I’m all for optimism. Gee, in sport you need to own it. Seasons can be long and torturous for many football supporters, and if it wasn’t for positive thinking and optimism, well the future could look as bleak as it realistically may be.
Football coaches have to be optimistic creatures.
Imagine a coach turning up to a press conference after his side has been pumped and saying, “Well, how bad are we? We may as well stop playing now because we are going to get smashed like this when we play against a decent team, week in and week out.”
Well they wouldn’t would they? And young Jimmy Hird played it straight out of the coach’s playbook on Saturday night after his Bombers were woeful.
“The way we’re kicking the ball is not what we would like,” Hird said after the 69-point loss to Geelong. But wait, there’s more.
“We can’t cut their feet off and put new ones on. If we could we might have tonight, but we can’t.
“We didn’t kick the ball well, we didn’t handle the pressure of Geelong and when there wasn’t pressure we didn’t execute our skills.
“I don’t think it’s crisis time.
“We can turn it around. You can turn it around with a bit of hard work…
“It’s a thoroughly disappointing performance tonight, but it’s not the end of the world in that we have another game in seven days’ time.”
He’s right. A week is a long time in football. But that won’t erase the memories and pain which Essendon members and fans suffered on Saturday night.
And will a week help their aspirations of a top-eight finish?
Let’s see what 2015 has brought them: somehow they managed an upset two-point win over Hawthorn, plus a win by a similar margin over St Kilda, a 21-point beating of the easybeats Carlton, and a decent win over Brisbane.
Their previous five losses were, some would say, respectable against good opposition. Not a genuine thrashing among them. But regardless, they were losses and then the belting on Saturday against the Cats.
Next comes a clash in Perth against the West Coast Eagles, a team bullying sides at the old Subiaco, followed by a date with revenge against the Hawks at the MCG.
They are only two wins out of the eight right now, but if they drop these next two games, to be 4-8 at that point might not be a good thing for their finals’ ambitions.
Last year the Tigers stunned so many when they 3-9 after 12 matches, lost the next, then won their last nine to make the finals in eighth position.
The only other time since the top eight began back in 1994, where a team has come from having lost eight of their first 12 matches to reach the finals, was way back in 1995 when the Brisbane Bears were 4-8, before winning six of their last 10 to squeak into the final eight with a ‘losing’ record of 10-12.
The only other occasions when a team has only won four of their first 12 but gone on to make the finals was in 1995, when the Western Bulldogs went for 4-1-7 before finishing on 11-1-10 for seventh, and then again in 2011 when the Saints were also 4-1-7 and won eight of their last 10 to make September action.
The optimist in me says it certainly can happen. The realist says it’s going to be awful difficult, but that’s if the Dons do lose those matches to the Eagles and the Hawks. The optimist says they won’t. The realist? Well if they play with the effort and spirit they did on Saturday, they won’t be winning.
And that was the thing – skill errors, you can’t excuse but they at least explain a few things, but the one instance which stands out for me was late in the game with the score at 102-28, and Andrew Mackie bombed one in from outside the 50m. It went over the heads of the pack and was read best by Stevie Johnson.
He gathered, nobody laid a hand on him, and he easily slotted a goal as one Essendon defender looked as if he was totally uninterested in trying to smoother or touch the ball as it sailed by him for a goal. Said a lot to me about attitude.
Anyway, as Jimmy said, there’s always next week Essendon fans.
One thing is pretty certain – it’s unlikely Jimmy’s head will be on the chopping block, regardless of what happens in the next two weeks, or 12 weeks.
Am I now being an optimist, or a realist?
mdso
Guest
And you know this from where????? Where did you get your personal knowledge of Hird and his behaviour from I'm interested to know. Hard to do any of that when you are already gagged. But you'd know that already. Stick to the facts rather than pretending you know them. Or get a job with AFL media.
andyl12
Guest
Conchie, the only things that's tiresome are the constant excuses and court threats we get from your camp. Fitzroy played better than this in 1993, when the AFL were trying to kick them out of the competition totally.
conchie
Roar Rookie
You state Hird 's reputation for threatening legal action, but just out of interest how many times prior to being stitched up by the AFL and ASADA has Hird threatened legal action against anyone ?. And of course can you also tell me where Hird has threatened legal action ATM against anyone ?. Do you have any proof of your claim ?.
conchie
Roar Rookie
@ andy112, your crusade against Hird is tiresome and just constantly factually incorrect. If you don't think a 3 year campaign to wear down Hird, Essendon and the players is not a relevant and reasonable excuse for form then there is something wrong with your thinking. ASADA and now WADA have drawn it all out as long as possible and BTW are still looking for a smoking gun.
shirtfront
Guest
I bet Cooney and Goddard rue the day
Tom
Guest
Macca, the blues are at least 5 years off, and even so they will be contending against sides like Collingwood, GWS, Bullgogs and Saints. All have younger players with a great deal more talent. You seem to forget that all of these sides have a younger list than Carlton and West Coast and Collingwood both have much better players at the 24-28 age range than Carlton
Macca
Guest
Murry - I was against dumping Ratten at the time but that was 3 years ago with a different board, not sure what that has to do with Malthouse trading out the likes of Laidler and allowing Betts to go so he can get Thomas across and then establishing a game style that didn't work, refusing to change that game style despite all evidence it wasn't working and refusing to give the likes of Buckley and Graham a decent run. I think there is a lot of hints that would prove my theory well short of the blues winning the last 8 in a row. As for McKenna, I doubt he would get the job but looking at what he got out of the Suns list and what Eade is getting from them he wouldn't be that bad.
Ant
Guest
You avoided the question Macca. Who has the better youngsters?
Mitcher
Guest
You seem incredibly well informed on the 'true facts' at Essendon. Since you have all the answers. Maybe you're the missing link to the mystery substances injected in the list... Do tell.
Shaw
Roar Rookie
Silly me. Obviously dumping a club legend to hookup with an archrival's ex was not carlton's fault they were bewitched by the moustache and promises of flowers (daisies) & chocolate (Flags) That's way to simplistic I think. If the blues storm home like the tigers did last year it would back up your (justified) comments regarding set up, style and selections.. But there's still the question of who next? Guy Mckenna wants the job, that must be an exciting prospect! Carlton's issues are bigger than mick, like the bomber 's are bigger than hird. Will be interesting to see what unfolds...
Macca
Guest
Jax - in 2007 the blues won 4 games in 2011 they missed the prelim by a kick and in 2015 the are back at the bottom.i am not saying the blues will win a premiership in 4 years just that 4 years is a long time in football and it isn't unreasonable to expect they might be in contention, remember I did say probably not definitely.
Macca
Guest
Murray - Malthouses was the cause, he had them playing a game style that was so terrible it was de motivating, all long bombs to contests and slow ball movement plus we had everyone playing defensively - 2 taggers in the midfield and 2 in the forward line, now we are playing entertaining football which is enjoyable to play and watch.
WhereIsGene
Guest
It could be Little was forced to offer Hird such an outlandish inducement in order to persuade him to accept the 12 month ban the AFL was insisting on in the negotiations prior to Mike Fitzpatrick announcing Essendon's "governance" penalties. Little announced Hird's 2 year contact extension around this time, presumably his holiday in France was included in the package. Knowing Hird's reputation its certain he would've threatened legal action if he didn't get his way. He may have also threatened to go public with everything he knew about the drug scandal, including details of which board were a party to the internal coverup & record shredding fest.
andyl12
Guest
Oh right, so I guess Hird didn't champion the Weapon's actions at all. And never mind that the Weapon and the Danker were in constant communication about how to make their respective progarmmes complement each other, and never mind that when Hird discovered the injuries he contacted Dank and not the Weapon- see article below. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-drugs-saga-how-stephen-dank-ran-the-controversial-supplement-program/story-fni5f6kv-1227281669383 This is not Hird-bashing, this is simply me stating facts which parochial Essendon fans prefer to ignore. Believe me- if it was Damien Hardwick doing this at Richmond I'd be saying the same thing.
Macca
Guest
Phillip - in the next 3 -4 years the bombers will lose Watson, Fletcher, Co. Oney, Goddard, Stanton, Chapman & Winderlich through retirement while the blues will lose Carrazzo, Simpson & Judd, the bombers will need a lot more out of their under 23s than the blues and the blues will get better access to to young players going forward.
Shaw
Roar Rookie
I agree his game plan and selections were sub optimal, but I'm also sure he didn't coach the players to urinate about and occasionally lay a tackle if you can be bothered... Yes the team is playing better after the circuit breaker and the pressure of any expectation being lifted (which is good) but don't ignore the fact that playing group owns those uncompetitive performances. Malthouse was a symptom of carlton's issues not the cause.
jax
Guest
You don't even have a coach yet Macca so I'd water those expectations down just a little if I were you but I love your optimism and loyalty. Your prediction is an absolute best case scenario with quite a bit of luck throw in and achieving that is easier said than done. Yes I did Port rise but it took them years of hard work and a change of change of coach to 'seemingly pop out of nowhere'. Same for WC who also 'miraculously popped' this year when the reality is that they had building towards this for many years as have the Dogs. I did that it's not impossible but the reality is that I think you are starting from a lower base. Why put the added pressure on yourselves to rise so quickly to premiership contention? It's far more important to do it correctly and make it sustainable. Fast rises can quickly turn into fast crashes in some cases e.g. Blues, Dons and Lions.
Ant
Guest
Absolute rubbish. Those injuries were purely as a result of the Weapon's muscle program which had zero to do with supplements (if you had any idea, you'd know that AOD and Thymosin don't help recovery anyway and are as harmless as Swisse supplements) and everything to do with too much muscle mass resulting in soft tissue tears. Anyone who knows anything about muscle programs knows that too much muscle can equal an increased risk of strains. Quite simply, too much time was spent in the gym. Don't let facts get in the way of a good 'sack Hird' story.
andyl12
Guest
The 2012 soft-tissue injuries were because of the injection programme that Hird championed, and much of the good form we've seen from 2011-2014 was Thompson's work. It says much about Thompson that in the first year after he leaves, the club looks like falling to its worst result since the Knights era.
Shaw
Roar Rookie
@ mods: Rodger that. Will keep my potty mouth in check. Thanks