After a dreadful start to the 2019 AFL season, Essendon have enjoyed three wins on the trot heading into today’s mammoth Anzac Day clash with Collingwood at the MCG.
Ugly losses to Greater Western Sydney and St Kilda in the opening two weeks put pressure on the Bombers, but the club responded with wins over Melbourne, Brisbane and North Melbourne to make it three from five.
A win against the Magpies in one of the biggest matches of the year would be a massive scalp for John Worsfold and his men.
Essendon’s results heading into Round 6 will have undoubtedly settled the nerves of fans anxious to see their club play finals footy, but critics are questioning the significance of the side’s winning performances so far this season.
On today’s episode of the Game of Codes podcast, Roar AFL Expert Ryan Buckland explained why he thinks the Bombers still have plenty to prove before they can be considered a genuine force in the competition.
Listen to the dicussion:
After taking on the Magpies, the Bombers will face the Cats and Swans away before returning to Melbourne to play Fremantle in a tough month of fixtures.
Subscribe to Game of Codes on iHeartRadio and Apple Podcasts to catch every episode in full and, as always, be sure to leave a review.
Cat
Roar Guru
Losing to GWS is no shame. Beating North and the Dees doesn't prove anything at all – two teams that look to be battling for the spoon the way they are playing. So that just leaves the loss to St Kilda and the win against Brisbane. Both of those should have huge asterisks next to them at this point. In a month or two those games could look quite different. I personally think St Kilda is going to sink like a rock and that loss will end up looking terrible by seasons end. Brisbane I remain unsure on, I think they may just be a middle of the table team this year so that may be an okay win. Ultimately I think Essendon ends up in that clump of teams 6th though about 12th that can look okay some days and putrid the next. They'll have some big wins and some shocking losses.
Aransan
Roar Rookie
It was a bad loss to GWS but subsequent events indicate that St Kilda are better than was anticipated. This is going to be a tough season because so many teams are at about the same level. Success will have a lot to do with how deep a club's list is and their willingness to rotate players, especially those in their first 3 years of playing.