In the lead up to this year’s AFL season, many high-profile, thick-rimmed-glasses wearing, ‘credible’ football commentators have suggested that Essendon can’t possibly rise more than a few spots up the ladder from their 18th placed finish in 2016, let alone push for finals in the coming months.
The main piece of reasoning they’ve clung to in support of this claim is the fact that the Dons have only added four elite players (Dyson Heppell, Jobe Watson, Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley) to a squad that could manage just three wins in 2016.
Although it is highly irresponsible for ‘experts’ to be passing such judgment without remote consideration for the situation that John Worsfold’s men found themselves in in 2016, we’ll have a crack at pointing out to them why they might be off the mark.
1. They weren’t just any three-win team
The 2016 Bombers were not your run-of-the-mill, Richmond of 2007 team that could only get the four points on three occasions. In fact, three wins is a remarkable effort considering the circumstances.
The club named a new coach in October 2015, had 12 of its senior players ripped away in the January following, and spent the next month or so trying to convince ten delisted and/or retired blokes to come and have a kick, many of whom only agreed so that they could take home $150,000 for seven months of pretending to be in the rehab group.
Even still, the Essendon outfit of 2016 was well held up by a decent group of emerging stars. Players like Zach Merrett, Joe Daniher, Orazio Fantasia, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Michael Hartley and Darcy Parish all had breakout years, and it was the strength of their bottom 5-10 players that generally let down the side on game day.
Anyone who tuned in to watch their 2016 games against Melbourne, St Kilda, GWS, Gold Coast or Carlton would have been left with the impression that the severely under-manned Dons still had the nucleus of a successful team, and Worsfold had them playing an exciting brand of football.
2. Belief
You simply cannot underestimate the affect that genuine belief within a playing group will have on its performance.
Imagine standing across from and locking eyes with an opposition team in the middle of the MCG. There’s 22 men in peak condition, who have been training as a unit for five months, their bodies primed to the minute like those of racehorses for a Melbourne Cup, every one of them hungry to hold their spot in the team as they pursue a finals berth.
Having to go into a game of AFL football against these finely tuned machines would be an unsettling proposition for anyone, let alone a bunch of baby-faced draftees who still can’t believe they go to footy training instead of school on Monday morning, and a couple of recently retired old blokes who were eating reheated pizza for breakfast up until about a month before.
A parochial sense of self-doubt would have been nestled in the back of their minds from day dot, and in certain games it showed. You can’t manufacture self-belief, and the 2016 Dons were mentally handicapped from the start, but the 2017 edition is not.
3. We’re in unchartered territory
We can forgive a football commentator for using precedent and past examples to outline why something will or will not happen, but it is brash and careless of one’s duty to dismiss a team simply because it fits a narrative.
There has never been a club that has given ten of its senior players a year-long rest in the prime of their careers. Players have missed significant time and struggled or not struggled to come back, but this has almost always been due to serious injury, meaning much of their season off is spent watching seasons on Netflix. The banned Bombers have instead been through a 12-month training camp at St Bernard’s College (plus Ios, Barcelona and other European boot camp destinations) under fitness guru David Buttifant.
They’ve had the opportunity to rid their bodies of any wear-and-tear and essentially have the pre-season of the Gods.
This is an experiment not yet tried and tested. Will they be able to run out games? Will they struggle with the crash and bash? Will they fall in a hole? No one knows – but what we do know is that if this Club can translate 4 or more years of injustice and frustration into aggression and attentiveness on the football field, well – who knows?
Birdman
Guest
As posted elsewhere, I can deal with the comeback theme but redemption doesn't make sense as the players and many fans don't believe amends were required despite the findings against the club. The regular looking back and railing at every opportunity against the perceived injustice doesn't gel with the "we just want to move on" narrative that gets rolled out when convenient.
Redb
Roar Guru
For the actual crime committed (naive, blindly followed club directives), the punishment (suspension & others) was way over the odds.
Redb
Roar Guru
What a perfect world Cat lives in.
Redb
Roar Guru
aw, Well you better get used to remaining annoyed. If you can't place yourself in others shoes and see how this could have happened then you never will. I note not one mention of Stephen Dank - amazing how this rogue gets away without attracting the main criticism which overwhelmingly should be the case. next you'll roll out the Lance Armstrong case, won 7 TDF's, umm Essendon finished 11th.
Denam Moore
Roar Pro
Thanks mate, for the record I was never going for the injustice 'angle', but I deliberately included it (once) because that's clearly how the players feel and is what is spurring them on. People have taken one word out of a piece that was more about the personnel and mindset of the team and run with it.
Penster
Roar Guru
I guess you can't have one without the other, it was all about recovery time.
Gecko
Guest
Some good points, expressed in a ... errr... passionate way! Thanks Denam.
Cat
Roar Guru
Not one knows what else was given. No one knows what doses these mystery substances were given at. No one knows the frequency they were administered either. Many drugs have different effects at different dosages and frequency. WADA doesn't just write names of drugs on ping pong balls and randomly select which to ban. There are reasons for each and every one. Until someone comes up with a backup copy of the shredded records* we'll never know the answers. *my opinion.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I still think they'll finish just outside the eight. As most media outlets have said tho, it's bloody hard to pin down a likely position for the Dons. Especially since we don't really know how the Hawks will travel this year. As an aside, I'm not sure I'd be going for the 'injustice' angle, Denam. I believe the players got a bit of a raw deal but they only have the club to blame for that. As poorly as the AFL handled the saga I don't think it changed the eventual outcome.
JamesH
Roar Guru
aw, it's a big leap to equate 'banned substance' with 'unfair advantage'. A quick Google of TB4 will tell you that it has an alleged (still unproven) benefit in terms of speeding up the repair of injured tissue. Helpful, if true, in terms of player recovery after matches, but TB4 is not something that is going to bulk players up and make them stronger or faster. Whatever Dean Robinson's role in bringing Dank to the club, he had built a career on enhancing player strength and fitness through intense training, not drugs. EFC did the wrong thing and punishments were duly handed out. Insinuating that the players' size and strength was somehow the result of using PEDs is baseless and irresponsible.
Cat
Roar Guru
Just because a playing list is different doesn't make it 'dramatically improved'. Carlton has turned over 30 or so players in the last 2 years and have some good young kids coming through too, but they are still redhot favorites for the spoon.
Denam Moore
Roar Pro
Are you going to make me copy and paste the playing list then and now for comparison or are you capable of doing that yourself and realising how silly you sound?
Peppsy
Roar Guru
This
Cat
Roar Guru
If the supplements made them 'fall away' did they also make them better in the first half prior to the injuries?
aw
Guest
It annoys me that Essendon supporters think they were hard done by. As anlikns supporter, that year we missed the finals by one win. More specifically, by one kick. However the game we played Essendon and lost our players were said to have looked slow and under sized vs Essendon blokes the same age. Boss was sacked immediately following that game and essendons size and physicality vs Lions cited as the reason why. Also several lions players were delisted more than required number. Those players might feel Essendon doping ruined their careers. Many other decisions were made by competing clubs similarly. Also as a punter I had some money on that game, not knowing Essendon had an unfair advantage. My money hasn't been repayed. It was cheating and the consequences are immeasurable. No injustice done by anyone other than Essendon cheats.
aw
Guest
You sound like Malthouse saying it was 'hard to see a game we'll lose' right before losing every game...
Cat
Roar Guru
1. Intent is irrelevant. 2. I believe they knew they were too close to the line. That is why they collectively and consciously made a decision to hide and obfuscate the use of supplements by not declaring them on DCF's. They may not have set out to break the rules, but they certainly did not do all they could to prevent it from happening. Everyone knows an athlete has the sole and final responsibility for EVERY substance they take. This has been known for many years prior to the whole saga starting. No excuses for not knowing. Players get have been and continue to be lectured on their personal responsibility every single year.
Denam Moore
Roar Pro
Jobe and co. enduring four years of slander and a 12 month suspension considering no one believes they intended any wrongdoing is unjust.
Redb
Roar Guru
One swallow doesn't make a summer for sure. The team was undermanned in 2016 but still showed signs against full strength outfits, another year under the new kids and seasoned players such as Heppell, Watson, Hurley, etc strengthens the team. Hard to predict for a few rounds, but I reckon a good chance at top 8. Go Bombers
Redb
Roar Guru
Good.