The Hillchaser plan for onfield success.

[hillchaser]

Not that anyone cares but after going to the game on Saturday I've devised a plan for moving forward.

1. Firstly .. I've went to my first EFC game against Fitzoy in 1981 so my Essendon supporting career has spanned the whole of Sheedy's coaching career and this is the first time I have ever thought that he is past it. Sheeds has to go. All the reasons are covered in Filthy's post.

2. Hirdy's time is over. It was painful watching him play on Saturday.. I don't expect him to win the game for us but the writing is on the wall and it's time for these new guys to get a chance.

3. In line with point 1 and 2 Hird should retire immediately to sit in the coaches box for the remainder of the season. At which point he becomes the fulltime EFC coach.

4. Our absolute crapness in the ruck is embodied in Jason Laycock. All we need is a ruckman who will at least compete and break even. Laycock must fake an injury so that McKinnon can come on to the senior list. Laycock to retire and work at the state library.

5. Yes we have some speed in our team but most of that is in the forward section of the ground. We can't have a midfield of Watson, Hird, Jason Johnson and PEV. They are all valuable in their own right but collectively we are too slow. Only two of these guys can stay. I vote for Watson and Pev. Watson will look much better when surround players with a bit of speed.

6. Midfield weakness. Our hard players are slow and our fast players are soft. This is not the case with the really good teams. Our fast players Dyson, Stanton, Winderlich, Lovett all put together don't have the hardness of Hird or MJ...These guys really need to put their bodies on the line and win some hard ball when things aren't going our way. Stanton is showing a lot and Winderlich is working his tail off but we are getting smoked in this area every week. Lovett would be great in a team like WC or Port but he's a down hill skier.

7. The following players need to be sacrified for the good of the team.

MJ - Really love him as a player but the game has changed too much.
Dyson - Not up to it, Had a few glimpses but as a package he's not up to AFL standard
Heff - Filling a role and not doing bad but a young guy like Bacha could be playing on the wing and really getting some game time.

[andrewb]

We're 3-3 and out of the eight on percentage.

This time last season we were 1-5.

Let's wait until we at least have a losing record before we start writing obituaries.

Improvement this season has to come from Ryder (tick), Winderlich (tick), Lloyd (tick), Michael (tick), Mcphee (tick), Monfries (cross), Laycock (cross), Lovett (cross), Bradley (cross). Don't expect the first year players (Davey an exception at 23) to have much impact.

The only time we looked like matching Hawthorn for midfield clearances on Saturday was when JJ and Watson were in there together. It wasn't midfield pace that killed us, it was indecision and a lack of targets coming out of half back.

[tom9779]

Not that anyone cares but after going to the game on Saturday I've devised a plan for moving forward.

1. Firstly .. I've went to my first EFC game against Fitzoy in 1981 so my Essendon supporting career has spanned the whole of Sheedy's coaching career and this is the first time I have ever thought that he is past it. Sheeds has to go. All the reasons are covered in Filthy's post.

2. Hirdy's time is over. It was painful watching him play on Saturday.. I don't expect him to win the game for us but the writing is on the wall and it's time for these new guys to get a chance.

3. In line with point 1 and 2 Hird should retire immediately to sit in the coaches box for the remainder of the season. At which point he becomes the fulltime EFC coach.

4. Our absolute crapness in the ruck is embodied in Jason Laycock. All we need is a ruckman who will at least compete and break even. Laycock must fake an injury so that McKinnon can come on to the senior list. Laycock to retire and work at the state library.

5. Yes we have some speed in our team but most of that is in the forward section of the ground. We can't have a midfield of Watson, Hird, Jason Johnson and PEV. They are all valuable in their own right but collectively we are too slow. Only two of these guys can stay. I vote for Watson and Pev. Watson will look much better when surround players with a bit of speed.

6. Midfield weakness. Our hard players are slow and our fast players are soft. This is not the case with the really good teams. Our fast players Dyson, Stanton, Winderlich, Lovett all put together don't have the hardness of Hird or MJ...These guys really need to put their bodies on the line and win some hard ball when things aren't going our way. Stanton is showing a lot and Winderlich is working his tail off but we are getting smoked in this area every week. Lovett would be great in a team like WC or Port but he's a down hill skier.

7. The following players need to be sacrified for the good of the team.

MJ - Really love him as a player but the game has changed too much.
Dyson - Not up to it, Had a few glimpses but as a package he's not up to AFL standard
Heff - Filling a role and not doing bad but a young guy like Bacha could be playing on the wing and really getting some game time.

Mate, think your overly harsh on Laycock.....dominated in the first 15 minutes of the first quarter then faded....the guy doesn't lack skill, just match fitness.

we also had a bad game on saturday against an pretty damn good team.

[Essendon4eva]

I don' think he should retire right now. I think he should be playing on the Half Foward Flank or in the pocket. We did a rotation with Hird and Watson. Put Hird in the 50 and rotate Watson with J Johnson.

[gringo]

Midfield weakness. Our hard players are slow and our fast players are soft. This is not the case with the really good teams. Our fast players Dyson, Stanton, Winderlich, Lovett all put together don't have the hardness of Hird or MJ...These guys really need to put their bodies on the line and win some hard ball when things aren't going our way. Stanton is showing a lot and Winderlich is working his tail off but we are getting smoked in this area every week. Lovett would be great in a team like WC or Port but he's a down hill skier.

Considering that Davey is roughly the same size as a pint of beer, it makes the softness of Lovett, Stanton, Dyson and Winderlich all the more unacceptable. I'd happily play that lot in the twos next week until they learn to chase, tackle and put their head over the ball...Davey's attitude is awesome. He's 24, made it the hard way, and it shows. Atta boy.

[Windy_Hill]

Hird to retire immediately?

Well I guess its more likely than the author of this post having a brain.

[boncer34]

Read the first 3 points and pretty much think Windy summed it up nicely.

[Gyoza]

3. In line with point 1 and 2 Hird should retire immediately to sit in the coaches box for the remainder of the season. At which point he becomes the fulltime EFC coach.

My understandng is that Hirdy has always said he is very very unlikely to be involved in coaching and is more likely to follow up on his business interests.

4. Our absolute crapness in the ruck is embodied in Jason Laycock. All we need is a ruckman who will at least compete and break even. Laycock must fake an injury so that McKinnon can come on to the senior list. Laycock to retire and work at the state library.

-sigh- People`s memories are so short sometimes...the guy is struggling to keep going for the whole game, but he`s been injured and is being asked to do much more than he is ready to. Think back to the couple of games he played before his injuries...he was looking pretty nice. Give him a go.

[robrulz5]

This should be in the 'not so serious stuff.'

[bomberdonnie]

This should be in the 'not so serious stuff.'

It should be deleted

[robrulz5]

This should be in the 'not so serious stuff.'

It should be deleted

Even better.