Season 2010

[brad]

The way the ladder has it now we've played 13 rounds with 10 of these being against teams in the top 8 and 3 YES that's it 3 against sides in the bottom 8.

For the remainder of the season we've got a split of 4 games against sides outside the 8 and another 5 against sides inside the 8.

So we'll have played 15 matches Vs sides in the top 8 and 7 against sides outside the 8 (if the ladder remains the same).

Anyone would think we won the flag last year with a fixture like that. Of our 3 matches against sides outside the top 8 we've lost two of them.

[Mrs Mercuri]

Have to think of it in a positive light though... our young guys are getting some amazing match day experience against the top sides of the comp.

That is definately going to help them mature as players over the next 2 years. Lets hope these kinds of matches also lure some other payers to our great club during this years trade period... (Dangerfield, Boak etc.)

[Jazz_84]

bit off topic but apparently Boak is headed to Geelong is Ablett goes, not sure how that would work but we'd have to work hard to get him away from Geelong id say

[Windy_Hill]

bit off topic but apparently Boak is headed to Geelong is Ablett goes, not sure how that would work but we'd have to work hard to get him away from Geelong id say

Then we are not going to get him - no players of any quality want to play for Essendon it seems

[Rossoneri]

bit off topic but apparently Boak is headed to Geelong is Ablett goes, not sure how that would work but we'd have to work hard to get him away from Geelong id say

Then we are not going to get him - no players of any quality want to play for Essendon it seems

Really? So what about Prismall?

[Jazz_84]

is Boak the inside mid we need though, i havn't seen much of him to be honest? Dangerfield a better option?

[Windy_Hill]

bit off topic but apparently Boak is headed to Geelong is Ablett goes, not sure how that would work but we'd have to work hard to get him away from Geelong id say

Then we are not going to get him - no players of any quality want to play for Essendon it seems

Really? So what about Prismall?

Wasnt he being axed by the cats anyway - and I dont know if he was attracting a lot of interest from other clubs. But yeah, probably about our best trade in recent years. I was thinking of more established players like Aker, O'Keefe, Brennan, Judd, Burgoyne, Ball etc

None of those guys wanted to play for us

[bomberdonnie]

Brennan did but Brisvegas wouldn't play ball most likely because Sheeds fcked them over with Mal M

[robrulz5]

We have got a tough fixture but it will be character building for the side. They'll get used to playing in big games every week and soon realise it is where they belong as an Essendon player.

[little_ripper]

on one hand this year has been shit footy wise.

thrashed by geelong twice. loss to hawthorn, murdered by collingwood, robbed against sydney, piss weak performance against the eagles and lossed YET AGAIN to port. - all of which have been majorly disappointing if you ask me.

on the other hand we've

beaten the dogs and the saints.(which has felt damn good being a bombers fan).

the bombers seriously need to lift after the rest this week. get some wins on the board to finish the season strongly.

winning in Adelaide would really be a good little achievement for the club I think. perfect place to start.

in fact you could bitch about our draw. but have a look at the next 6 games. every single one of those should be regarded as winnable by the club.
we may be a long way up shit creek at 5-8, but there is no reason we can't go 6-0 over the next month and a half, which would have us in the 8.

Adelaide Ten AAMI Stadium Away
Melbourne Seven MCG Away
West Coast Fox Etihad Stadium Home
North Melbourne Fox Etihad Stadium Away
St Kilda Seven Etihad Stadium Home
Carlton Seven MCG Home

[Sismis]

I for one am very happy with where we are. The rebound after the Collingwood game has been miraculous. We playing some consistant footy and showing real imporvement.

Our forward line is still a concern but it is a work in progress and is showing the signs. Our small forwards are working better than they have for a long time!

[Ossie]

I for one am very happy with where we are. The rebound after the Collingwood game has been miraculous. We playing some consistant footy and showing real imporvement.

Our forward line is still a concern but it is a work in progress and is showing the signs. Our small forwards are working better than they have for a long time!

Agree with this - our tackling is first rate and defensive pressure was something we've been sh*t at in recent years.
Remove a couple of passengers from our team and get some real spark back in (I'm looking at you Kyle Reimers) and we can compete with anyone - see the StK and WB games.

[Rossoneri]

Been very disappointed this year, and it will only get worse. We will be lucky to win 2 of our next 4 games and then we have a tough run after that. Apart from the rucks, our team is very imbalanced.
Defence - Good key talls but very thin after Pears and Hooker. Our best small defender is 28 and his "replacement" is probably the worst player on our list. Hocking is good and Dempsey can give us run but will hardly be able to contain other small forwards.
The forward line is functioning well enough but for some odd reason, both key forwards end up on the wing with no one behind them. The small forwards are going ok yet they seem to be the only aboriginal players who slip over or fumble the ball (Though Davey has improved immensly since his return)

And now for our midfield. It is by far the worst in the league and probably the worst of the last 10 years. It is slow, un-skilled, un-disciplined and plain dumb. Take Watson out of it and we have no one to win the contested ball, Winderlich tries his guts out but only works one way while Stanton is a waste of space, a soft-cock. Melksham has great skill and poise which offers us hope but there is not much after him.

Try this for a best 22 that may lead us to a flag (2015) at earliest

B: *empty* Hooker *empty*
HB: Dempsey Pears Hocking
C: *empty* Watson Winderlich
HF: Davey Gumbleton Monfries
FF: Jetta Hurley Empty
R: Ryder Melksham Zaharakis
Int:Prismall, *empty* Myers *empty*

Welsh, McVeigh, Fletch and Hille would have retired (Welsh probably first), Stanton to the GC [-o< , Slattery too shit. Is ellchamber going to be around? Reimers can't get a game in shit midfield, Lonergan does nothing.

Don't know, but we have a long way to go.

[Rossoneri]

Adelaide Ten AAMI Stadium Away - LOSS We don't travel well and Adelaide have been playing well the past month. No Fletch will hurt.
Melbourne Seven MCG Away - 50-50 Again, no Fletcher but we will get killed in the middle. Coming up against the AA ruckman and a decent midfield
West Coast Fox Etihad Stadium Home - Should win.
North Melbourne Fox Etihad Stadium Away - Unlikely to win, seeing as we can never beat these c****.

St Kilda Seven Etihad Stadium Home - Not a chance in hell
Carlton Seven MCG Home - If we beat them, they will be forever are little bitches who we can rape when we like and get away wit it

-

[little_ripper]

Adelaide Ten AAMI Stadium Away - LOSS We don't travel well and Adelaide have been playing well the past month. No Fletch will hurt.
Melbourne Seven MCG Away - 50-50 Again, no Fletcher but we will get killed in the middle. Coming up against the AA ruckman and a decent midfield
West Coast Fox Etihad Stadium Home - Should win.
North Melbourne Fox Etihad Stadium Away - Unlikely to win, seeing as we can never beat these c****.

St Kilda Seven Etihad Stadium Home - Not a chance in hell
Carlton Seven MCG Home - If we beat them, they will be forever are little bitches who we can rape when we like and get away wit it

-

bit pessimistic there. i think we are a show in all 6.

[Windy_Hill]

Adelaide Ten AAMI Stadium Away - LOSS We don't travel well and Adelaide have been playing well the past month. No Fletch will hurt.
Melbourne Seven MCG Away - 50-50 Again, no Fletcher but we will get killed in the middle. Coming up against the AA ruckman and a decent midfield
West Coast Fox Etihad Stadium Home - Should win.
North Melbourne Fox Etihad Stadium Away - Unlikely to win, seeing as we can never beat these c****.

St Kilda Seven Etihad Stadium Home - Not a chance in hell
Carlton Seven MCG Home - If we beat them, they will be forever are little bitches who we can rape when we like and get away wit it

-

bit pessimistic there. i think we are a show in all 6.

And this is the annoying thing. If we play well, we can beat all of these teams. I dont mean, if we play out of our skins - I simply mean, if we play well.

Our good is as good or better than their good - if you know what I mean. St Kilda aside whose good is probably a little bit better than our good but perhaps not as good as our great if they are only average.

[j-mac31]

And now for our midfield. It is by far the worst in the league and probably the worst of the last 10 years. It is slow, un-skilled, un-disciplined and plain dumb. Take Watson out of it and we have no one to win the contested ball, Winderlich tries his guts out but only works one way while Stanton is a waste of space, a soft-cock. Melksham has great skill and poise which offers us hope but there is not much after him.

I reckon we may have done alright this year though. If Howlett and Colyer improve on their good early signs and Marigliani can turn his brilliant VFL form into decent AFL play it's looking a bit better. Throw Reimers in too if the coach had any sense.
If we can get Boak it would be looking decent.

This will sound stupid, hear me out, but I reckon we should get in the ear of Daniel Rich.
We've got some very good young talls and some promising young midfielders. With him in the middle we would start to look decent there and he'd be the man.
Brisbane on the other hand - when Brown is firing he is the best player in the comp, but he can't even go half a season without getting injured. They took older players instead of kids last year and that hasn't come off and combined with the compromised drafts from this year and the fact that their best players are getting on and their next best are average/inconsistent/both, their on-field near future doesn't look great. And they have very fair-weather fans.
Absolute long shot, but why not try.

[little_ripper]

This will sound stupid, hear me out, but I reckon we should get in the ear of Daniel Rich.
We've got some very good young talls and some promising young midfielders. With him in the middle we would start to look decent there and he'd be the man.
Brisbane on the other hand - when Brown is firing he is the best player in the comp, but he can't even go half a season without getting injured. They took older players instead of kids last year and that hasn't come off and combined with the compromised drafts from this year and the fact that their best players are getting on and their next best are average/inconsistent/both, their on-field near future doesn't look great. And they have very fair-weather fans.
Absolute long shot, but why not try.

I doubt brisbane would let him go easily. he would probably be in their top 5 names to sign up. Also the lions aren't in that bad shape. on the same win loss as us and have copped a lot more injuries. i quite like their young uns in Redden, Rockliff and Rich.(amongst others).

Hasn't there been talk of Patrick Dangerfield being on the move from Adelaide? Or Travis Boak from Port? either of those two would be nice if they fancied essendon.

Not too sure what we would give up for them though.

[Windy_Hill]

This will sound stupid, hear me out, but I reckon we should get in the ear of Daniel Rich.
We've got some very good young talls and some promising young midfielders. With him in the middle we would start to look decent there and he'd be the man.
Brisbane on the other hand - when Brown is firing he is the best player in the comp, but he can't even go half a season without getting injured. They took older players instead of kids last year and that hasn't come off and combined with the compromised drafts from this year and the fact that their best players are getting on and their next best are average/inconsistent/both, their on-field near future doesn't look great. And they have very fair-weather fans.
Absolute long shot, but why not try.

I doubt brisbane would let him go easily. he would probably be in their top 5 names to sign up. Also the lions aren't in that bad shape. on the same win loss as us and have copped a lot more injuries. i quite like their young uns in Redden, Rockliff and Rich.(amongst others).

Hasn't there been talk of Patrick Dangerfield being on the move from Adelaide? Or Travis Boak from Port? either of those two would be nice if they fancied essendon.

Not too sure what we would give up for them though.

Stanton seems to be 'bait du jour' when it comes to enticing clubs to trade with us. I think we could also look at throwing Williams (Mark) in the mix at the risk of having to subsidise his salary at another club. Its clearly not working for him or the club at the moment and maybe a Williams/Stanton package will land Boak or Dangerfield if they are already intent on leaving their respective clubs

[Mrs Mercuri]

Despite what has happened to Willo this season... i seriously doubt that the club will trade him.

Stants and Houli will have some trade value.