This Team Is A Disgrace......

[The Don]

When you lose to a crap side like Richmond, there is no other way to describe the current Essendon list but an utter disgrace. There is no pride, there is no spirit, there is no resistance. It seems putting an insipid bunch of wimps out there as we currently are is nothing but a waste of everybody's time and money.

Based on the rubbish being served up at the moment, Essendon should be refunding membership money and cutting match payments. These blokes are not worth the admittance charges, we would be better off going to watch Pev and JJ at Bendigo for FREE!.

Sorry people, 2008 is well and truly over for the Essendon Football Club. At this stage unfortunately not even the hasty demise of Laycock would make any difference or improve my outlook. This list is rubbish and unfortunately our only choice is to de-list because quite frankly there is very little worth trading.

I have in the last 2 years tried to maintain the faith but tonight has made evident the blatant truth. Losing to a crap side in BS at the G demonstrates that I am a Gullible soft touch. Like many, I believed the spin but I have wasted my membership money based on a falsehood. This captain lacks leadership and passion, this coach lacks vision and a viable game plan. This team lacks a soul and has no drive to succeed. Quite simply this team and these players will not win a flag.

We are entering a dark period not unlike the 1970's, priority picks may be the only benefit from another crap year.

I am shattered and embarrassed to support this club tonight. Where is MY Essendon Football Club, the one that I know and love, the club that produced Legends like Coleman and Reynolds, Daniher and Madden, Hird and Wallis. These blokes are merely a shadow, a shell of the great club that was known, feared and respected by all. A loss to Richmond, the perenial losers of the last 20 years means that things cant get much worse. Essendon Footballl Club S..ks

[Splodge]

Agree with everything written.

We have no right to win every game, but the crap that us supporters are being served up right now is shameful. We at least dseserve to see EVERYONE wearing the Red and Black to play with passion and commitment and know that we may have lost but we gave it everything in attempting to win.

When listening to it over the radio I can count on the fingers of 1 hand every week the amount of players who it seems are actually trying their hardest.

Sorry I don't agree with Knights when he said by getting a few hidings it'll make the players stronger in the long term.

If you are getting stuffed every week, what little confidence you have left as a player is easily shot away and you get stuffed the week after.

After playing for a team in the BARFL where we didnt win a game for 3 seasons and considered anything below a 100pt loss as a victory, I speak from personal experience.

As for winning the flag in 2010, that is truly laughable.

I've been an Essendon supporter ever since I first saw footy on TV over here in 1983 and I am proud to be one, but it's getting so so hard this season to get the enthusiasm every week to wake up in the early hours of a Saturday or Sunday morning to listen to the game over the internet. I gave up at 1/4 time today.

For the rest of this season, I dont care if we didnt win another game if I knew that each and every player had tried their guts out for all four quarters but it wasnt enough.

[stryper]

Geez what more do you Guys want for a FREE membership through RED

[sconsey]

I'm disappointed aswell. Every game this season I have watched every minute of the game. Last night was the last straw. Couldn't stand to watch this heartless team anymore. As mentioned there were only a handful of players that truly dug deep.

I agree with nearly everything you said Don, apart from when you said the Captain lacks leadership and passion. Yeh, he doesn't influence the game like Sir James use to, but he does try his hardest. Last night he was throwing his body around every chance he got to, just didn't have enough chances!

With as much as people like bashing Stanton on here, i truly believe he has found a heart over the last few weeks. Countless times he is on the bottom of the packs, or trying to tackle. He did have a few turn overs last night, but who wouldn't? The god damn team was flat footed. My Gf watched AFL for the 1st time last night. I don't think I could have showed her a worse game! She even commented on the relative ease that Essendon got thrown aside, and the lack of movement our players provided. That says something.

Until now I have kept faith in this Essendon side, though after last nights performance, it diminished greatly. As mentioned, I couldn't care if we got beaten week in, week out, though a performance for 4 quarters would be much appreciated. Show some spirit, show some courage, get some F****** mongrel about you's! Run through someone, knock them the f*** out, stand up for yourself, and your team mates and where this great sash with pride. We don't need a team of superstars, we just need a team that bleeds RED and BLACK!

[MH_Bomber]

I was in real fear that they were going to get booed off at half time. This has happened before under Barry Davis and cans were thrown at Windy Hill.

I must admit that it was the worst performance from a Bomber, or possibly any team, I have ever seen in the 1st half.

How do we fix it ?

1) Throw out "GAME F-ING PLAN". All this has done is unskill the players. Teaching them to be unaccountable has untaught them how to play football properly.

2) Go back to basics - MAN on MAN. Create a contest with your opponent. Your job is to beat your opponent. We might get beaten BUT we must make a contest.

3) if your teammate needs help then help HIM.

4) The Shirt front needs reintroduction pronto.

5) Everyday this week training should be tackling drill and relearn how to make them stick. Jetta executed a great tackle in the third qtr when were making amends to some extent and that is the level I expect the Bombers to tackle at.

[Rossoneri]

I was in real fear that they were going to get booed off at half time. This has happened before under Barry Davis and cans were thrown at Windy Hill.

I was thinking of doing other things at half time.

They are nothing but a pathetic losers of a joke. No heart, no skill, no spine, no stratergy, no commitment, nothing at all.

Just a dead set pathetic excuse for a football team.

[hop]

Throughout the entire game we had 3 or 4 blokes running through the centre square waiting/hoping for a cheap hand-off. The problem was their opponents were out wide receiving easy uncontested marks and hand-balls. When there was a contest in or around the centre - our blokes were either brushed off, fell over or gave the ball back. The most disgraceful uncommitted performance i think I have every witnessed by the team in Red and Black.

I was at Windy hill in 1980 when Barry Davis got booed. It as due to his stubborn insistence that Paul Van Der Haar stayed on the bench while we were getting flogged. The upside was there were bugger all there to see it and he was gone at season's end (Barry Davis that is).

Last night 60,000 at the ground and many more on T.V.

We have been a laughing stock for the past 4 weeks and we will continue to be so until we grow a back bone.

[rednblack]

Sitting at the game and having the crowd around you ( mostly essendon supporters) laugh at our play was the true indication of just how pathetic we are. It was too obsurd to even get angry about there was a sense of enevability of a very, very bleak future. The cheer that followed a kick after a series of handballs a true indication that the crowd dont like our current game plan. I also feel the coach doesnt have the players support.
I must admit i have done a full 360 and think the club must remove Knights from coach before the damage is irreversable.
Put Garry caretaker and look for a coach with a proven record.

[tom9779]

fair weather fans.

the team has been shit house for the last 3-4 years, this is why sheedy was sacked.

Its going to take a while for anyone to rebuild the club.

We have the best under 20 year olds and the best over 30 year olds and the rest(give one or two exceptions) are complete garbage.

Give it 3-4 years and the bombers will be ok, maybe sooner...our younguns are actually pretty damn good I think.

Its been a long time coming eh....glossing over the reality thanks to recruiting ageing stars to beat other up and coming teams to improve the win loss ledger can only last so long.

Suck it up, look for positives and stick with the team. otherwise go 'barrack' for a club like Sydney.

[pear]

I am shattered and embarrassed to support this club tonight. Where is MY Essendon Football Club, the one that I know and love, the club that produced Legends like Coleman and Reynolds, Daniher and Madden, Hird and Wallis. These blokes are merely a shadow, a shell of the great club that was known, feared and respected by all.

I agree 100% with your sentiment Don, but having Wallis mentioned in the same breath as the other five all time champions of the club is a bit much to take...

[Boyler_Room]

I am shattered and embarrassed to support this club tonight. Where is MY Essendon Football Club, the one that I know and love, the club that produced Legends like Coleman and Reynolds, Daniher and Madden, Hird and Wallis. These blokes are merely a shadow, a shell of the great club that was known, feared and respected by all.

I agree 100% with your sentiment Don, but having Wallis mentioned in the same breath as the other five all time champions of the club is a bit much to take...

I was thinking the same thing

[MH_Bomber]

When we got done by Adelaide by 139 points I still thought the Bomber players COULD play football.

People's despair is not a reflection of them being fair weather supporters, its a reflection of Essendon supporters that have never seen a Bomber side SO uncompetitive its a disgrace that they are donning the same guernsey as the likes of not only John Coleman, King Richard, Tim Watson, Simon Madden, Terry Daniher, James Hird, Michael Long and hundreds of previous champions but the good but not great players that always did their best playing for Essendon. We have never ever seen such a rabble - its Un Essendon like and IT MUST BE STOPPED or the fabric of the club will be torn apart.

Last night's first half was so abyssmal that, and I hate to say this, drastic measures might need to be taken. There was a funny look about them when they came out. Knights seemed to crack it with them when they werent lining up for the pre match presentation. Its like the players and coach were not one.

My one hope is whatever happened at half time to snap them out of their malaise is a permanent one.

As I have said elsewhere I dont mind losing as long as we are competitive and have a red hot go.

[CameronClayton]

fair weather fans.

the team has been shit house for the last 3-4 years, this is why sheedy was sacked.

Its going to take a while for anyone to rebuild the club.

We have the best under 20 year olds and the best over 30 year olds and the rest(give one or two exceptions) are complete garbage.

Give it 3-4 years and the bombers will be ok, maybe sooner...our younguns are actually pretty damn good I think.

Its been a long time coming eh....glossing over the reality thanks to recruiting ageing stars to beat other up and coming teams to improve the win loss ledger can only last so long.

Suck it up, look for positives and stick with the team. otherwise go 'barrack' for a club like Sydney.

Well said Tom.

Yes we are playing shit, but the worst culprits are what should be our main core of the leadership group - McPhee, NLM, Welsh, Lovett (Hille & McVeigh excused).

I watched the Melb/Dawks game today thinking that the Dees must be playing a similar amount of young blokes as us. No where near it, in fact they might only be playing 3 or 4 with less than 20 games. We are easily playing over 10 players with less than 20 games & most of them are in the midfield, where the game is won & lost.

Knights has put the cue in the rack (by stating JJ & Pev are gawn) for the year & is doing what Bomber Thompson did 8 years ago (& Billy Stephen did in 1977) & that is play young blokes regardless of the form of the older players. I also reckon that Knights has now had a good look some of our senior players mentioned above, realised a flag is out of the question by 2010, & is now building a team of 18-20 yo blokes to play together, so that we will be gunning for back-to-backs in 2014 & 2015.

We are not doing a Hawthorn, cause Clarkson still played his senior blokes if they were in form & blended them with the younger blokes (as Sheedy did, & as Williams & Matthews did before him).

Knights has done a very gutsy move, which will probably mean he will lose his job at the end of 2010, but the next coach that steps in will be singing his praises when we do the B2B, just like Sheeds did with Billy Stephens after 1984/85. Knights could have gone the easy, soft option of playing blokes like JJ & Pev, & no doubt we would have been more competitive this year & not been flogged like we have (& maybe we might have snuck in another win or 2), but in the grand scheme of things it would have made f*** all difference, cause there is no way known we are a top 4 team, & if you're not top 4, don't bother.

[bpdons]

I agree that the team is a disgrace at the moment, so much so that i am finding it hard to enjoy watching games anymore.
However i found a way to enjoy the game last night. I put on a bet with a friend of mine (which i did lose) that we'd lose by 100+ points. So every time Richmond kicked a goal i was happy, everytime Essendon made a mistake I just giggled.
Turns out that we didn't lose by 100 and i was happy anyway because i laughed lots.

I have lost the passion to really give a crap when the style of game is so awful, and our team find new ways to make fundamental mistakes. At least i'm happy to have found a way to get through this painful time.
I'm hoping to make my money back with Adelaide next week 100+.

[bpdons]

Don, i think that this team is not as big as a digrace as the team that played against Richmond in Round 21 last year. Richmond being on the bottom happily tanking their season away, our players played for the greatest player i've ever seen "James Hird" in his final match infront of about 70,000. The effort that night was the most disgraceful and disrespectful as i've ever seen. I think the future of our heart and endeavor of our players was shown that night.

[Stocksy]

fair weather fans.

the team has been shit house for the last 3-4 years, this is why sheedy was sacked.

Its going to take a while for anyone to rebuild the club.

We have the best under 20 year olds and the best over 30 year olds and the rest(give one or two exceptions) are complete garbage.

Give it 3-4 years and the bombers will be ok, maybe sooner...our younguns are actually pretty damn good I think.

Its been a long time coming eh....glossing over the reality thanks to recruiting ageing stars to beat other up and coming teams to improve the win loss ledger can only last so long.

Suck it up, look for positives and stick with the team. otherwise go 'barrack' for a club like Sydney.

Juswt got back from golf and the bar only to find Tom was sitting 3/4 pissed just next door. best undre 20 year olds in the leaugue. Give me a break. One thing to try and find positives its another to come out with this shit! Name them, name the BEST. Your right though chief, lets not vent, instead we will all move onto a different club, hey at least Sydney is different from the usual quote of Richmond.

Thought the 20 year old quo=te was a ripper, then I read we also have the best 30 year olds as well, ha fock me drunk who? Where. Bring me another Jager Bomb Barman... Tommy old son if we are a finals side in 4 years time i will venture to the big V drop my sides and lap the MCG with my Jacks and coke...

[grassy1]

I BLEW A GASKET on FOOTYGOSS and had a MIGHTY CRACK at just about everyone indoors.

I've cooled down now and think the club needs an EMERGENCY MEETING of COACHES,PLAYERS,DIRECTORS(Except you Ray)and really knuckle down to the task of not just improving,but winning games and restoring some BADLY LOST PRIDE.