How good are Essendon?

[Call Me Cake]

Was at the game today and seriously we couldnt of played any worse. Have no idea how the game was this close at the end even missing our two best players in Butcher and Gray. Bombers will be lucky to make the 8.

I don't get this "so close by the end" stuff. We beat you by 4 goals and a point - I would call that a comfortable win imo.

Would have been more if we weren't so poor.

Forget about the thread or any of this top 4 crap. But to say we'll struggle to make the 8 because of our performance against you guys... well that's just being silly.

 

[King Of The Hille]

I'll be very happy if we finish top 6.

Must say although we didnt play too well today, I was very happy with our frontal pressure.

 

[BomberWatson]

And if my Aunt had balls she'd be my Uncle.

Don't get me wrong. Your team played very well and deserved the win, but don't give us the hypothetical crap.

The other Port supporter basically implied that they would have won if they'd played better. That is true, but we were also very ordinary today, and thus could probably justify saying that if we'd played to our best (and assuming you played at the same standard as you did today) then the margin would have most likely been double of what it ended up being.

 

[Tzatziki_Man]

Essendon need to play more quality opposition before I judge them.

Watson is a beaut for my dreamteam however

 

[Powered Up]

Oh, how we could have won if Brogan was still around. can't stand seeing our big hearted bloke wearing GWS colours.
I think our mids beat Essendons today, our blokes were pretty tough in and under, a area Essendon will really need improvement if talking about top 8.

also Trengrove really done a great job containing Hurley. looked to big and slow.

 

[PTizzle]

Best is great, and worst is terrible.

We are seeing both in each game at the moment. Until the good becomes the normal and the bad becomes rare we will be struggling to make the 8.

This really helps me sum up how I feel about Essendon currently. Watching them play Port today I had moments of "that was fantastic play" and then moments of "geez, that was shocking".

They look good, clear and move the ball forward well, have a decent defensive lineup and two reliable, strong midfielders along with some quicker younger players and a developing, promising forward line. It doesn't always seem to come together though and they make some bizarre errors.

I will say that Port have upped their pressure since last year but Essendon applied 10x the amount they did today which was impressive.

Fix up the sloppy attempts/misses at easy goals and they'll make finals. Don't think top 4 this year though.

 

[BomberWatson]

Oh, how we could have won if Brogan was still around. can't stand seeing our big hearted bloke wearing GWS colours.
I think our mids beat Essendons today, our blokes were pretty tough in and under, a area Essendon will really need improvement if talking about top 8.

also Trengrove really done a great job containing Hurley. looked to big and slow.

Damn good player Trengove, think Port will be very pleased that they were able to keep him when he's fully developed in a few years.

 

[Donakebab]

Oh, how we could have won if Brogan was still around. can't stand seeing our big hearted bloke wearing GWS colours.
I think our mids beat Essendons today, our blokes were pretty tough in and under, a area Essendon will really need improvement if talking about top 8.

also Trengrove really done a great job containing Hurley. looked to big and slow.

Nah, Port mids were shit, burned the ball constantly. Meanwhile Watson and Stanton ripped them to shreds.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Oh, how we could have won if Brogan was still around. can't stand seeing our big hearted bloke wearing GWS colours.
I think our mids beat Essendons today, our blokes were pretty tough in and under, a area Essendon will really need improvement if talking about top 8.

Christ you couldn't be more wrong. Your mids were destroyed by ours today

 

[Call Me Cake]

also Trengrove really done a great job containing Hurley. looked to big and slow.

No he didn't. 9 marks (most), 17 disposals, 1.3 (2 posters), 2 assists. If anything, it was Hurley that kicked himself out of the game. If Hurley had been accurate he would have been 1st BoG, not 2nd or 3rd as reviewers are calling it.

Clutching at straws, really...

 

[Powerade 08]

Don't think the Essendon injuries were that big a factor really. Wingard went off early for us and was subbed, Redden wasn't sighted in the last quarter and Boak had trouble standing upright and was a massive liability.

Essendon just outplayed us in the end. Watson is greet to watch and his last quarter and a bit really hurt. We didn't do ourselves any favours with pretty much all of our mids having a dog day.

Top 8, yeah, but not convinced they can play consistent football or make an impact in finals...

and to the above Hurley was well beaten. Only an Essendon supporter will disagree. Not that it matters if you win.

 

[Dick johnson]

No he didn't. 9 marks (most), 17 disposals, 1.3 (2 posters), 2 assists. If anything, it was Hurley that kicked himself out of the game. If Hurley had been accurate he would have been 1st BoG, not 2nd or 3rd as reviewers are calling it.

Clutching at straws, really...

I think you are defending Hurley a little to aggressively there. The posters he got were from tight angles so it is not as though he was unlucky to miss them. And the goal he did kick was on the end of some good play from Crameri (more the case of Crameri doing well than Hurley in that instance.

 

[The Bomb]

I don't think we have to defend Hurley anymore, he will do it all on his own on the field, absolute star. when he is taking 9 marks, getting 5 shots on goal, 2 assists ect and it is called a bad game, He must be going pretty good.

 

[PTizzle]

No he didn't. 9 marks (most), 17 disposals, 1.3 (2 posters), 2 assists. If anything, it was Hurley that kicked himself out of the game. If Hurley had been accurate he would have been 1st BoG, not 2nd or 3rd as reviewers are calling it.

Clutching at straws, really...

Didn't think Hurley was one of the top 3 on ground at all. Had an average game, stats or no (and they aren't very impressive regardless).

 

[Call Me Cake]

And the goal he did kick was on the end of some good play from Crameri

That's ironic because the goal Crameri got before that play, which was his first for the game, was delivered to him by Hurley himself on the end of some good play.

Go figure.

Didn't think Hurley was one of the top 3 on ground at all. Had an average game, stats or no (and they aren't very impressive regardless).

I'm not saying Hurley was BoG, I'm just saying that if he had kicked 4 instead of 1.3 (i.e; more accurate) his overall stats would have put him in that position.

I brought up said shots on goal, including the 17 disposals he had as a forward and 9 marks, the most in on the field, as a reason for why I thought Hurley was responsible for his less than expected game rather than Trengrove himself. He had enough of the ball to impact regardless.

I don't think we have to defend Hurley anymore, he will do it all on his own on the field, absolute star. when he is taking 9 marks, getting 5 shots on goal, 2 assists ect and it is called a bad game, He must be going pretty good.

Not defending him, just pointing out facts. But well said.

 

[Slattery_20]

Dockers, Geelong, Hawks, Sydney, Collingwood, Carlton, WCE are all better then Essendon. Extremely doubtful they will make top 6 . Maybe 7th or 8th. There is no doubt they have improved, but a year or two off really pushing for the top 4.

We can finish above Sydney and freo. IMHO.

6th absolute best case scenario.
Yet again, round 2 and the injury list is climbing.

 

[Chambo]

Who cares. It's all about winning games. I don't care about how we do it. Our problem in the past few years has not been how we've played against the top sides, it's how we've totally stunk it up against the middle-of-the-road sides. Last weeks win was a genuine 8-point game, whilst today was solid against a much improved side. Especially considering we were down to 1 on the bench in the last quarter.

I think a lot of people forget that we are mostly very competitive against the top sides and struggle against sides "we should beat", which until we do that consistently we won't push for top 4-6.

Remember last year we had a solid year against all the finals sides beating Geelong, WCE, Sydney, St. Kilda and drawing against Carlton. Only two sides we couldn't beat were Collingwood and Hawthorn. We usually play our best against those type of teams.

In the past I think we would have lost to North or Port playing like we have, similar to those games we dropped to Richmond and Melbourne last year (always lose to one of those sides per year) when we win those "easy" games then we can push higher up the ladder.

Our goal kicking, delivery into the F50 and our inability to capitalise on our I50 dominance is a concern, especially against teams such as Carlton, WCE, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Geelong.

 

[SirJimi05]

I think our mids beat Essendons today, our blokes were pretty tough in and under, a area Essendon will really need improvement if talking about top 8.

also Trengrove really done a great job containing Hurley. looked to big and slow.

Which game were you watching? Essendon won the game in the midfield and Hurley looked anything but slow. His pace got him in plenty of good positions.

 

[Bollox]

Its encouraging they got a rare convincing win against a team above them on the ladder. Not been many the last 20-30 games or so.
A win over last yrs 16th who hate playing in Melb ??...cant read much into it. Still honestly see them as downhill skiiers a bit. (yes yes i know, Sydney are shit)

 

[go team]

Power could play better, so could the Kangaroos. The Bombers could improve too. Funny that. It's only round 2!

Happy to have two wins on the board - no ifs, no buts, just 8 points.

Perhaps the missed pre-season game has had a bit of an effect - will be interesting to see if Essendon improves v Gold Coast, then the real test v the Blues.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Its encouraging they got a rare convincing win against a team above them on the ladder. Not been many the last 20-30 games or so.
A win over last yrs 16th who hate playing in Melb ??...cant read much into it. Still honestly see them as downhill skiiers a bit. (yes yes i know, Sydney are shit)

Sydney aint' shit. As far as the downhill skier comment goes, i think you're wrong. Lost 3 players to injury but we continued to run and in the end pulled away. That isn't down hill skiing.

 

[PAUR]

Neither side looked very good yesterday.

I thought Hurley had a minimal impact on the game, Watson was the most noticeable player yesterday. Essendons midfield ran much harder to provide options and cover than Port. They always had an extra player one kick from the play, which is fitness and tactics based and really pissed me off!

I would place them around the mark of Freo, North & Sydney as I would tip the home interstate team in each game. Will finish above Richmond, below Carlton. Predicting 7th and 5th - 10th is my wide guess

 

[GoesBangFrom50]

Lost a ruck and made a sub AGAIN in the first quarter. One man on the bench for virtually the whole last quarter. Very brave win. Good teams win ugly when it counts, and we managed that.

BTW, if I see any Essendon supporters complaining about the umpiring I'll be very disappointed. A lot of booing at the ground, but I thought the umps were very good.

Have been saying for years that Bombers are the absolute worst supporters for bagging of umps and complaining about free kicks. Without doubt when they get their first free kick at each match the roar goes up to indicate "about time"... even though it could be 1 minute into the game.

2 wins so far this season which you would think would give the fans cause to celebrate but somehow after both games they found time to stop clapping their team off and boo the umpiresas they leave the ground. I find it very amusing.

 

[Dick johnson]

That's ironic because the goal Crameri got before that play, which was his first for the game, was delivered to him by Hurley himself on the end of some good play.

Go figure.

Yes, that was a good assist, but that doesn't mean he was unlucky to not kick 4 goals.

 

[pazza]

Finding new ways to win ugly and undermanned. Never easy to win games when you have 19 men left for the last quarter.

Could Ryder be the most improved player in the competition?

77 hitouts for the season so far.