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My dad once told me not to hate anyone or anything… Except for Essendon.
Yes, I’m a Carlton supporter thick and thin, have been since birth, and I hate Essendon.
I hate everything to do with the club, from their jumper (identical to my junior footy one) to Kevin Sheedy, to how they play, to the fact they also have won 16 premierships.
And now I hate them for cheating, taking performance-enhancing substances, and bringing the game into disrepute.
But I have grown huge respect for the Essendon fans, who have stood by their club thick and thin. They have not traded clubs, which I see as the height of dishonour as a diehard footy fan.
People are predicting a winless season for the first time in 52 years. But don’t write them off just yet.
Essendon can now select up to 10 top-up players for the 2016 season, but they can’t be playing AFL currently. So what do you do? Get delisted players.
Ryan Crowley has just become the first top-up player signed by the Bombers. He’s experienced, having played for ten years at the Dockers, including a grand final in 2013. He’s the kind of feisty player they’ll need.
Mark Jamar is one who springs to mind as a ruckman with Tom Bellchambers gone, and the delisted Demon actually works part-time as a ruck-coach, so there shouldn’t be many problems signing him on.
A good midfielder would be Jonathan Simpkin, who was deprived of opportunities at Geelong and Hawthorn, having been at those clubs when they were at their best, but has impressed in the VFL. There’s also former Lion James Polkinghorne, who is currently in the Bombers VFL team.
Then there’s Jordie McKenzie, three-time best clubman at the Demons, and Nick Rippon, a midfielder overlooked by clubs despite winning the JJ Liston trophy for best player in the VFL.
Another who springs to mind is Sam Dwyer, who expressed interest of playing with the Bombers. He’d be a good running midfielder.
There are plenty of small forwards at Essendon, however they are too inexperienced to lead the team. I say chuck in a couple of players like Matthew Stokes, who is a two-time premiership player at Geelong and still AFL standard, and Ahmed Saad, who has been delisted by St Kilda.
With the tall forwards, they’ve got Joe Daniher, Shaun McKernan and Patrick Ambrose all capable of filling spots, but throw in Ayce Cordy – who showed promise for the Bulldogs but got delisted – and you haven’t got a bad forward line.
And then there’s the defenders. They already have James Gwilt, Mark Baguley, Jason Ashby, Mitch Brown and Courtenay Dempsey, but they could also pick up former Kangaroo Scott McMahon, former Blue Matthew Watson, experienced Pie Clinton Young, or Docker Paul Duffield.
Regardless of who they pick up, good luck to Essendon. They’ll need it.
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