Why Essendon are in trouble

[boncer34]

Ha ha ha:

Jobe has the best hands in the AFL and would have to be in the top 5 for reading the game.

His endurance improved out of sight this year and he now runs out a game no problem.

He would already be one of the best in and under midfielders in the game and as soon as his kicking comes good he will be a top class midfielder in the league.

Wow. How blessed we are. A midfielder that can run out a game! Awesome.

Watson has got good hands, but so does just above every other midfielder in the business. It stands out more with Jobe 'cos his foot skills are ghastly and it's all he does when he gets the ball.

I'm not sure if you've noticed but the days of "in and under" midfielders have all but vanished. The midfields of all the final four teams this year are made up of fast, hard running, skillful players.

Even Misti, as good as servant as he was of the club, was getting dropped out of the side ten years ago when he was in his prime. He was simply too slow! The games has become a lot quicker since the mid-late 90s.

Misiti was getting dropped in '96? Wow wish I had as good a memory as you.

[bombercol]

Jobe Watson in my opinion has been a revelation and I applaud him for his hard work, initiative and his stellar season.

Fully deserved to poll so high in the B&F.

Watson has starred in clearances, OK his kicking wasn't great but he's still got plenty of time to fix that.

Watson has shown he can get the hard ball, get clearances, feed our other midfielders, has endurance etc.

We need boys like him that will go in an get the ball.

See him next year doing the same, feeding the likes of Dyson, Monfries, a fit Campo, Johnson and co., I think we are moving forward not in trouble.

[Jazz_84]

hope to god he polls even 1 or 2 votes

[bueller]

Can't agree with you there Gringo.

Jobe has had a stellar season and deserves praise for his performance not critisism.

He is the one genuine in and under player in our side who would be in the top 15-20 for possessions in the league.

We need players who can get their hands on it and he knows how to do that. His endurance is also exceptional.

[hop]

Son of a Legend with 3 B & F's - Jobe is well on the way to achieve what his father did.

EFC is a long way from matching it with the best however to say that Jobe would not make the mid-field of any of the top 8 sides is utter rubbish.

[gringo]

What gear are you on Hop? Dick Reynolds is arguable the best player Essendon have seen. Doesn't mean other Reynolds are going to be good footballers. Look at Joel, he's probably the worse player on an AFL list at the moment (before Paul Chambers buggered off anyway).

Mark my words - Jobe will not pole any Brownlow votes.

Also, the names he has been compared to by other postings, i.e. Judd, Kerr, Bell, Cook, West etc, just makes me laugh. I'd take any of the players listed with one arm tied behind their back over Watson.

There is a reason that Essendon are junk at the moment. Having slow players with limited kicking skills running around the midfield (i.e. Watson, Soloman, JJ) is one of the key ones.

[swoodley]

What gear are you on Hop? Dick Reynolds is arguable the best player Essendon have seen. Doesn't mean other Reynolds are going to be good footballers. Look at Joel, he's probably the worse player on an AFL list at the moment (before Paul Chambers buggered off anyway).

Mark my words - Jobe will not pole any Brownlow votes.

Also, the names he has been compared to by other postings, i.e. Judd, Kerr, Bell, Cook, West etc, just makes me laugh. I'd take any of the players listed with one arm tied behind their back over Watson.
There is a reason that Essendon are junk at the moment. Having slow players with limited kicking skills running around the midfield (i.e. Watson, Soloman, JJ) is one of the key ones.

You may take any of them but you originally spoke about the fast, hard running skillful midfields of the top four teams.

You still haven't answered my question regarding which of the fremantle midfielders (cook, carr and bell) could be called fast (imo - none of them) and Jobe's kicking is at least the equal of cook's if not better.

[DazMan32]

What gear are you on Hop? Dick Reynolds is arguable the best player Essendon have seen. Doesn't mean other Reynolds are going to be good footballers. Look at Joel, he's probably the worse player on an AFL list at the moment (before Paul Chambers buggered off anyway).

Mark my words - Jobe will not pole any Brownlow votes.

Also, the names he has been compared to by other postings, i.e. Judd, Kerr, Bell, Cook, West etc, just makes me laugh. I'd take any of the players listed with one arm tied behind their back over Watson.

There is a reason that Essendon are junk at the moment. Having slow players with limited kicking skills running around the midfield (i.e. Watson, Soloman, JJ) is one of the key ones.

Are you serious, you would have Cook ahead of Watson. No way!!!

And mark my words, jobe will pole brownlow votes.

[Sol]

Gringo you are deluded mate!

I agree our midfield is crap because we have too many in and under slow players but I think having a couple of good ones to get the ball out to your flashy running midfielders is essential.

For mine, Jobe is no.1 clearance man and allong with JJ who hopefully is back to his best will make the nucleous of our midfield. Pev is another who at his best is a valuable in and under tagging type who can be played off the bench rotating with the above.

Undeniably we need some quick skillful carriers to compliment the hard work of the above players. Guys like Monfries, Dyson, Winderlich, Lovett, Dempsey and Nash need to improve and grasp the remaining roles.

Our problem is to date they havn't consistantly stepped up, and guys like MJ, Soloman and McVeigh and even Hird, who are also not blessed with loads of pace have been playing midfield roles. Sure these guys are more than capable, but if they make up the entire midfield then of course our midfield looks slow.

MJ, Soloman and Mc Veigh need to play in defence with MJ and McVeigh occasionally rotating through midfield to replace JJ and Jobe but not must be included in the midfield with JJ and Jobe, same with Hird except he should spend most of his time forward.

It's all about balance. The running game is a popular brand ATM but thats mostly because of a lack of successful Key Position players in recent years. And lets not forget the GF winner and GF contender this year in sydney is'nt the quickest team going round either and by the way they have a medium pace, tall and not highly skilled player called adam Goods in the midfield in contention for his second brownlow.

I dont think we are in any more trouble than any other team in a rebuilding phase, its all about the developing our young up and coming group into their roles and I feel in Watson we have definately filled one of those roles for the next 7-10 years.

[mrredfox]

What gear are you on Hop? Dick Reynolds is arguable the best player Essendon have seen. Doesn't mean other Reynolds are going to be good footballers. Look at Joel, he's probably the worse player on an AFL list at the moment (before Paul Chambers buggered off anyway).

Mark my words - Jobe will not pole any Brownlow votes.

Also, the names he has been compared to by other postings, i.e. Judd, Kerr, Bell, Cook, West etc, just makes me laugh. I'd take any of the players listed with one arm tied behind their back over Watson.

There is a reason that Essendon are junk at the moment. Having slow players with limited kicking skills running around the midfield (i.e. Watson, Soloman, JJ) is one of the key ones.

gee gringo 4 posts and all you have done is bag watson even the olf BF was no different. Is Watson shaggn your ex or something. If you are dead set that Jobe is useless to the EFC then i suggest you go buy a Carlton membership because Jobe is here to stay and he will continue to improve and continue to be an important part of our midfield.

[robrulz5]

BUMP!

How does everyone think Jobe is travelling now? Most of us had a lot of faith in him back in 2006 and he has improved every year.

[rockhole]

Started reading this from the first post without looking at the dates and thought "What the Fluck is Grigo on now".

[bomberdonnie]

Wow got this one wrong Gringo

Who the flying f*** is Paul Chambers?

[Gimps]

Wow got this one wrong Gringo

Who the flying f*** is Paul Chambers?

There is no way Paul Chambers was the worst player in the AFL.

[jimmyc1985]

Well i guess Gringo was right in saying that we had a number of dark years ahead of us at the end of 2006, although blind freddy could see that was the case.

Interestingly enough, i had a number of supporters from other clubs come up to me over the most recent off-season and point to Heath Hocking finishing 2nd in last year's B&F as proof of how bad a team we are. They look really bloody stupid now that Hocking is quickly becoming one of the best shut-down players in the competition with the potential to hurt the opposition going the other way - his career progression reminds me quite a bit of Cameron Ling's.

[Madden]

WTF is the point of bringing this thread up after nearly 5 years?

What Gringo said back then was pretty much correct. The fact that Watson (2006 vintage) was one of our best mid-fielders did say a lot about us as a team. Watson wasn't much of a player back then (developing sure, but still), and we were an average team. Watson is now a great player (and has been for a few years, but plainly nobody would dispute that.

[gringo]

Ha, interesting read. From memory Jobe didn't poll any Brownlow votes in 2006?

Absolute credit to the bloke that he's put in the hard work and now finds himself an elite player in a promising team. His work up forwards this season has been exceptional in addition to his bullocking work in the midfield. He's a fun player to watch.

[robrulz5]

Ha, interesting read.

Exact reason why I brought it back up while going through the archives!

[bomberdonnie]

Ha, interesting read. From memory Jobe didn't poll any Brownlow votes in 2006?

Absolute credit to the bloke that he's put in the hard work and now finds himself an elite player in a promising team. His work up forwards this season has been exceptional in addition to his bullocking work in the midfield. He's a fun player to watch.

You are much more fun when we are going shit

[Megan]

Started reading this from the first post without looking at the dates and thought "What the Fluck is Grigo on now".

Same. Got about four posts in thinking WTF???? before I thought to check the date.