Why Were Essendon So Highly Fancied Before Round 1?

[Freomaniac]

Most commentators arent very insightful. If you look at their ladder predictions every year they pretty much just repeat the previous year top 8, moving the younger teams up a few spots and older teams down a few spots. Happens on BF as well.

Essendon = 2021 finalist + youth = 2022 TOP 4-6

In fairness most Essendon fans seemed to be hoping to scrape into finals again at best. The overating was mostly from media and other clubs fans

In either case they are better then they are showing at the moment. Wouldnt be surprised if they jump up again next year after everyone predicts a bottom 4 finish.

I had a similar view too.

As you said Essendon made finals in 2021 but only snuck in.

They looked like a mid table or 5th to 12 placed side to me last season.

Hell, they made finals in 2021 but scored 1700 points in attack. And people say Ross Lyon coached sides were low scoring LoL

 

[citizen-erased]

The media overrates and overhypes them every year.

Don't get me wrong, I like the look of a bunch of their youngsters and I think it'll be a fairly quick turnaround, however some of their more experienced players need to call it a day.

2022-23 out of contracts are;
Ham, Waterman, Stewart, Voss, Francis, Baldwin, Cutler, Brand, Eyre, Guelfi, Hird, McBride, McGrath, Heppell, Hurley, Smith, Phillips, Stewart, Wanganeen, D'Ambrosia, Menzie, Bryan, Draper, Jones, Parish, Redman, Snelling, Wright, Hobbs, Zerk-Thatcher, Lord,

In bold are the guys you'd bank on moving forward.
31 players. 9 of which I'd bet are still playing AFL in 2024.

Half the list is questionable at the moment over the next season and a half.
That's not good.

 

[Freomaniac]

Essendon had a soft draw, developed some confidence and scraped into the 8 with an 11-11 record

After some pre season injuries and a tougher draw to navigate, they were never much of a chance this year

Sounds like equalization to me.

Saints suffered a similar fate in 2021. In 2020, Sanits made finals and won a final too.

That meant saints got a tough draw. Well strangely they got the worst draw compared to the other top 6 clubs. So saints in 2021 didn't make finals due to a tough draw and add their injury list too.

I look at freos horrible recruiting from the draft from 2010-15.

Gold coast and GWS played a small reason why. But also, when Freo made finals from 2012-15, Freo didnt have early picks due to their ladder position.

Again.... Equalization

 

[Cotchins Hair Piece]

when the duck were we fancied?

apart from malthouse saying one comment about us winning the flag who else thought we'd be good? This is news to me?

Yep. All here are in the 8-12 region.

Crystal Ball: Our predictions for the 2022 AFL season are in

Premiership, Brownlow, recruit of the year. We make the call

www.afl.com.au

 

[citizen-erased]

Yep. All here are in the 8-12 region.

Crystal Ball: Our predictions for the 2022 AFL season are in

Premiership, Brownlow, recruit of the year. We make the call

www.afl.com.au

I reckon we made one top 8 list just so he could post - Big call: Essendon's winless September streak to continue
He also likes Vance Joy for GF entertainment, so clearly a tool.

Very reasonable to assess that not only were we not a top 8 sides, but we're also having a disappointing season by that standard.

 

[Freomaniac]

I feel dirty for saying this, but I almost feel bad for Essendon fans who see these kind of charts. Their supporters aren't putting them together, but it's still a tacit nod to being ready to launch - and as a supporter it's hard not to feel optimistic when external sources are pumping you up.

At that point in time Hobbs hadn't even played a game, Shiel and Smith looked done and Stringer had played half an elite season as a Bomber. Plenty of the other guys are just solid role players who have finished their development arc.

Parish and Merrett are the only genuine A-graders there - one has been elite for 18 months.

Mick Malthouse really does have a knack of putting the moz on a club.

Tell us what you really think LoL.

But in all seriousness. If you want a good example on how bad Essendon are go look at their game vs the Dockers this season in 2022.

Yes the Dockers are my side but hear me out on this.

When Essendon lost to Fremantle in Docklands it wasn't a narrow win, it was a beating. Don't get me wrong, I savour any win in Docklands but the Essendon win stood out.

Freos last win over Essendon in Docklands before 2022 was back in 2010. Only one docker is left from that 2010 side that played in 2022. That was David Mundy.

Mundy was 24 years old in 2010 and 36 years old in 2022

 

[pz5151]

Yep majority of Essendon fans did not buy into the hype that was all Mick Malthouse and the media.

Most of us knew that we were going to take a step back or two and possibly miss finals but not go comeplelty backwards.

Malthouse lost his marbles in the aftermath of the 2010 GF it seems. He hasn't made close to a reasonable decision or prediction since then.

 

[RonnieRaven]

Malthouse lost his marbles in the aftermath of the 2010 GF it seems. He hasn't made close to a reasonable decision or prediction since then.

His highlight post 2010 was definitely 2015 as blues coach announcing he couldn’t see the blues losing a game only to be sacked after rd 8 and the blues winning the spoon!

 

[pz5151]

His highlight post 2010 was definitely 2015 as blues coach announcing he couldn’t see the blues losing a game only to be sacked after rd 8 and the blues winning the spoon!

haha I don't actually remember that one. People underestimate how badly he coached in 2011. Between refusing to rest the multiple players carrying injuries we had despite having sealed a top 2 spot, fostering dissent among the playing group by going on about how unhappy they all were in the media about Buckley taking over and then playing Ben Reid who could barely move on Hawkins in the GF despite him killing us while Tarrant (our best defender) was on no one as Podsiadly had already left the game, he was the main reason Collingwood didn't win that year.

 

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

What a strange thread this is. The entire premise (Essendon being highly fancied) is false yet has been taken at face value for the purpose of shitting on Essendon. Plenty of reasons to criticise the club without inventing narratives.

 

[ExcitementMachine]

Relying on tippa and stringer to back up stellar 2021 seasons was always a bridge too far.

 

[Mootsy]

Because in terms of PR it keeps us relevant, that’s about it.

 

[Cleavy]

The “wildcard” club who could be a suitor for Clarkson

“I think that list has scope.”

www.sen.com.au

media pundits/football "experts" overhyping/overrating their list.

and it continues...

"AFL great David King believes the Essendon football club is a “wildcard” in the race to sign master coach Alastair Clarkson. That’s the only (club) that I could say, if he (Clarkson) went there, could he win a flag in two years? I’d say yes. I think that list has scope."

 

[WillHayward]

The list is total dog shit.

Too many altar boys (Dodo loves his altar boys) and not enough grunt.

 

[footyfan1978]

Have the men in white coats turned up for Mick yet?

 

[Seadog]

It a

Bigfooty flogs.
St Kilda are top 4 but were apparently in no mans land before round 1 with no youth.
Go figure.

It appears bigfooty flogs were right after all.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

The list is total dog s**t.

Too many altar boys (Dodo loves his altar boys) and not enough grunt.

lol, its not dog shit. Its just incredibly young, not to mention we have the most rookie listed players. our avg games played is 54 for gods sake. This is why i cant understand for the life of me why people thought we would be good this year.

I don't deny we have holes in our list & some players are getting games when they shouldn't be, but its hardly "dog shit". Now our game plan, that's whats dog shit, that or the players simply don't understand it.

 

[Johnny Karate]

They played some good footy to make finals last year but the overhyping by people like Malthouse was ridiculous. They’ve clearly come back underdone, injured and perhaps a tad complacent which has seen them have a very shit season.

Nevertheless, they do actually have a fair bit to work with on their list. Zerrett, Parish, Perkins, Hobbs, Martin, Draper, Jones, Durham and Caldwell ft a fit and in form Stringer, Shiel, Wright and Smith is a good midfield/forward mix. The defence is thin and needs the most work but Reid, Ridley and Laverde have shown glimpses of quality, I reckon McGrath looks better as a halfback too. There are no guarantees but it looks a solid albeit quite young list that with the right input could contend in the next few years.

 

[Farang83150]

Pundits, it always is and always will be because of pundits!

 

[Gavin Excell]

A limited team with minimal prospects
Perhaps the media need to call it out for what it is

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

They played some good footy to make finals last year

7 of their 11 wins came against the bottom 6.

 

[WillHayward]

Did anyone see that Herald Sun back page last week about the Bombers brilliant young list?

"Weapons of mass selection".

 

[Zephyr Effekt]

7 of their 11 wins came against the bottom 6.

Still played some good footy though

Also 1st year of the rebuild, did you expect us to be beating top 8 teams regularly.

 

[DapperDon]

7 of their 11 wins came against the bottom 6.

Not surprising of a team that fell into finals.