Bombertalk

I left my seat on level 3 to be down near the players race when the game finished. Just wanted to see what happened and get a feel for the reaction.

Was as expected from most around where I was standing. A large boo and lots of yelling at Knights as he approached the area first, then plenty for the team as a whole.

Unfortunately didn't get a good look towards the end, but Ryder clearly said something or gestured towards the 4 or 5 guys in front of me, because they went from general booing to going off their nut at Ryder specifically.
Will keep an eye on the TV tomorrow for anything.

Interesting. Would have been the most fight Paddy had shown all night.

hey did you happen to hear what was said towards Knights?

this could get very very ugly for the club, if Paddy is getting harassed and he is giving it back to the crowd then who would want to play for this club?

Paddy Ryder is in many ways symbolic of what has happened to this team. His best few games for us have been our best games as a team - Anzac Day, vs St Kilda last year, etc.
But he has turned into one of our worst footballers in the last month. If you didn't know what he was capable of, and just turned up last night, you'd say he was the worst footballer since ... I dunno, Judd Lalich.

Jazz_84 wrote:hey did you happen to hear what was said towards Knights?

this could get very very ugly for the club, if Paddy is getting harassed and he is giving it back to the crowd then who would want to play for this club?

Hmmm ... smart alec answer comes to mind - "you mean they're playing for the club now?"

sti

Our supporters and i think many inhabiting this forum have very little right to talk the moral high ground when it comes to opposition supporters any more.

There was also a pic of Spike in todays Hun apparantly mouthing off at the crowd...what was that all about?...apart from the obvious I mean

nomolos wrote:Our supporters and i think many inhabiting this forum have very little right to talk the moral high ground when it comes to opposition supporters any more.

Yep. Never been more embarrassed by our own rabble than last night. And I'm not talking about the players...

Look, I agree that there is no point in abusing the players. Its a low and cowardly act to yell abuse from behind the safety of the boundary line fence.

A little venting on here however is surely ok.

I feel for the the players as I am sure they are equally frustrated and embarassed. They are also human and must be acutley aware that they are not performing to expectation. There is no worse feeling than leaving to go home from the office at the end of the day knowing that your boss thinks you suck. Imagine how these guys must be feeling.

However, this is again where the coach has to step in and provide leadership and motivaiton. To support his players and ensure that they can weather this storm. My fear is that Knights simply doesnt know how ot do this. leadership cant be taught from text books and I reckon half of what Knighta spurts out comes straight from self help books.

Yes, the players are gonna cop a spray, thats the nature of the game I am afraid. But its the club and its leaders who now need to take control and DO SOMETHING

Windy_Hill wrote:Look, I agree that there is no point in abusing the players. Its a low and cowardly act to yell abuse from behind the safety of the boundary line fence.

A little venting on here however is surely ok.

I feel for the the players as I am sure they are equally frustrated and embarassed. They are also human and must be acutley aware that they are not performing to expectation. There is no worse feeling than leaving to go hime from the office at the end of the day knowing that your boss thinks you suck. Imagine how these guys must be feeling.

However, this is again where the coach has to step in and provide leadership and motivaiton. To support his players and ensure that they can weather this storm. My fear is that Knights simply doesnt know how ot do this. leadership cant be taught from text books and I reckon half of what Knighta spurts out comes straight from self help books.

Yes, the players are gonna cop a spray, thats the nature of the game I am afraid. But its the club and its leaders who now need to take control and DO SOMETHING

That's all good and well. I'm not against venting Windy. I'm as peeved as anyone. But verbally abusing your own players is as low as you go. I'd suggest if any supporters on here took part in the abuse they need their heads checked. What did you achieve? I'd argue pretty much nothing apart from tarnishing the reputation of the club...

You talk about leaders and the club taking control Windy which is fair enough. But the supporters need to start doing the same. I don't think your average Essendon supporter has any idea of what's actually happening at the club. Most of them wouldn't know their arse from their elbow... But of course they think they do. Quite the dilemma really...

Doctor Fish - what did you actually witness at the game that has led you to this opinion?

Not saying you're right or wrong, just interesting the difference in opinion on the forum - a few others on here who have said they were frustrated by the lack of reaction from the crowd.

Doctor Fish wrote:

nomolos wrote:Our supporters and i think many inhabiting this forum have very little right to talk the moral high ground when it comes to opposition supporters any more.

Yep. Never been more embarrassed by our own rabble than last night. And I'm not talking about the players...

What you guys said.

Richmond = eating their own.

Essendon = looking like becoming the new Richmond.

Again, I just don't quite get what you guys are talking about.
From everything I saw the reception the team received at the ground seemed really quite mild to me,
Yeah, there are some angry people in here, but I don't think it has really got that personal...some people just really really dont rate some players.
Confused

Megan wrote:

Doctor Fish wrote:

nomolos wrote:Our supporters and i think many inhabiting this forum have very little right to talk the moral high ground when it comes to opposition supporters any more.

Yep. Never been more embarrassed by our own rabble than last night. And I'm not talking about the players...

What you guys said.

Richmond = eating their own.

Essendon = looking like becoming the new Richmond.

Yeah we are, but it is not just in the case of the supporters.

And Dr Fish, if you think the supporters are tarnishing the reputation of the club, maybe you should watch some of the games our players dish up.

pevfan wrote:There was also a pic of Spike in todays Hun apparantly mouthing off at the crowd...what was that all about?...apart from the obvious I mean

I yelled at Spike at one stage after he kicked in the a 1 on 3 contest that resulted in the ball being thumped of the boundary line...

"Spike ... Have a good look and choose a better option that that"

Speaking of abuse, our guys were so shit this week there was no time to or point in abusing Scott McLaren.

j-mac31 wrote:Speaking of abuse, our guys were so shit this week there was no time to or point in abusing Scott McLaren.

You know it's a sad f****** state of affairs when THAT happens.

Shit like this is why Salmon left.

j-mac31 wrote:Speaking of abuse, our guys were so shit this week there was no time to or point in abusing Scott McLaren.

Good call

Sismis wrote:Shit like this is why Salmon left.

Groan. The effect of some feral supporters on Paul Salmon leaving is massively overstated and a convenient revision of history.

In reality, he left to Hawthorn for a few reasons:
1) He wanted to play in the ruck, Sheedy wanted to use him mainly as a forward.
2) He barracked for Hawthorn as a kid and had a long-held desire to play there at some stage in his career.
3) And yes, a small part of the reason was because he was copping flak from Essendon supporters at the time.

He can't have hated Essendon that much seeing as he came back to play for us after his first 'retirement' (he was enticed to come back to help out in the ruck division, which leads me to think that reason (1) was the main reason why he initially left Essendon).