the Dogs and then we lost against Sydney when we were the better team. We had chances to go ahead of Geelong just before half-time but couldn't and they blew us away, since then we have been rubbish.

Could it be a case of the young players running out of steam?

They have had alot of pressure to perform put on them with senior players not doing much.

Last night had nothing to do with running out of steam. If they actually had eyes in their heads they would have seen plenty of options available other than the poor options they chose. They stood around and watched when we didn't have the ball, but when we did they butchered it. You can't have nothing left in the tank from the first bounce.

[robrulz5]

We were looking pretty good a month ago, a good win against the Dogs and then we lost against Sydney when we were the better team. We had chances to go ahead of Geelong just before half-time but couldn't and they blew us away, since then we have been rubbish.

Could it be a case of the young players running out of steam?

They have had alot of pressure to perform put on them with senior players not doing much.

Last night had nothing to do with running out of steam. If they actually had eyes in their heads they would have seen plenty of options available other than the poor options they chose. They stood around and watched when we didn't have the ball, but when we did they butchered it. You can't have nothing left in the tank from the first bounce.

I was thinking more in the context of the season as a whole so far. The games will take a toll on the younger, smaller bodies. It was around this time last year that Zaharakis couldn't get back into the side and many thought it was because he was simply tired.