Essendon and their failed rebuild

[le dominateur]

They have a good nucleus to build on, but imo it all depends on whether Hurley, Carlisle and Daniher step up and deliver. Hurley is yet to deliver, 1 great game against Hawthorn years ago is hardly 'saviour' material, plus he seems very injury prone, doubt he will become the champion Essendon need. Carlisle has potential but already has had a few bags kicked against him (compare this to Talia from the Crows who gets little fanfare but is the better defender by a mile). Daniher has done nothing yet to justify the 'would of gone pick 1' bandied about by all and sundry. Still a few holes to fill before Essendon are a legitimate top 4 challenger.

 

[slimdusty4]

Vickery. Pick 8

LOL

Pick 8 who keeps getting dropped, no doubt you'll trade him to Adelaide in 4 years when your club catches up to the rest of the comp and realises he just aint any good.

lolllll! hasn't been dropped since 2010? lets compare him to hurley...

wait, hurley is on 500-600 and delivered what?

 

[disgruntled goat]

Aren't you still gifting games to hacks like Robin Nahas?

It's taken Hardwick 4 years to do what Hird did in 1.

Hardwick's done a far, far better job than Hird. Hardwick has steadily built a team to be competitive for a period of time, and challengte for flags in that time ... Hird has not proved he's done that yet, and may not even get the chance to prove himself. And as other posters have said, Hird has kept as lot of ordinary and/or over-rated players on his list for too long ...

 

[Jobe Watson]

Hardwick's done a far, far better job than Hird. Hardwick has steadily built a team to be competitive for a period of time, and challengte for flags in that time ... Hird has not proved he's done that yet, and may not even get the chance to prove himself. And as other posters have said, Hird has kept as lot of ordinary and/or over-rated players on his list for too long ...

Did you expect Hird to gut the list while GWS and Gold Coast dominate the drafts?

Hardwick has proved no more than Hird has. Richmond's best season in quite a while is just enough to match our good, but not great season. You cannot claim that Richmond's list will challenge for flags while ours won't.

 

[Yoda_]

can we talk about Carlton tanking and still being no good now?

this one is just silly. Essendon are Good!

 

[blaze036]

Goddard was a disaster, they are really an average team

 

[blitzer]

At the end of the day say what you will but we have two more wins on the board than last year with 3 rounds left to go. Even if you assume that we will lose all our remaining games which is yet to be seen we have still improved as a team and there's nothing about our list that suggests we won't continue to improve. There's improvement that needs to be made and perhaps it hasn't come fast enough for some but the overall direction is still positive.

Also the fact that we are discussing August now instead of June as the period where we fall off shows that we have made improvements. Also prior to Hird we had an appalling interstate record which we have turned around. I think its premature to call the rebuild a failure.

Also realistically the off-field events can't be helping. However I agree that's not the entirety of our problems.

 

[Gone Critical]

At the end of the day say what you will but we have two more wins on the board than last year with 3 rounds left to go. Even if you assume that we will lose all our remaining games which is yet to be seen we have still improved as a team and there's nothing about our list that suggests we won't continue to improve. There's improvement that needs to be made and perhaps it hasn't come fast enough for some but the overall direction is still positive.

Also the fact that we are discussing August now instead of June as the period where we fall off shows that we have made improvements. Also prior to Hird we had an appalling interstate record which we have turned around. I think its premature to call the rebuild a failure.

Also realistically the off-field events can't be helping. However I agree that's not the entirety of our problems.

There is a massive ? on the list and the club unfortunately. I know Bomberrs supporters dont want to hear it but if any of the leaks coming from the ASADA report end up being true Hird is gone and justly so. I think you will be look ing for a new coach next year and that will set things back. What happens to the palyers is even a bigger one.

 

[Davidos_2013]

House of cards a very apt description in this situation

 

[DrEvil]

What a shit thread. Essendon were playing for top spot on the ladder 2 weeks ago.

Time to start a "Essendon, house of cards" thread?

 

[Bomberblitzer]

Goddard was a disaster, they are really an average team

not sure if srs...

 

[cub]

Tick tick tick tick

 

[forwardflanker]

Every year we see the same thing,

Great start and then they stop to a walk when the whips are cracking in August.

Forget the other stuff, considering this is the a $ 5 million dollar coaching box, when will Hird take responsibility and resign, or better still, when will The much maligned Essendon board have the guts to shoot bambi, for on field performance?


Discuss

Essendon's rebuild will be as bad as Richmond's when it becomes a "rebuild, of a rebuild of a rebuild". Right now they are just on a rebuild.

 

[forwardflanker]

Hardwick's done a far, far better job than Hird. Hardwick has steadily built a team to be competitive for a period of time, and challengte for flags in that time ... Hird has not proved he's done that yet, and may not even get the chance to prove himself. And as other posters have said, Hird has kept as lot of ordinary and/or over-rated players on his list for too long ...

I don't get this it all. Whilst not saying Hawrdwick has done a bad job, Hird has done a way way better job as senior coach. After inheriting and reasonably poor list Essendon have been competitive every year with Hird as coach and they will have made finals 2/3. Hardwick is nowhere near as good as this.

 

[disgruntled goat]

Did you expect Hird to gut the list while GWS and Gold Coast dominate the drafts?

Hardwick has proved no more than Hird has. Richmond's best season in quite a while is just enough to match our good, but not great season. You cannot claim that Richmond's list will challenge for flags while ours won't.

Hardwick's had the same opportunities (or not) as Hird at the trade/draft table.

But yes, that's pretty much what I am claiming, Richmond is closer than Essendon ... but who knows. I believe (opinion, not fact) Hardwick and his team have done a better job building Richmond to where the club is now, and it's worth noting they came from further back than where Essendon was when Hird took over. It seems fairly clear that Hird/Essendon will need to do some serious thinking in this next off-season, whereas Hardwick/Richmond, no matter what happens for the rest of this season, can look to drafting/trading for a few players to further strengthen a genuine challenge in the next few years.

That's not to say Essendon doesn't have some outstanding talent the club can build around, I just think Richmond has built steadily and now gone past Essendon. Putting it one other way: I do not believe Brendon Goddard will be part of Essendon's next premiership team, so that gives you some idea of the time frame I'm thinking.

 

[TigerBlood87]

I don't get this it all. Whilst not saying Hawrdwick has done a bad job, Hird has done a way way better job as senior coach. After inheriting and reasonably poor list Essendon have been competitive every year with Hird as coach and they will have made finals 2/3. Hardwick is nowhere near as good as this.

Hardwick started from way further back. Hird had a team that had made finals only a year before he took the helm, Hardwick had a team list with almost no finals experience combined and was compared with the final years of a dying Fitzroy. Hardwick has improved the Tigers every year he has been the coach, in wins and percentage. Hird has not. Hird has finished higher on the ladder each year but the improvement has not been consistent, the amount of improvement has not been as dramatic from the original starting position, and his team has fallen off a cliff every year towards the business end of the season.

 

[forwardflanker]

Hardwick started from way further back. Hird had a team that had made finals only a year before he took the helm, Hardwick had a team list with almost no finals experience combined and was compared with the final years of a dying Fitzroy. Hardwick has improved the Tigers every year he has been the coach, in wins and percentage. Hird has not. Hird has finished higher on the ladder each year but the improvement has not been consistent, the amount of improvement has not been as dramatic from the original starting position, and his team has fallen off a cliff every year towards the business end of the season.

Lol at this you can't tell me that Essendon hasn't improved out of sight from what they were last season. They were a very good chance at top 4 until about a 2 weeks ago.

 

[Brotherfox]

Tick tick tick tick

Boom !!
Not sure why we need to reference a Will Smith song !
Please keep on topic

 

[Ron The Bear]

Essendon's rebuild will be as bad as Richmond's when it becomes a "rebuild, of a rebuild of a rebuild". Right now they are just on a rebuild.

The previous genuine rebuild Richmond had began under Bartlett. The list got overcooked by Frawley, and Wallace had an each-way bet.

 

[TigerBlood87]

Lol at this you can't tell me that Essendon hasn't improved out of sight from what they were last season. They were a very good chance at top 4 until about a 2 weeks ago.

They were "top 4 locks" according to most of their fans last year, then the arse dropped out of them and they crashed and burned and didn't even make finals, making The Weapon the scapegoat. They were top 4 locks for most of this year AGAIN and the wheels have once again fallen off with North, Carlton and Richmond to come and will be 50-50 going into each game. There's no Weapon this year on whom they can lay the blame. There is one common denominator here and it's James Hird.

 

[FootyGeek]

They have overpaid for Goddard which is going to stuff up their list for the next few years.

The single biggest mistake they have made (apart from the obvious).

The goddard contract is going to restrict what Essendon can do. They need two or three midfield stars to come out of nowhere in the next two years to begin to imagine a near term flag.

 

[Kavliaris69]

Every year we see the same thing,

Great start and then they stop to a walk when the whips are cracking in August.

Forget the other stuff, considering this is the a $ 5 million dollar coaching box, when will Hird take responsibility and resign, or better still, when will The much maligned Essendon board have the guts to shoot bambi, for on field performance?


Discuss

I have distinct memories of the media playing up Tird's involvement in the construction of Etihad. He was just a shit surveyor that worked then for the construction company. He has been a golden boy all his life and it seems that finally there is a player that is bigger than the club.

What a donkey.

 

[emblurr]

Am I on Bay 13?

 

[forwardflanker]

They were "top 4 locks" according to most of their fans last year, then the arse dropped out of them and they crashed and burned and didn't even make finals, making The Weapon the scapegoat. They were top 4 locks for most of this year AGAIN and the wheels have once again fallen off with North, Carlton and Richmond to come and will be 50-50 going into each game. There's no Weapon this year on whom they can lay the blame. There is one common denominator here and it's James Hird.

lol ok lets all bag Essendon because their going to make the 8 and have looked like making the four for most of the season. Do you know how stupid that sounds?

And your argument that their fans claimed they were top four locks runs very thin. Why are the opinions of supporters so relevant all of a sudden? And even if they were, shouldn't Richmond's "rebuild" be a failure because I've heard just as many if not more Richmond supporters talking up their chances of making the four this season.

Honestly the reactionary trolling by Richmond supporters to Lance's threads is pathetic. At least a few of his threads have some merit. To say Essendon have failed in their rebuild is laughable and I'm embarrassed for you

 

[smasha]

Essendon will need a rebuild as they're falling like a house of cards.
Can their new coach lead them to a premiership though?