Tomorrow ...

[filthy2]

...or next week we will drop out of 2011 Top 8 never to return because of:

- Weak, gutless performances by the usual suspects in the last 2 weeks, their only defense being injury to our only top shelf players; Ninthmond and the Skiiers playing their best games individually/teamwise in a century with ordinary personal.

- Where did we finish in 2010?...13th....being confronted with worse draw of any team in 2011 playing aginst all/most of the 2010 finalists twice.

- We will have travelled 3 times tomorrow. The Filth? Nada except to Arizona.

- Bad luck again with injury in the Scum game, followed by the Bears game including Hockings moronic act....almost want to sack him for that (but we won't) plus the ongoing sagas of Gumby, Pears, DD and so on ......talent wise in our best 22.

- From in the 80's having the best facilities to now the worst and having to wait 2 years to catch up.

- Hubris causing us to endure the oughties to eventually reacting positivelly especially off-field which will take years to yield a positive result.

- Stubborningly refusing to follow the leader of the leader...the Filth....and do what they do...altitude training etc.

- Players not playing for the jumper, what it means, the great honour they have been given, the opportunity it presents, virtually pissing on its history and those who have preceded them.

I look forward to the after season......the culling of at least 10 players.....the aggressive recruiting or at least attempt to....finding players who know and appreciate the great opportunity Essendon presents on and off the field and are prepared to grasp it and go for it 110%.

You have no idea how angry these weak pricks make me. The 70's were better.

[Windy_Hill]

Umm...a little melodramatic Filth. I probably would have waited til at least after the Freo game.

[robrulz5]

...altitude training etc.

I've lost count how many times this has been explained on here, it wears off very very quickly.

[Megan]

Lost interest four lines into your post, TBH Filth.

Blah blah blah.

Shit happens. We will play some good footy, we will play some shit. Just sit back and enjoy the ride Filth, no one can be at the top forever! If I told you rd 22 last year we'd be in the 8 mid way thru 2011 I reckon you'd have taken it in a heartbeat!

Hirdy's first year was never going to be faultless, we've got a number of players who aren't pulling the weight, some spectacular first/second year players, some crap injuries, some dodgy umpiring... that's footy, old boy.

I think we've got more to look forward to, than to dread!

[paddyl90]

Lost interest four lines into your post, TBH Filth.

Blah blah blah.

Shit happens. We will play some good footy, we will play some shit. Just sit back and enjoy the ride Filth, no one can be at the top forever! If I told you rd 22 last year we'd be in the 8 mid way thru 2011 I reckon you'd have taken it in a heartbeat!

Hirdy's first year was never going to be faultless, we've got a number of players who aren't pulling the weight, some spectacular first/second year players, some crap injuries, some dodgy umpiring... that's footy, old boy.

I think we've got more to look forward to, than to dread!

This!

Wow how some people around here drop off quickly! What did everyone expect this year? Most of us had us lucky to make the 8 and we have come out had a great pre-season and subsequent eight weeks of the regular season, sitting top 4 for most of it. A few bad losses and lets lay the boots in! Seriously improvement was all that we asked of the team this year...it doesn't necessarily mean winning all the time but improving players and the team game plan and being overall competitive is pretty much all you can ask for and I think we have got that this year. The Richmond & Melbourne games were opportunities lost, we played a poor third quarter in each and never got back in it despite late challenges. Is that an improvement? No in the sense we still can't beat teams that we should but yes in the fact in both games we dominated Inside 50s and clearances (Rich game) and never gave in despite the opposition piling on the pressure, that's different to years past so I'd say that's a minor improvement. The cons outweigh the pros from those losses no doubt and we can blame specific players, particular older players who have been around for ages who don't perform consistently, but if people look at the positives that have occurred this year to date we have demonstrated already we can play Top 4 team footy, we can win interstate again (Syd we played well but you know how that went but still played well and we'll see tomorrow as well) stuff that many of us thought we'd never do in years past. These are all little steps forward for the team. If people expect us to be able to sustain that form for the entire season with the list we had then they are kidding themselves. The season is halfway through at the moment in 2-4 weeks time we could be back on the charge for finals or slipping further and further down, but whatever the case may be remember this is the first year of a new coaching team and new game plan..things don't happen overnight. And if people wanna bring up the fact that the coaches keep playing NLM, Stanton, Welsh, Slattery, blah blah blah and we won't go anywhere with them...it's not for us to decide, we aren't internally involved with the team, we don't know what the coaches / players do and the roles that some players are expected to play. Let what will be take it's course...we can't change whatever is going to happen but just remember where we came from over the past few years and try and see the positives for once. I haven't even gone into Heppell, Hibberd and stuff. We have good kids too ... chuck in Hurley, Zaharakis, Howlett, Crameri, Bellchambers blah blah. You get the drift!

[Jazz_84]

simple weak hearted efforts in the past 2 weeks have been our only problem along with some forward line structure issues

put in and win those last 2 games and this thread would be sounding a whole lot different........

everything else can be dealt with

was at the game tonight and im thinking a good off-season in the gym will help us enormously in 2012

[nomolos]

Lost interest four lines into your post, TBH Filth.

Blah blah blah.

Shit happens. We will play some good footy, we will play some shit. Just sit back and enjoy the ride Filth, no one can be at the top forever! If I told you rd 22 last year we'd be in the 8 mid way thru 2011 I reckon you'd have taken it in a heartbeat!

Hirdy's first year was never going to be faultless, we've got a number of players who aren't pulling the weight, some spectacular first/second year players, some crap injuries, some dodgy umpiring... that's footy, old boy.

I think we've got more to look forward to, than to dread!

This!

Wow how some people around here drop off quickly! What did everyone expect this year? Most of us had us lucky to make the 8 and we have come out had a great pre-season and subsequent eight weeks of the regular season, sitting top 4 for most of it. A few bad losses and lets lay the boots in! Seriously improvement was all that we asked of the team this year...it doesn't necessarily mean winning all the time but improving players and the team game plan and being overall competitive is pretty much all you can ask for and I think we have got that this year. The Richmond & Melbourne games were opportunities lost, we played a poor third quarter in each and never got back in it despite late challenges. Is that an improvement? No in the sense we still can't beat teams that we should but yes in the fact in both games we dominated Inside 50s and clearances (Rich game) and never gave in despite the opposition piling on the pressure, that's different to years past so I'd say that's a minor improvement. The cons outweigh the pros from those losses no doubt and we can blame specific players, particular older players who have been around for ages who don't perform consistently, but if people look at the positives that have occurred this year to date we have demonstrated already we can play Top 4 team footy, we can win interstate again (Syd we played well but you know how that went but still played well and we'll see tomorrow as well) stuff that many of us thought we'd never do in years past. These are all little steps forward for the team. If people expect us to be able to sustain that form for the entire season with the list we had then they are kidding themselves. The season is halfway through at the moment in 2-4 weeks time we could be back on the charge for finals or slipping further and further down, but whatever the case may be remember this is the first year of a new coaching team and new game plan..things don't happen overnight. And if people wanna bring up the fact that the coaches keep playing NLM, Stanton, Welsh, Slattery, blah blah blah and we won't go anywhere with them...it's not for us to decide, we aren't internally involved with the team, we don't know what the coaches / players do and the roles that some players are expected to play. Let what will be take it's course...we can't change whatever is going to happen but just remember where we came from over the past few years and try and see the positives for once. I haven't even gone into Heppell, Hibberd and stuff. We have good kids too ... chuck in Hurley, Zaharakis, Howlett, Crameri, Bellchambers blah blah. You get the drift!

Holy paragraph batman

[j-mac31]

^^^

JP - LEARN TO USE PARAGRAPHS!!!

[Bomber_Fan]

...or next week we will drop out of 2011 Top 8 never to return because of:

- Weak, gutless performances by the usual suspects in the last 2 weeks, their only defense being injury to our only top shelf players; Ninthmond and the Skiiers playing their best games individually/teamwise in a century with ordinary personal.

- Where did we finish in 2010?...13th....being confronted with worse draw of any team in 2011 playing aginst all/most of the 2010 finalists twice.

- We will have travelled 3 times tomorrow. The Filth? Nada except to Arizona.

- Bad luck again with injury in the Scum game, followed by the Bears game including Hockings moronic act....almost want to sack him for that (but we won't) plus the ongoing sagas of Gumby, Pears, DD and so on ......talent wise in our best 22.

- From in the 80's having the best facilities to now the worst and having to wait 2 years to catch up.

- Hubris causing us to endure the oughties to eventually reacting positivelly especially off-field which will take years to yield a positive result.

- Stubborningly refusing to follow the leader of the leader...the Filth....and do what they do...altitude training etc.

- Players not playing for the jumper, what it means, the great honour they have been given, the opportunity it presents, virtually pissing on its history and those who have preceded them.

I look forward to the after season......the culling of at least 10 players.....the aggressive recruiting or at least attempt to....finding players who know and appreciate the great opportunity Essendon presents on and off the field and are prepared to grasp it and go for it 110%.

You have no idea how angry these weak pricks make me. The 70's were better.

Great post Filthy! I agree with almost everything you said apart from the fact that there is no way we will cull 10 players and that means we will continue to keep some ordinary players on the list. Tough decisions need to be made on all players such as Gumbleton. How much longer do we persist with him if he continues to be injured? I know it's not his fault but if he's not going to play, we should have someone on the list who will play. Everybody has seen the decline of EFC since our last premiership and everybody has been guilty of hoping it will turn around. Every year we see the same crap though. But when you maintain the status quo despite the evidence and all other teams around you continue to improve, EFC will continue to remain the laughing stock of the AFL.

This so called 'review' we had last year, I hope it wasn't solely to appease supporter anger by making Knights the sole scapegoat of our disastrous season. It is so much more than this! How about the board being a bunch of tight asses and cheap skates and going for the cheapest coaching panel possible? It's great we hired Hird and some senior coaching experience around to help him. But FFS I wonder if it was solely to prevent members from leaving in their droves - another bloody financial decision rather than based on the good of the on-field side of things. If the on-field side of things is going well, you can well damn bet that the off-field side of things will be good to. But where the hell was this support for Knights? Instead we let him drag EFC slowly into the quagmire. So why the hell did it take so long to change the direction this club was going? The development of players, for instance, is where we just seem to lag behind so many other teams that it borders on the ridiculous now. Watson is the only player who I can confidently say has improved over the last five years.

[bomberdonnie]

Lost interest four lines into your post, TBH Filth.

Blah blah blah.

Shit happens. We will play some good footy, we will play some shit. Just sit back and enjoy the ride Filth, no one can be at the top forever! If I told you rd 22 last year we'd be in the 8 mid way thru 2011 I reckon you'd have taken it in a heartbeat!

Hirdy's first year was never going to be faultless, we've got a number of players who aren't pulling the weight, some spectacular first/second year players, some crap injuries, some dodgy umpiring... that's footy, old boy.

I think we've got more to look forward to, than to dread!

You got 3 lines further than I

Good post too Megan

[filthy2]

I agree with almost everything you said apart from the fact that there is no way we will cull 10 players and that means we will continue to keep some ordinary players on the list. Tough decisions need to be made on all players such as Gumbleton. How much longer do we persist with him if he continues to be injured? I know it's not his fault but if he's not going to play, we should have someone on the list who will play. Everybody has seen the decline of EFC since our last premiership and everybody has been guilty of hoping it will turn around. Every year we see the same crap though. But when you maintain the status quo despite the evidence and all other teams around you continue to improve, EFC will continue to remain the laughing stock of the AFL.

This so called 'review' we had last year,

Thanks Bomber_Fan for your thoughts.

Re the review I seem to recall that Hirdy virtually said to the list...."Look you've got 2011 to show us if you want to be part of our future"......
other than Houli most accepted the challenge...

Win. lose or draw today, next Saturday (Norf running into form)...whenever.....the performances of the past 2 weeks will have had names drawn through them with a pencil as trade bait like the likes of Prismall (dropped after the Scum game when he took a few short ones in that vital last quarter refusing to get goal side as well; Reimers maybe after getting a touch...one touch...in a game of Footy against Ninthmond; the constantly injured as discussed; Dyson and a few others; dare I saw Alwyn who seems out of favour; the Gnome; Neagle etc etc

In a way the rest of 2011 is becoming irrelevant as it has confirmed most likely who will be traded and who will be kept.

On the positive side we have found a Heppell, a Hibberd, Alex Browne will be good, Steiny and Carlisle will be good (spoke to guy who works with Carlisle's Dad...the Dad is built like a brick shithouse...massively strong...the kid apparently is his Dad's clone at his age). 6-8 more in the next years,; better facilities; more experience for James and it becomes tasty after the weeding out of the non-performers when it matters.

[filthy2]

Told you so.

W.....A....P.....

Add Gus to that list.

The only way to go ahead sometimes....as Napoleon said....is to retreat...reinforce in strength.....fight the enemy on your ground (that was maybe Sun-Tze ) ...and then push forward.

This group is shit ( well 30% of it) and that pulls down the rest of the 70%.

[robbie67]

I dunno Filth, I thought we were unlucky to run into a Freo side playing the "best they have for a century".

[Windy_Hill]

Filth, I owe you an apology.

You were right on the money.

[s'dreams]

On the positive side we have found a Heppell, a Hibberd, Alex Browne will be good, Steiny and Carlisle will be good (spoke to guy who works with Carlisle's Dad...the Dad is built like a brick shithouse...massively strong...the kid apparently is his Dad's clone at his age). 6-8 more in the next years,; better facilities; more experience for James and it becomes tasty after the weeding out of the non-performers when it matters.

Heppell and Hibberd agree... Add to this Melksham, Hardingham and (if egos are managed) Bellchambers.

Browne - hard to tell from two sub on games... Steinberg - hardly cutting it up at VFL level. Carisle ditto.

[Jazz_84]

I dunno Filth, I thought we were unlucky to run into a Freo side playing the "best they have for a century".

Richmond played their best game in a century

Melbourne played their best game in a century...

maybe it's us making them look good

[Gimps]

...or next week we will drop out of 2011 Top 8 never to return because of:

- Weak, gutless performances by the usual suspects in the last 2 weeks, their only defense being injury to our only top shelf players; Ninthmond and the Skiiers playing their best games individually/teamwise in a century with ordinary personal.

- Where did we finish in 2010?...13th....being confronted with worse draw of any team in 2011 playing aginst all/most of the 2010 finalists twice.

- We will have travelled 3 times tomorrow. The Filth? Nada except to Arizona.

- Bad luck again with injury in the Scum game, followed by the Bears game including Hockings moronic act....almost want to sack him for that (but we won't) plus the ongoing sagas of Gumby, Pears, DD and so on ......talent wise in our best 22.

- From in the 80's having the best facilities to now the worst and having to wait 2 years to catch up.

- Hubris causing us to endure the oughties to eventually reacting positivelly especially off-field which will take years to yield a positive result.

- Stubborningly refusing to follow the leader of the leader...the Filth....and do what they do...altitude training etc.

- Players not playing for the jumper, what it means, the great honour they have been given, the opportunity it presents, virtually pissing on its history and those who have preceded them.

I look forward to the after season......the culling of at least 10 players.....the aggressive recruiting or at least attempt to....finding players who know and appreciate the great opportunity Essendon presents on and off the field and are prepared to grasp it and go for it 110%.

You have no idea how angry these weak pricks make me. The 70's were better.

Crikey, thought you would covered off the root of the problem with two words....

f*** QUINN!

[j-mac31]

On the positive side we have found a Heppell, a Hibberd, Alex Browne will be good, Steiny and Carlisle will be good (spoke to guy who works with Carlisle's Dad...the Dad is built like a brick shithouse...massively strong...the kid apparently is his Dad's clone at his age). 6-8 more in the next years,; better facilities; more experience for James and it becomes tasty after the weeding out of the non-performers when it matters.

Heppell and Hibberd agree... Add to this Melksham, Hardingham and (if egos are managed) Bellchambers.

Browne - hard to tell from two sub on games... Steinberg - hardly cutting it up at VFL level. Carisle ditto.

Carlisle looked good in the seniors last year. Steinberg has a lot of work to do, but looks alright for a young tall.

[robbie67]

I dunno Filth, I thought we were unlucky to run into a Freo side playing the "best they have for a century".

Richmond played their best game in a century

Melbourne played their best game in a century...

maybe it's us making them look good

That was my point. With my posts, you need to start with sarcasm and work backwards.

[filthy2]

...altitude training etc.

I've lost count how many times this has been explained on here, it wears off very very quickly.

From the horses mouth Rob.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sp ... 6073279181

Reckon we are not 2 years behind the Filth....try 10.