Why Were Essendon So Highly Fancied Before Round 1?

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Strangely enough they are still getting pumped up. Saw one pumping up Darcy Parish as the leading ball winner this year and another one saying Stringer is the most important player in the league.

Just odd.
 
Strangely enough they are still getting pumped up. Saw one pumping up Darcy Parish as the leading ball winner this year and another one saying Stringer is the most important player in the league.

Just odd.
It was a typo they meant Self-Important Player in the League.
 
Were the majority and the "experts" just wrong?

Yes. They spoke before engaging their brains.

Was this always going to happen?

Essendon were most likely to regress this year, though I had them regressing to mid-table as other sides leap-frogged them. Injuries to key players haven't helped, a tough run to start the season putting the team under a lot of scrutiny despite it always being likely they'd lose their first 4 didn't help either.

The team running out each week is usually in the bottom 2-4 least experienced sides of the round, sometimes the least experienced.
 

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They are the biggest hype club of all time. In the media, on social media......preseason everyone of their players is 'training the house down', ' in the form of his life'......

....ever since needle-gate, they have become cult like in their self reflection and this is the intrinsic problem with the club.

No one over rates their players like EFC does.
 
They are the biggest hype club of all time. In the media, on social media......preseason everyone of their players is 'training the house down', ' in the form of his life'......

....ever since needle-gate, they have become cult like in their self reflection and this is the intrinsic problem with the club.

No one over rates their players like EFC does.

You know it was Mick Malthouse who said Essendon could win the Premiership right? No one at Essendon was pumping them up.
 
Every year you guys overate your list. Every drafted player is 'elite', every recruit is a gun.

Sounds to me like you're confusing 'you guys' in the sense of Mick Malthouse, and the actual club.

The AFL media know Essendon generates clicks, whatever they write. They don't give a shit about accuracy.
 
That retort was so limp and lazy it could be Essendon FC's entire defensive strategy
Probably spot on. I should’ve included, one flag you fluked , had a chance to go back to back only to **** up in ‘65 by , guess who ? Essendon. Lovely.
 
Quick look at the list. They need four things immediately to be competitive:

1. A mature meat axe ruckman. Relying on a 23yo Draper to get bashed every week by older mature bodies was always a bad idea. He needs help.
2. A mature meat axe defender. A meat axe to take on the gorillas.
3. A big bodied mid who is tough. e.g. Brodie or Hopper.
4. A small tough pressure fwd. No not Will Snelling or Devon Smith. Someone much better is needed in this role.
 
Every year you guys overate your list. Every drafted player is 'elite', every recruit is a gun.
Being a member for fifty years and having missed four games in that period ( taking out COVID) and being the last bloke on earth to defend dodoro, this post is absolute ****ing bullshit.
 

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There was predictably less optimism on the Hawks board for Essendon's prospects this year.

They had a soft fixture last year and it made no sense to many why they were being rated off the back of a season where they barely scraped into finals without beating a top-eight side for the year (I think that is correct from memory).

We were "locks" for the bottom four and spoon fancies even though we beat Brisbane, drew with Melbourne and beat some other good sides throughout the year. But that was all 'for clarko' and not the fact we have some decent players.

It's funny how certain media narratives begin to self-propograte.
 
Every year for the past 20 there's articles on why this year is essendon/Carltons. They almost just copy and paste it from the year before.
Every year the general public buy the hype and get confused. Like a dog who has been tricked with a fake ball throw.

Maybe they are right about the blues this year though
 
Probably spot on. I should’ve included, one flag you fluked , had a chance to go back to back only to duck up in ‘65 by , guess who ? Essendon. Lovely.
Keep living in the past, that's where you only glory is. Leave the future to other clubs, you don't have any.
 
One can never be sure why, but you could point towards the following factors:

Since the early 2010's the Dons have been at the forefront of pioneering work in sports science. Their nutrition and supplements "regime" was carefully designed and meticulously documented. They basically sat down as a group and bought into a "whatever it takes" ethos.

The other groundbreaking approach they have instigated is the "review" into the "review".

It's only a matter of time really, and I just think Mick went one year too early with his prediction.
 
Quick look at the list. They need four things immediately to be competitive:

1. A mature meat axe ruckman. Relying on a 23yo Draper to get bashed every week by older mature bodies was always a bad idea. He needs help.
2. A mature meat axe defender. A meat axe to take on the gorillas.
3. A big bodied mid who is tough. e.g. Brodie or Hopper.
4. A small tough pressure fwd. No not Will Snelling or Devon Smith. Someone much better is needed in this role.
about bang on.
I'd add a 5th in a mature CHF.

ruck stocks are too immature
CHB - non-existent
CHF - injury prone kid
small forwards - Snelling (good), Smith (cooked), Wanganeen (raw), Guelfi (not a fwd)
big mids - non-existent. we have HFF playing roles
 

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Why Were Essendon So Highly Fancied Before Round 1?

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