Analysis Why are we s**t?

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ScrappyCoCo said:
Personally I think a lot has to do with us having success around 2000...then a period where those players finished up and we were in our cycle of being down for a period...followed by the years of Geelong and the Hawks dominating with the introduction of the 2 new teams and the talent pool strongly going their way. Followed by the Saga.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and there were teams that were poor year in year out as well. And that was with 12 teams...not 18..or 20. These extended periods of failure for some clubs will continue and perhaps for longer. I know the draft order helps stop that to a degree but until there is a fair fixture I think it will continue into the future. And the amount of clubs makes it so much harder to get to the pointy end.

We are at a tipping point though I feel for Essendon...where we seemed to nailed some draft selections and if we can get another batch of very good young players coming after this season, we will get better. Not sure if it will give us the ultimate success but when we get enough games together into them...we will start winning more than we lose. We are going to have to be patient for a bit longer unfortunately.
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A big problem when you have shit period on shit period is people get less and less patient which leads to rash decisions and not seeing things thru which leads to a shit period. The old vicious cycle.

We had Sheedy’s last contract (fail) then Knights (big fail) then the saga (disaster) then Worsfold (big fail).

We really started again last year but if you tell people it’ll probably take this group 4-5 years and to be patient with it you get the obvious

WE’VE BEEN PATIENT FOR 20 YEARS!!!!

But if we burn the joint down it’ll only set us back further.
 
Bunk Moreland said:
A big problem when you have s**t period on s**t period is people get less and less patient which leads to rash decisions and not seeing things thru which leads to a s**t period. The old vicious cycle.

We had Sheedy’s last contract (fail) then Knights (big fail) then the saga (disaster) then Worsfold (big fail).

We really started again last year but if you tell people it’ll probably take this group 4-5 years and to be patient with it you get the obvious

WE’VE BEEN PATIENT FOR 20 YEARS!!!!

But if we burn the joint down it’ll only set us back further.
Click to expand...
One problem with impatience is some people slowly lose their love for the game and drop off...which leads to pressure being applied for some instant results to keep membership up and dollars flowing through the door.
 

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Fish rots at the head. No matter who is in charge of the team, when not given the best opportunity to control what you need to, the same result will be had.


Let that sink in and see who has been around in positions for power for the long term, and there is your answer to "why are we shit?"

Not just Dodoro either fwiw
 
Yoda_ said:
Fish rots at the head. No matter who is in charge of the team, when not given the best opportunity to control what you need to, the same result will be had.


Let that sink in and see who has been around in positions for power for the long term, and there is your answer to "why are we s**t?"

Not just Dodoro either fwiw
Click to expand...

absolutely agree

I will tell you here and now for free, we are not winning shit with Paul Brasher as president. The culture is set from the top down, that's how it works and how it will always work. He talked big when he first took over but has been missing since, and the waffle he gave us at the break was a complete and utter joke. A premiership within 2-3 years. ****in lol.

Essendon's senior management is a boys club, full of old boys who refuse to do whats required to get this club back on track. We need to bring someone in (like a walsh) to complete a full and proper independent review top to bottom.
 
Lore said:
Champion Data looks to have coughed up some defensive numbers for an AFL article this morning:

View attachment 1435486
www.afl.com.au

Dons' defensive downslide reaches record lows

Essendon's defence has come under severe scrutiny, with the Bombers conceding on average 94.8 points a game this season
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au


Walla and Smith in particular a pretty big factor in our defensive pressure up the ground too I think (see article above).
Click to expand...

There's been a marked improvement since the first Swans game. We're conceding 21 points less a game and averaging 15 more tackles. We were coming from a very low point howeveer.
 
Bring back the RED SHORTS and toss a few coaches and it might change things
 

AFL 2022: Mick McGuane’s eight-point plan to turn around Essendon’s fortunes​

Essendon’s midfield is floundering and the Bombers have a former Brisbane engine-room guru coaching forwards, so, Mick McGuane asks, is Blake Caracella still the answer?

Ruthless teams win premierships. Nice teams finish last
.
What does one of Melbourne’s biggest clubs — Essendon — stand for right now?

The brand of football the Bombers are playing is flaky, they’re inconsistent, unpredictable and — quite frankly — they’re selfish.
They are flaky because of their contest work, which urgently needs addressing.

They are inconsistent because you don’t know what you will get week-to-week from individuals or the team.
They are unpredictable because their midfielders prefer to go-sideways rather than having a go-forward mentality, which is a nightmare for their forwards.

And they are selfish because too many players don’t conform to their roles and there is a reluctance to buy into pressure, tackling and team defence.
Right now, Essendon is a complete mess and if coach Ben Rutten does not right the ship in the final eight weeks he will be under significant pressure to keep his job.
Here are eight things that need to be addressed if this proud club is to turn its fortunes around.

1. INVEST IN PRESSURE AND TACKLING

We keep hearing from Rutten that the Bombers’ attack comes on the back of strong defensive actions.

Stop the lip-service, Ben, and start to challenge your players and get them to do what you say.

Essendon supporters are sick of hearing the same things week after week without seeing any of them in action on the field.

The Bombers are ranked 18th in the competition for pressure applied and have laid the fewest tackles of any side with 677.

This is not a talent issue — it is all about intent.

Adelaide — which has only two more wins — has laid almost 200 more tackles at 872.

Consider the tackle numbers in the Crows midfield – Rory Laird has laid 88, Sam Berry 81 and Ben Keays 68.

At Essendon, Jye Caldwell leads the tackle count with 57, Dylan Shiel has 56 and then you have to go down to Zach Merrett at 41 and Darcy Parish with only 34.

Why is it that Parish has only laid that many, when Richmond ruckman Toby Nankervis has 61 to his name?

It’s embarrassing that a ruckman has nearly doubled a midfielders tackling output.

Who at Essendon wants to be Gold Coast’s midfield version of Matt Rowell, who has laid a staggering 103 tackles?

But this is not just a midfield issue, either.

Adelaide’s pressure forward Ned McHenry has laid 42 tackles and Gold Coast’s Nick Holman an incredible 66, while the Bombers’ pressure forward Matt Guelfi has laid only 24.

When your best players are reluctant to buy in and tackle, you have a serious problem.

2. CHANGE THE COACHING SET UP

Essendon recruited assistant coach Dale Tapping at the end of last year, who had a fantastic association with the Brisbane Lions over the previous five seasons.

At the Lions, he was the midfield coach and challenged a group that included Lachie Neale, Dayne Zorko, Jarryd Lyons, Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry to become better and more consistent around contested situations.

Maybe it’s time for current Essendon midfield coach Blake Caracella to swallow his pride and hand over the reins to Tapping. It might be the tonic the midfield group needs because in its current state it is floundering.

Tapping, who was with Collingwood before his time at Brisbane, has been the forwards coach at Essendon this year and has done a fantastic job with Peter Wright in particular.

But Essendon’s issue right now is at the coalface with their contest and stoppage work. They need to get better productivity from inside the contest to outside.

You have to question whether the midfield group is being coached strongly enough and being held to account by Caracella.

Every game starts and stops in the midfield and Tapping has shown he is capable of lifting the standards in this area if given the chance.

3. FIX TEAM DEFENCE

If you want to see just how badly Essendon is breaking down defensively, pull up the replay of last week’s loss to West Coast and scroll through to when there is 14:20 left on the clock in the first quarter.

Bombers forward Peter Wright has just booted a behind and Elliot Yeo kicks the ball back in to play where it is marked by Andrew Gaff in the back pocket.

Gaff kicks back to Yeo, who is still deep in defence.

In the top left of the screen, Nick Bryan finds himself near Jamie Cripps, while Mason Redman is with West Coast relief ruckman Callum Jamieson just to the right.

Redman points to Bryan and tells him to take Cripps — who is normally Redman’s man — while he picks up Bryan’s opponent in Jamieson.

Yeo kicks long to a contest on the wing and Jayden Laverde is forced to peel off his opponent Jack Darling because Redman has not kept up with Jamieson who is the target.

The ball spills behind the marking contest to Laverde’s man Darling, who handballs to Liam Ryan in space.

Bryan decides to leave Cripps spare in the corridor to push up on Ryan but doesn’t impact the contest.

He never was so why leave an opponent in such an attacking position — it was dumb to say the least.

Ryan chips the ball over the top of Bryan to a vacant Cripps, who chips to a leading Josh Kennedy inside 50.

In 16 seconds, the Eagles went from the back pocket to a mark inside-50 and Kennedy went on to kick their first goal.

This was a slow-play situation where Essendon had time to get organised and due to poor defensive decisions they get scored against. In close margin games these inexcusable decisions matter.

It is moments like these that are clearly hurting a team which is conceding 94.8 points a game — the fourth-most in the competition.

4. STOP GIFTING GAMES IN THE MIDFIELD

Essendon’s stoppage work is out of whack.

The Bombers are too much of an outside team and don’t have enough inside grunt, which might require some personnel changes to the midfield group.

Essendon needs to get serious and stop gifting midfield time to Merrett and Parish, who are high possession winners but are not winning enough contested ball.

Merrett rates below average for contested possessions, with a contested possession rate of just 27.5 per cent of his overall possession numbers.

It is time to start giving more midfield time to the likes of Archie Perkins, Ben Hobbs and Jye Caldwell, which might prick the pride of those who are accustomed to going to the centre square and playing their way.

Merrett is regularly used as a defensive sweeper, but too often chooses to corral an opponent when he could instead be in their face and either win a hard ball or tackle them.

Zach, stop corralling or retreating, it’s time to squeeze hard up against an opponent with the ball and start becoming the tackling machine your team needs.

It is little point playing a defensive midfielder if they do not have an ingrained defensive mindset.

If Merrett wants to be a future captain as we’re led to believe, he has to start leading from the front rather than playing the cheap possession game he is.

Maybe he is coached that way, but if he is the messaging must change.

If Essendon really does put value on contest work, Merrett needs to make way until he improves in that area and Tom Cutler should never play again.

Cutler is a nice outside player, but his contested possession rate is even lower than Merrett’s at 25.2 per cent and in his nine games he has laid eight tackles.

That’s an acceptance of mediocrity.

5. CHANGE THE GAME PLAN – IMMEDIATELY

The Bombers like to roll up a half-forward to saturate the stoppages between the arcs with players like Will Snelling and Kyle Langford now that they are back.

In their absence it was Caldwell and Hobbs.

It is a strategy that has worked well for Richmond over the years, but it is unsuitable and unsustainable at the Bombers.

What is does it gives the opposition a free defender and more often than not Essendon dump kicks forward when it does win the clearance to a 5 v 6 situation.

The Bombers are heavily reliant on Jake Stringer, Peter Wright or Harrison Jones marking the footy.

If it comes to ground, those three players have got limited defensive attributes to keep the ball locked in, which allows the opposition to rebound with ease using their outnumber to advantage.

If Essendon doesn’t readjust against Sydney this week, expect Tom McCartin, Paddy McCartin, Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd to be racking up season-high intercept possession numbers.

The Bombers will get monstered and won’t score.

If there was ever a week to abandon their usual game style and hold six forwards at home, it is this week. Equalising the numbers in their front third of the ground is imperative.

6. GET THE FRONT HALF MIX RIGHT

The loss of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti in attack this year has been stark and the Bombers need to find another pressure forward to replace him.

Guelfi is assuming that role and going a good job but he needs help.

Could wingman Sam Durham be the answer?

He is competitive and loves the physicality.

Maybe running defender Nick Hind could be flipped forward at times to play as a pressure forward, like he did at St Kilda.

Or could Darcy Parish be sent forward and taught the importance of frontline defensive pressure?

Essendon needs to try something in this area, because it ranks 14th for points from forward half intercepts, which is a key component of the modern game.

Devon Smith has a year to run on his contract, but the Bombers should put him up as trade bait if there are any buyers.

If there aren’t and he doesn’t want to buy in and conform to what his role is, don’t play him again.

As much as Alec Waterman can be a goalkicker, he does not provide the defensive work rate and pressure to lock the footy in, either.

And what does Brayden Ham bring to the team at the moment?

Excluding his two games as a non-playing medical substitute, he has laid eight tackles in six games and hasn’t kicked a goal.

7. GET AGGRESSIVE AT THE TRADE TABLE

The biggest hole on Essendon’s list is a key defender.

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher doesn’t appear to have come on as well as the Bombers hoped, Aaron Francis has always promised a lot but has delivered little, in fact, he has become a tease and I’m convinced their not sure where James Stewart plays his best footy or is he just not good enough.

The Bombers need to get aggressive and find someone to help their undersized defence and also help their future key defender, Zach Reid develop.

Could Jeremy McGovern be enticed out of West Coast with a three or four-year deal?

Alex Keath is out of contract at the Western Bulldogs and could be another target.

Essendon’s list management team needs to find a way to bring in a big-bodied key defender so that undersized pair Laverde and Jordan Ridley can go back to playing hybrid intercepting roles.

8. COMMISSION AN EXTERNAL REVIEW

Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for Kevin Sheedy and Simon Madden.

But if you’re going to do a review of the football department, do it properly and keep club legends out of the picture.

You need to have an open-minded outside view from someone who does not have any emotional attachments to people at the club and can sit down and make a balanced assessment of what is wrong.

Adelaide brought in Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall for a review and Carlton brought in former Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich for its review.

If Essendon wants to get to the bottom of what is going wrong at the club and how to fix it, it needs to conduct a proper external review now.

The Bombers faithful need answers.

They have been very patient up until now but rest assured they are getting very restless the way the team is currently performing. It’s time for accountability and a ruthless approach to standards being met.
 
I Remember Bluey said:

AFL 2022: Mick McGuane’s eight-point plan to turn around Essendon’s fortunes​

Essendon’s midfield is floundering and the Bombers have a former Brisbane engine-room guru coaching forwards, so, Mick McGuane asks, is Blake Caracella still the answer?

Ruthless teams win premierships. Nice teams finish last
.
What does one of Melbourne’s biggest clubs — Essendon — stand for right now?

The brand of football the Bombers are playing is flaky, they’re inconsistent, unpredictable and — quite frankly — they’re selfish.
They are flaky because of their contest work, which urgently needs addressing.

They are inconsistent because you don’t know what you will get week-to-week from individuals or the team.
They are unpredictable because their midfielders prefer to go-sideways rather than having a go-forward mentality, which is a nightmare for their forwards.

And they are selfish because too many players don’t conform to their roles and there is a reluctance to buy into pressure, tackling and team defence.
Right now, Essendon is a complete mess and if coach Ben Rutten does not right the ship in the final eight weeks he will be under significant pressure to keep his job.
Here are eight things that need to be addressed if this proud club is to turn its fortunes around.

1. INVEST IN PRESSURE AND TACKLING

We keep hearing from Rutten that the Bombers’ attack comes on the back of strong defensive actions.

Stop the lip-service, Ben, and start to challenge your players and get them to do what you say.

Essendon supporters are sick of hearing the same things week after week without seeing any of them in action on the field.

The Bombers are ranked 18th in the competition for pressure applied and have laid the fewest tackles of any side with 677.

This is not a talent issue — it is all about intent.

Adelaide — which has only two more wins — has laid almost 200 more tackles at 872.

Consider the tackle numbers in the Crows midfield – Rory Laird has laid 88, Sam Berry 81 and Ben Keays 68.

At Essendon, Jye Caldwell leads the tackle count with 57, Dylan Shiel has 56 and then you have to go down to Zach Merrett at 41 and Darcy Parish with only 34.

Why is it that Parish has only laid that many, when Richmond ruckman Toby Nankervis has 61 to his name?

It’s embarrassing that a ruckman has nearly doubled a midfielders tackling output.

Who at Essendon wants to be Gold Coast’s midfield version of Matt Rowell, who has laid a staggering 103 tackles?

But this is not just a midfield issue, either.

Adelaide’s pressure forward Ned McHenry has laid 42 tackles and Gold Coast’s Nick Holman an incredible 66, while the Bombers’ pressure forward Matt Guelfi has laid only 24.

When your best players are reluctant to buy in and tackle, you have a serious problem.

2. CHANGE THE COACHING SET UP

Essendon recruited assistant coach Dale Tapping at the end of last year, who had a fantastic association with the Brisbane Lions over the previous five seasons.

At the Lions, he was the midfield coach and challenged a group that included Lachie Neale, Dayne Zorko, Jarryd Lyons, Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry to become better and more consistent around contested situations.

Maybe it’s time for current Essendon midfield coach Blake Caracella to swallow his pride and hand over the reins to Tapping. It might be the tonic the midfield group needs because in its current state it is floundering.

Tapping, who was with Collingwood before his time at Brisbane, has been the forwards coach at Essendon this year and has done a fantastic job with Peter Wright in particular.

But Essendon’s issue right now is at the coalface with their contest and stoppage work. They need to get better productivity from inside the contest to outside.

You have to question whether the midfield group is being coached strongly enough and being held to account by Caracella.

Every game starts and stops in the midfield and Tapping has shown he is capable of lifting the standards in this area if given the chance.

3. FIX TEAM DEFENCE

If you want to see just how badly Essendon is breaking down defensively, pull up the replay of last week’s loss to West Coast and scroll through to when there is 14:20 left on the clock in the first quarter.

Bombers forward Peter Wright has just booted a behind and Elliot Yeo kicks the ball back in to play where it is marked by Andrew Gaff in the back pocket.

Gaff kicks back to Yeo, who is still deep in defence.

In the top left of the screen, Nick Bryan finds himself near Jamie Cripps, while Mason Redman is with West Coast relief ruckman Callum Jamieson just to the right.

Redman points to Bryan and tells him to take Cripps — who is normally Redman’s man — while he picks up Bryan’s opponent in Jamieson.

Yeo kicks long to a contest on the wing and Jayden Laverde is forced to peel off his opponent Jack Darling because Redman has not kept up with Jamieson who is the target.

The ball spills behind the marking contest to Laverde’s man Darling, who handballs to Liam Ryan in space.

Bryan decides to leave Cripps spare in the corridor to push up on Ryan but doesn’t impact the contest.

He never was so why leave an opponent in such an attacking position — it was dumb to say the least.

Ryan chips the ball over the top of Bryan to a vacant Cripps, who chips to a leading Josh Kennedy inside 50.

In 16 seconds, the Eagles went from the back pocket to a mark inside-50 and Kennedy went on to kick their first goal.

This was a slow-play situation where Essendon had time to get organised and due to poor defensive decisions they get scored against. In close margin games these inexcusable decisions matter.

It is moments like these that are clearly hurting a team which is conceding 94.8 points a game — the fourth-most in the competition.

4. STOP GIFTING GAMES IN THE MIDFIELD

Essendon’s stoppage work is out of whack.

The Bombers are too much of an outside team and don’t have enough inside grunt, which might require some personnel changes to the midfield group.

Essendon needs to get serious and stop gifting midfield time to Merrett and Parish, who are high possession winners but are not winning enough contested ball.

Merrett rates below average for contested possessions, with a contested possession rate of just 27.5 per cent of his overall possession numbers.

It is time to start giving more midfield time to the likes of Archie Perkins, Ben Hobbs and Jye Caldwell, which might prick the pride of those who are accustomed to going to the centre square and playing their way.

Merrett is regularly used as a defensive sweeper, but too often chooses to corral an opponent when he could instead be in their face and either win a hard ball or tackle them.

Zach, stop corralling or retreating, it’s time to squeeze hard up against an opponent with the ball and start becoming the tackling machine your team needs.

It is little point playing a defensive midfielder if they do not have an ingrained defensive mindset.

If Merrett wants to be a future captain as we’re led to believe, he has to start leading from the front rather than playing the cheap possession game he is.

Maybe he is coached that way, but if he is the messaging must change.

If Essendon really does put value on contest work, Merrett needs to make way until he improves in that area and Tom Cutler should never play again.

Cutler is a nice outside player, but his contested possession rate is even lower than Merrett’s at 25.2 per cent and in his nine games he has laid eight tackles.

That’s an acceptance of mediocrity.

5. CHANGE THE GAME PLAN – IMMEDIATELY

The Bombers like to roll up a half-forward to saturate the stoppages between the arcs with players like Will Snelling and Kyle Langford now that they are back.

In their absence it was Caldwell and Hobbs.

It is a strategy that has worked well for Richmond over the years, but it is unsuitable and unsustainable at the Bombers.

What is does it gives the opposition a free defender and more often than not Essendon dump kicks forward when it does win the clearance to a 5 v 6 situation.

The Bombers are heavily reliant on Jake Stringer, Peter Wright or Harrison Jones marking the footy.

If it comes to ground, those three players have got limited defensive attributes to keep the ball locked in, which allows the opposition to rebound with ease using their outnumber to advantage.

If Essendon doesn’t readjust against Sydney this week, expect Tom McCartin, Paddy McCartin, Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd to be racking up season-high intercept possession numbers.

The Bombers will get monstered and won’t score.

If there was ever a week to abandon their usual game style and hold six forwards at home, it is this week. Equalising the numbers in their front third of the ground is imperative.

6. GET THE FRONT HALF MIX RIGHT

The loss of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti in attack this year has been stark and the Bombers need to find another pressure forward to replace him.

Guelfi is assuming that role and going a good job but he needs help.

Could wingman Sam Durham be the answer?

He is competitive and loves the physicality.

Maybe running defender Nick Hind could be flipped forward at times to play as a pressure forward, like he did at St Kilda.

Or could Darcy Parish be sent forward and taught the importance of frontline defensive pressure?

Essendon needs to try something in this area, because it ranks 14th for points from forward half intercepts, which is a key component of the modern game.

Devon Smith has a year to run on his contract, but the Bombers should put him up as trade bait if there are any buyers.

If there aren’t and he doesn’t want to buy in and conform to what his role is, don’t play him again.

As much as Alec Waterman can be a goalkicker, he does not provide the defensive work rate and pressure to lock the footy in, either.

And what does Brayden Ham bring to the team at the moment?

Excluding his two games as a non-playing medical substitute, he has laid eight tackles in six games and hasn’t kicked a goal.

7. GET AGGRESSIVE AT THE TRADE TABLE

The biggest hole on Essendon’s list is a key defender.

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher doesn’t appear to have come on as well as the Bombers hoped, Aaron Francis has always promised a lot but has delivered little, in fact, he has become a tease and I’m convinced their not sure where James Stewart plays his best footy or is he just not good enough.

The Bombers need to get aggressive and find someone to help their undersized defence and also help their future key defender, Zach Reid develop.

Could Jeremy McGovern be enticed out of West Coast with a three or four-year deal?

Alex Keath is out of contract at the Western Bulldogs and could be another target.

Essendon’s list management team needs to find a way to bring in a big-bodied key defender so that undersized pair Laverde and Jordan Ridley can go back to playing hybrid intercepting roles.

8. COMMISSION AN EXTERNAL REVIEW

Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for Kevin Sheedy and Simon Madden.

But if you’re going to do a review of the football department, do it properly and keep club legends out of the picture.

You need to have an open-minded outside view from someone who does not have any emotional attachments to people at the club and can sit down and make a balanced assessment of what is wrong.

Adelaide brought in Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall for a review and Carlton brought in former Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich for its review.

If Essendon wants to get to the bottom of what is going wrong at the club and how to fix it, it needs to conduct a proper external review now.

The Bombers faithful need answers.

They have been very patient up until now but rest assured they are getting very restless the way the team is currently performing. It’s time for accountability and a ruthless approach to standards being met.
Click to expand...
Some very salient points in there.
 
I Remember Bluey said:

AFL 2022: Mick McGuane’s eight-point plan to turn around Essendon’s fortunes​

Essendon’s midfield is floundering and the Bombers have a former Brisbane engine-room guru coaching forwards, so, Mick McGuane asks, is Blake Caracella still the answer?

Ruthless teams win premierships. Nice teams finish last
.
What does one of Melbourne’s biggest clubs — Essendon — stand for right now?

The brand of football the Bombers are playing is flaky, they’re inconsistent, unpredictable and — quite frankly — they’re selfish.
They are flaky because of their contest work, which urgently needs addressing.

They are inconsistent because you don’t know what you will get week-to-week from individuals or the team.
They are unpredictable because their midfielders prefer to go-sideways rather than having a go-forward mentality, which is a nightmare for their forwards.

And they are selfish because too many players don’t conform to their roles and there is a reluctance to buy into pressure, tackling and team defence.
Right now, Essendon is a complete mess and if coach Ben Rutten does not right the ship in the final eight weeks he will be under significant pressure to keep his job.
Here are eight things that need to be addressed if this proud club is to turn its fortunes around.

1. INVEST IN PRESSURE AND TACKLING

We keep hearing from Rutten that the Bombers’ attack comes on the back of strong defensive actions.

Stop the lip-service, Ben, and start to challenge your players and get them to do what you say.

Essendon supporters are sick of hearing the same things week after week without seeing any of them in action on the field.

The Bombers are ranked 18th in the competition for pressure applied and have laid the fewest tackles of any side with 677.

This is not a talent issue — it is all about intent.

Adelaide — which has only two more wins — has laid almost 200 more tackles at 872.

Consider the tackle numbers in the Crows midfield – Rory Laird has laid 88, Sam Berry 81 and Ben Keays 68.

At Essendon, Jye Caldwell leads the tackle count with 57, Dylan Shiel has 56 and then you have to go down to Zach Merrett at 41 and Darcy Parish with only 34.

Why is it that Parish has only laid that many, when Richmond ruckman Toby Nankervis has 61 to his name?

It’s embarrassing that a ruckman has nearly doubled a midfielders tackling output.

Who at Essendon wants to be Gold Coast’s midfield version of Matt Rowell, who has laid a staggering 103 tackles?

But this is not just a midfield issue, either.

Adelaide’s pressure forward Ned McHenry has laid 42 tackles and Gold Coast’s Nick Holman an incredible 66, while the Bombers’ pressure forward Matt Guelfi has laid only 24.

When your best players are reluctant to buy in and tackle, you have a serious problem.

2. CHANGE THE COACHING SET UP

Essendon recruited assistant coach Dale Tapping at the end of last year, who had a fantastic association with the Brisbane Lions over the previous five seasons.

At the Lions, he was the midfield coach and challenged a group that included Lachie Neale, Dayne Zorko, Jarryd Lyons, Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry to become better and more consistent around contested situations.

Maybe it’s time for current Essendon midfield coach Blake Caracella to swallow his pride and hand over the reins to Tapping. It might be the tonic the midfield group needs because in its current state it is floundering.

Tapping, who was with Collingwood before his time at Brisbane, has been the forwards coach at Essendon this year and has done a fantastic job with Peter Wright in particular.

But Essendon’s issue right now is at the coalface with their contest and stoppage work. They need to get better productivity from inside the contest to outside.

You have to question whether the midfield group is being coached strongly enough and being held to account by Caracella.

Every game starts and stops in the midfield and Tapping has shown he is capable of lifting the standards in this area if given the chance.

3. FIX TEAM DEFENCE

If you want to see just how badly Essendon is breaking down defensively, pull up the replay of last week’s loss to West Coast and scroll through to when there is 14:20 left on the clock in the first quarter.

Bombers forward Peter Wright has just booted a behind and Elliot Yeo kicks the ball back in to play where it is marked by Andrew Gaff in the back pocket.

Gaff kicks back to Yeo, who is still deep in defence.

In the top left of the screen, Nick Bryan finds himself near Jamie Cripps, while Mason Redman is with West Coast relief ruckman Callum Jamieson just to the right.

Redman points to Bryan and tells him to take Cripps — who is normally Redman’s man — while he picks up Bryan’s opponent in Jamieson.

Yeo kicks long to a contest on the wing and Jayden Laverde is forced to peel off his opponent Jack Darling because Redman has not kept up with Jamieson who is the target.

The ball spills behind the marking contest to Laverde’s man Darling, who handballs to Liam Ryan in space.

Bryan decides to leave Cripps spare in the corridor to push up on Ryan but doesn’t impact the contest.

He never was so why leave an opponent in such an attacking position — it was dumb to say the least.

Ryan chips the ball over the top of Bryan to a vacant Cripps, who chips to a leading Josh Kennedy inside 50.

In 16 seconds, the Eagles went from the back pocket to a mark inside-50 and Kennedy went on to kick their first goal.

This was a slow-play situation where Essendon had time to get organised and due to poor defensive decisions they get scored against. In close margin games these inexcusable decisions matter.

It is moments like these that are clearly hurting a team which is conceding 94.8 points a game — the fourth-most in the competition.

4. STOP GIFTING GAMES IN THE MIDFIELD

Essendon’s stoppage work is out of whack.

The Bombers are too much of an outside team and don’t have enough inside grunt, which might require some personnel changes to the midfield group.

Essendon needs to get serious and stop gifting midfield time to Merrett and Parish, who are high possession winners but are not winning enough contested ball.

Merrett rates below average for contested possessions, with a contested possession rate of just 27.5 per cent of his overall possession numbers.

It is time to start giving more midfield time to the likes of Archie Perkins, Ben Hobbs and Jye Caldwell, which might prick the pride of those who are accustomed to going to the centre square and playing their way.

Merrett is regularly used as a defensive sweeper, but too often chooses to corral an opponent when he could instead be in their face and either win a hard ball or tackle them.

Zach, stop corralling or retreating, it’s time to squeeze hard up against an opponent with the ball and start becoming the tackling machine your team needs.

It is little point playing a defensive midfielder if they do not have an ingrained defensive mindset.

If Merrett wants to be a future captain as we’re led to believe, he has to start leading from the front rather than playing the cheap possession game he is.

Maybe he is coached that way, but if he is the messaging must change.

If Essendon really does put value on contest work, Merrett needs to make way until he improves in that area and Tom Cutler should never play again.

Cutler is a nice outside player, but his contested possession rate is even lower than Merrett’s at 25.2 per cent and in his nine games he has laid eight tackles.

That’s an acceptance of mediocrity.

5. CHANGE THE GAME PLAN – IMMEDIATELY

The Bombers like to roll up a half-forward to saturate the stoppages between the arcs with players like Will Snelling and Kyle Langford now that they are back.

In their absence it was Caldwell and Hobbs.

It is a strategy that has worked well for Richmond over the years, but it is unsuitable and unsustainable at the Bombers.

What is does it gives the opposition a free defender and more often than not Essendon dump kicks forward when it does win the clearance to a 5 v 6 situation.

The Bombers are heavily reliant on Jake Stringer, Peter Wright or Harrison Jones marking the footy.

If it comes to ground, those three players have got limited defensive attributes to keep the ball locked in, which allows the opposition to rebound with ease using their outnumber to advantage.

If Essendon doesn’t readjust against Sydney this week, expect Tom McCartin, Paddy McCartin, Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd to be racking up season-high intercept possession numbers.

The Bombers will get monstered and won’t score.

If there was ever a week to abandon their usual game style and hold six forwards at home, it is this week. Equalising the numbers in their front third of the ground is imperative.

6. GET THE FRONT HALF MIX RIGHT

The loss of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti in attack this year has been stark and the Bombers need to find another pressure forward to replace him.

Guelfi is assuming that role and going a good job but he needs help.

Could wingman Sam Durham be the answer?

He is competitive and loves the physicality.

Maybe running defender Nick Hind could be flipped forward at times to play as a pressure forward, like he did at St Kilda.

Or could Darcy Parish be sent forward and taught the importance of frontline defensive pressure?

Essendon needs to try something in this area, because it ranks 14th for points from forward half intercepts, which is a key component of the modern game.

Devon Smith has a year to run on his contract, but the Bombers should put him up as trade bait if there are any buyers.

If there aren’t and he doesn’t want to buy in and conform to what his role is, don’t play him again.

As much as Alec Waterman can be a goalkicker, he does not provide the defensive work rate and pressure to lock the footy in, either.

And what does Brayden Ham bring to the team at the moment?

Excluding his two games as a non-playing medical substitute, he has laid eight tackles in six games and hasn’t kicked a goal.

7. GET AGGRESSIVE AT THE TRADE TABLE

The biggest hole on Essendon’s list is a key defender.

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher doesn’t appear to have come on as well as the Bombers hoped, Aaron Francis has always promised a lot but has delivered little, in fact, he has become a tease and I’m convinced their not sure where James Stewart plays his best footy or is he just not good enough.

The Bombers need to get aggressive and find someone to help their undersized defence and also help their future key defender, Zach Reid develop.

Could Jeremy McGovern be enticed out of West Coast with a three or four-year deal?

Alex Keath is out of contract at the Western Bulldogs and could be another target.

Essendon’s list management team needs to find a way to bring in a big-bodied key defender so that undersized pair Laverde and Jordan Ridley can go back to playing hybrid intercepting roles.

8. COMMISSION AN EXTERNAL REVIEW

Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for Kevin Sheedy and Simon Madden.

But if you’re going to do a review of the football department, do it properly and keep club legends out of the picture.

You need to have an open-minded outside view from someone who does not have any emotional attachments to people at the club and can sit down and make a balanced assessment of what is wrong.

Adelaide brought in Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall for a review and Carlton brought in former Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich for its review.

If Essendon wants to get to the bottom of what is going wrong at the club and how to fix it, it needs to conduct a proper external review now.

The Bombers faithful need answers.

They have been very patient up until now but rest assured they are getting very restless the way the team is currently performing. It’s time for accountability and a ruthless approach to standards being met.
Click to expand...

Seems to definitely be an attitude issue there, and that tackle count is deplorable. I'd love to know what's going on, is it a coaching issue, or is there a problem with the players not gelling together. From the outside there just seems to be a general malaise across the playing group.
 

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HirdsTheWord said:
absolutely agree

I will tell you here and now for free, we are not winning s**t with Paul Brasher as president. The culture is set from the top down, that's how it works and how it will always work. He talked big when he first took over but has been missing since, and the waffle he gave us at the break was a complete and utter joke. A premiership within 2-3 years. *in lol.

Essendon's senior management is a boys club, full of old boys who refuse to do whats required to get this club back on track. We need to bring someone in (like a walsh) to complete a full and proper independent review top to bottom.
Click to expand...
Im not across who has been on the board but for them to sit there all cosy and reap whatever they sow and be content with it is another example of why our club is shit.

Ive no problem with a guy like Dodoro being in his position if he is sticking to the process' he has been told to follow. If not, ship him off. That goes from the board down and something I feel isn't consistent across the Essendon Football Club.

When you look at a few people in isolation then it really answers itself, "why are we shit?"

Paul Brasher - A mouthpiece for the coteries, been on the board for some time I believe.
Xavier Campbell - Extending unannounced in the midst of one of our worst runs in recent memory is systemic of our problems.
Adrian Dodoro - Been there two decades with no finals wins, the lists he builds are 'ok' but nothing more, nothing less. Got there on the back of mates.
Kevin Sheedy - We all hope that our 'chosen one' will simply bring success like it nearly always did. The bloke is 70+ so not sure how he is going to help.

Ben Rutten - Head hunted to play a style we don't have the personell to do so.
Dale Tapping - clutching at straws but was doing great things as a midfield coach elsewhere and now brought to EFC as a fwds coach.
Blake Caracella - Controls the fwds / mids and it's two areas of the ground with the most cause of concern. Let you ponder that one
Daniel Giansiracusa - Bulldogs fwd coach and then moved into a stoppage role, now controls our backline.


These are probably the top 10 most important people at our club and every one of them answers the question why are we shit on and off the field.
 
I Remember Bluey said:

AFL 2022: Mick McGuane’s eight-point plan to turn around Essendon’s fortunes​

Click to expand...
Some very good points raised, especially when comparing player tackle count with Adelaide's who is a comparable team.

Still, I think we can't be too harsh on this Dons group. It's the 2nd youngest in the comp but the way Mick writes it's as if we are in the premiership window. I'd take more credence with what Mick said if he noted just once how young this Dons group was.

Also, if Adelaide had the run of top 4 teams at the start of the year would their stats be the same?

Mick does raise some good points though.
 
Nifft said:
Seems to definitely be an attitude issue there, and that tackle count is deplorable. I'd love to know what's going on, is it a coaching issue, or is there a problem with the players not gelling together. From the outside there just seems to be a general malaise across the playing group.
Click to expand...
I really do want to see Rutten succeed, but when l look at McGuans article, the more l realise that most of our problems are coaching issues.
We are supposed to have a terrific group of highly credentialed assistant coaches, but every line in the team is dysfunctional. As in McGuans article assistants are not working in the areas that they have made their name in. Why? We don’t show a lot of spirit or teamwork and I wonder at times if this carries on from the coaching group, who are probably just trying to survive In their jobs.
I keep hearing about the game plan, but still have no idea what it is. Whoever is responsible for implementing this needs to rethink their teaching methods cause it is not working.
All these problems come back to Rutten as he is the Head Coach. I think he is too nice a bloke and needs a harder edge. The public criticism of Stringer was definitely needed, and probably should have been applied to a few others to.
 
My Podcast cohost has had an indepth look at that stats since Round 9 (the last Sydney game) and there's actually some encouraging signs in a lot of key metrics. Long thread, but worth a read:

 
Kyptastic said:
My Podcast cohost has had an indepth look at that stats since Round 9 (the last Sydney game) and there's actually some encouraging signs in a lot of key metrics. Long thread, but worth a read:

Click to expand...

ill say it, bloody brilliant read mate. Well done and to everyone else, well worth the read :thumbsu:
 
I Remember Bluey said:
If Essendon really does put value on contest work, Merrett needs to make way until he improves in that area and Tom Cutler should never play again.

Cutler is a nice outside player, but his contested possession rate is even lower than Merrett’s at 25.2 per cent and in his nine games he has laid eight tackles.

That’s an acceptance of mediocrity.
Click to expand...

This really sums it up. McGuane getting straight to the heart of it. 2022 Footy is a pressure game and we bring less heat than some VFL teams. People can argue all they want about the talent of our list, but it wouldn't matter who we had out there if the 18 blokes on the field aren't wholly committed to playing 4 quarters of high intensity pressure.

If a player isn't buying in to that mentality, get them out of the team (or at least don't gift them CBAs) and let somebody willing to have a crack take the spot. And if we don't have anyone on the list willing to do it, then get the broom out and let's do something drastic at year's end. Pay out contracts, cut without mercy: I don't care what their surname is or what their stat sheet looks like or what column inches have said about them, if they're not mad-dog hungry for the pill, they can go play somewhere else and we'll invest in someone else.
 
eth-dog said:
Some very salient points in there.
Click to expand...
Also a bit of shallow stuff as well. Reply not aimed at you :thumbsu:

1. This is fair enough but it is also a list issue. You have to have a core of hard working players to drag the rest into it. If the senior players are not inclined to do it then it is hard to set the bar. Something has to give with a few.

2. I do not really buy into this. Are we saying that the coaches do not meet and swap ideas ? Are we saying we are so insular that Tapping can not have a voice outside his own line ? I am calling BS on the idea that a line coach can not / does not have input outside his own line. We used to do it at under 18 level in suburban footy.

3. Fair enough to pull Redman up but are we really expecting a 5 game ruck to have the team defense worked out ?

4. Given we have not had an AFL listed player playing midfield in the VFL there has been no selection pressure in that area . Merrett has not actually been in the first choice midfield mix. Parish. Well I have had plenty to say on that already.

5. I agree with. Have never been a fan of the extra at the contest and it is something that has carried through several coaches and not just the current group. Bomber Thompson started us on that path and we have never gone back for some reason.

6. Is a list management issue and something most here identified last year. Nothing they can really do short term other than hope Menzie makes it. they knew they had an issue as the tried to get Hill and Fredo jnr was given a shot at the list. Longer term we have Tex plus Davey x 2 potential. Maybe Sheezel.

7. Not going to bring in much with those trade options. Alex Keath is 100% signed and sealed at the Dogs. Would sooner back the young blokes we already have.

8. I do not agree but I am in the minority. The only thing that needs a review in my opinion is board operations and outside interference from certain coterie groups .

I also want to add the question of what is the goal here ? I know the club has set challenging for a flag goals but lets be real here. The goal should not be flag by 2024/2025. It is unrealistic. The goal really should be going to the draft again next year as well and turning the list over until we have enough players that can take us from our current culture and into something else.
 

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