Top Five Essendon Moments - 2011

[Windy_Hill]

1) The hearalding of the Hird Era in round one with a resounding win over the Dogs followed by everyone wearing their Hirdy mask. The great man got a standing ovation as he walked out onto the ground after the siren. Yep, we were all getting ahead of ourselves but after the Dark Ages of Matthew Knights, who will ever forget that warm Autumn day at Etihad

2) Cracking 50,000 members and therefore paying for the Knightmare's termination payout - priceless

3) Beating Geelong at the MCG despite injuries and form issues. The Melksham goal after a series of handballs around the forward 50 coundary line was the moment we will always remember.

4) Hocking's Screamer vs Richmond - just a classic mark from the most unlikely source

5) The Adelaide comeback lead by Gus Monfries of all people

[BenDoolan]

1) Dyson Heppell - the way he played week in and week out + Rising Star Award

2) Stewart Crameri - his emergence as a constructive forward

3) Win against Geelong (after so many years of beltings)

4) Win against Swans after Goodes missed after the siren

5) Comeback victory over Adelaide in Adelaide

[Ossie]

1. Round One vs the Bulldogs, Hirdy getting a standing ovation at quarter time, half time, three quarter time ... And my cousin picking Heppell before the bounce as 'his man' this year.
2. Doing Geelong, but not being there - I was running a trivia night for the Call to Arms campaign and getting score updates from mates on their phones.
3. Hocking's mark against Richmond, just a classic speccy
4. Watching Goodes' kick against us going through the air and thinking 'gee, that looks a good kick' and the mental celebration a few seconds later
5. Just seeing some improvement in heaps of guys on our list - Colyer, Hardingham, Carlisle, Hurley, Crameri, etc - all better players than they were 12 months ago which can only be a good thing.

[Mick]

1)

3) Beating Geelong at the MCG despite injuries and form issues. The Melksham goal after a series of handballs around the forward 50 coundary line was the moment we will always remember.

Must have been watching on the big screen at the MCG windy.
The rest of us watched it in person at Etihad

[Mrs Mercuri]

The win over the Cats was by far my most fave moment... went to the match expecting to get smashed, what a wonderful surprise by the final siren!!!

other great moments:

Fletch's bomb from outside 50m and match saving tackle against the Blues

Goodes missing the goal after the siren, made the Swans slob next to me finally quiet after drooling over "Mr Brownlow" all match!!!

Stewie Crameri- what a player we have here

The destroyation against the GC Suns, so glad I was there to witness history!! Reimers kicking 8 was a great effort as well.

[s'dreams]

1. Making the finals by beating top 8 teams
2. Heppell and Crameri
3. Fletch's chase down and holding Carlton to a draw despite being empty on the bench (though gutted that we didn't win that one)
4. Winning at AAMI
5. Stanton and Monfries finally whacking their critics (including me at times) by stepping up in the 2nd half of the season

And - if I can be so bold to propose a 6th
6. The Avitar of the month thread in BT

[Windy_Hill]

1)

3) Beating Geelong at the MCG despite injuries and form issues. The Melksham goal after a series of handballs around the forward 50 coundary line was the moment we will always remember.

Must have been watching on the big screen at the MCG windy.
The rest of us watched it in person at Etihad

Yep Mick, you are quite right I was watching from the Macau Centre for Gambling (MCG) - of course it was Etihad

[paddyl90]

1) Adelaide comeback for me! Just being there in a sea of feral Crows fans / cheersquad and having them kick down that end of the ground was a moment I'll treasure forever
2) Geelong win was superb!
3) Emergence of Stewart Crameri / Dyson Heppell
4) Rounds 1-8 were solid (then fell apart again)
5) Player Sponsor Cocktail Party / Crichton Medal evenings just being able to meet these players! I've been lucky this year

[Jazz_84]

in no particular order

- Win against Geelong, great feeling
- Fletchers goal and tackle in the carlton game
- Meeting all the boys at a function earlier in the year and chatting to Heppell for 15 mins
- Monfries checkside goal
- 1st qtr against the Gold Coast, just a different weird feeling

[hop]

1 - The win against Geelong
2 - The win against Sydney
3 - The Hirdy /Bomber coaching rebuild
4 - Making the finals
5 - Winning interstate - twice.

[little_ripper]

5 important things:
Geelong and the first WestCoast win. quality wins against quality opposition. Geelong in particular given the good blokes we had out.
Stewie Crameri,Dyson Heppell and Leroy Jettas seasons.



the definite continuing changing of the guard in terms of important players.(highlighted in the b & f voting i think).
lot of low lights in the season, but not going to mention them...just going to put it down to room for improvement.

[Gimps]

Fletchers goal and tackle against Carlton.

Win against Geelong - for the first time in history, I gave us no chance.

Win against Sydney - getting blind in the bar and not knowing that the siren had gone, therefore not knowing we had won until I saw everyone going apeshit.

The club finally growing some balls and getting their act together.

Finally beating the ferals in Adelaide.

[rockhole]

Being behind the goals for the Geelong win. Almost as good as a finals win and I got 12/1 during the game

Fletchers first handful of games were simply superb

Winning interstate.

Attending the Dick Reynold lunch and hearing Hirdy and the coaches speak about the future.

Finishing in the top eight whereas I thought we would be lucky to finish 10th.

[BERT]

1, Beating Geelong. The Dome was going nuts that night.

2, Sydney game. We were lucky to win that night but we never gave up.

3, First quarter v Gold Coast. WOW.

4, Heppell's season. It has been such a long time since we have had a player that has stepped into the seniors and looked like he has played 100 games already. Games on ANZAC day and against the Cats showed he will be a big game player for us.

5, David Evans. Isn't it great to know our president is going to stop at nothing to get us back as a power on and off field.

[BenDoolan]

5, David Evans. Isn't it great to know our president is going to stop at nothing to get us back as a power on and off field.

Great call =D>

[watsongun]

I was extremely happy with the off field improvements.

[gringo]

5. (being the greatest moment) Sitting at home on the couch with the ball and chain watching us beat the Cats. Tough, uncompromising, inspiring stuff it was.

4. The emergence of Heppell, Hurley and any other bastard whose surname begins with H that I have forgotten.

3. Hird and Thompson starting to stamp their authority on the club. Finally, after 5 years of malaise, it appears we are heading in the right direction.

2. Going beyond the "Bombers Discussion" section and entering the "General Discussion" forum. What a diverse range of views we have here.

1. Collingwood losing the GF.

[Rossoneri]

1. The announcement that Bomber had returned (I know it was 2010 but it was PS for 2011)
2. Beating Geelong
3. Seeing Hep play thinking we finally got a decent 1st round pick.
4. Seeing Zaharakis & Hocking take the next step
5. Seeing Hurley give Reiwoldt an absolute bath

special metion to Evans and Robson. These guys ooze power and demand respect. They look like the sort of people who will treat the employees like gold and their competitors like c****!!!

[Windy_Hill]

4. The emergence of Heppell, Hurley and any other bastard whose surname begins with H that I have forgotten.

Hardingham, Hooker, Hocking....

[Ossie]

4. The emergence of Heppell, Hurley and any other bastard whose surname begins with H that I have forgotten.

Hardingham, Hooker, Hocking....

Howlett...