Here’s the thing, right? When your team sucks, you want to be able to find something.
You want to look at what you’re watching and even though it is hurting you more than a mere sporting club that you choose to follow should, you want to be able to see a glimmer. Some sort of speck. You want hope.
This seems to be the issue with Essendon. They manage to give us hope in different forms year after year after year, only to rip it away as swiftly and equally painful as a drunk mate waxing your eyebrow.
It’s been 22 years since we trotted out the greatest team of all time onto the park.
I was in Grade 6 so I was definitely old enough to remember watching the game and enjoying it, but not old enough to truly appreciate it.
It’s now been over 6400 days since Essendon have won a final as that Twitter account is constantly reminding us.
I’ve already jokingly resigned myself to the fact I may not live to see another Essendon flag, a joke that unfortunately is losing its punchline rapidly.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Since that 2000 season we have been an absolute disaster. I went back and had a look at all the win-loss records and jotted down my memories of things that have happened in the 22 years since then.
My memories are as follows:
2001 – 69-point comeback and Gary Moorcroft’s GOAT mark
2003 – Scott Lucas moves to centre half back and kills it
2004 – James Hird’s last-quarter, game-winning goal and hug against West Coast
2007 – Kevin Sheedy and Hird retire
2012 – 8-1 start (!) followed by a 3-10 finish, and missing the finals. Jobe Watson’s Brownlow (and it is still Watson’s)
2016 – Top-up season with the emergence of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti.
Eight memories in 22 years.
Since 2002 we have won more than 12 games in a season twice. Thirteen wins and a semi-final loss in 2003 and 14 wins in 2013, which ended in us missing the finals anyway as a supplements penalty.
Not exactly anything to jump up and down about.
Back to the hope now, however. And before anyone mentions anything, I don’t care about your team.
I don’t care about Saints not winning a flag since Napoleon was roaming around Europe. North Melbourne being close to having to relocate doesn’t even register with me. I care about my team sucking.
Back to the hope. Year after year we disappoint, and yet free agents are still attracted to us. Devon Smith, Dylan Shiel, Jake Stringer. Adding these three guys alone to a team should raise the ceiling.
There are a couple of issues with that though. Stringer can’t stay healthy and the other two came from the GWS factory where the flaws of the individual are covered by the sheer magnitude of skill the rest of the team possesses.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Smith drifts in and out of games like a ten-year-old. His defensive efforts are bad when he is drifting around, but that stuff doesn’t get as much attention when you have guys like Lachie Whitfield, Josh Kelly and Jacob Hopper covering for you in the midfield and Phil Davis and Nick Haynes manning the back line.
Was anyone aware that Dylan Shiel can’t actually kick a football to where he intends it to go before he came to Essendon? Again, that might get lost when you have ball users like Whitfield and Kelly to defer to.
We’ve always seemed to have hope. Last year it was Nik Cox who came on strong but is currently going through the sophomore slump to end all sophomore slumps.
Andy McGrath, who I have always liked because you can see he cares, keeps flirting with taking the next step, but seems to slip just before he reaches it.
Darcy Parish is probably the most skilled bloke on our team, unfortunately he can play like too many people have said that to him and the effort goes out the window.
(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Zach Merrett and Jordan Ridley are guns.
I love Dyson Heppell, but he should be handing the captaincy over to the later of those two sooner rather than later.
Outside of that though? Archie Perkins, Sam Draper and Jye Caldwell have all shown flashes, but is it too much to ask to have more than flashes after 20-plus years of waiting?
Hope is a dangerous thing. It can fill your insides with a false sense of warmth that have you walking tall.
Sometimes hope is enough to see you through the hard times because it is there, and you can see it. As an Essendon fan though, right now, the hope is getting harder and harder to find.
And one last thing. If we throw a ridiculous offer at Jordan De Goey as people have suggested, that could be it for me and Essendon.
Morals and ethics trump football results every time. He should not be the hope Essendon is looking for.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I guess we were both wrong! Merrett was excellent and Stringer contributed
IDeals22
Roar Rookie
Hir was involved with Shane charter since his playing days - (link supplied: Essendon coach James Hird linked to convicted drug trafficker Shane Charter - Herald Sun) Charter was arrested for drug importation during the investigation into Essendon's drug use. (Link supplied: Club link to drug dealer THE AGE)
IDeals22
Roar Rookie
Can I point oiut that during Hird's playing career, his "suppliments" were allegedly supplied by Shane Charter, who allegedly supplied them to Dank during the Essendon Drug scandal.
IDeals22
Roar Rookie
:laughing:
IDeals22
Roar Rookie
Their biggest problem remains their inability to admit their faults and work on them. Some of these comments show its not limited to the club. It wasn't a "suppliments" saga, it was a drugs / doping scandal where players knowingly participated in thousands of injections while they hid the facts from the AFL. They were suspended. Jobe was and is a drug cheat and is not a Brownlow medallist because of it.
Jason
Guest
As a Essendon Member and Supporter for over 50 years , I am thinking l have nearly had enough of all the Crap , Dyson Is a Lovely Bloke but he needs to Step aside , But Essendon’s Biggest Problem is our Recruiting Team , As everyone at Essendon and the Media continue to Pump up Adrian Dodoro and are always making out how Brilliant he is , He has way to much Power and if there honest he needs to go or if Essendon love him so much then keep him at the Club but Not as our Main Recruitment Man get him in another Role all together Regards Jason One Very Disappointed Member
DJCJ
Guest
Don't forget Hird did not bring Dank to the club. It was Dean Robinson (who he himself was recommended by Bomber Thompson). Dank reported to Robinson, who then had little interest in controlling Dank or show any duty of care in records and governance. Not to mention when Hird questioned Robinson on the programme, Robinson threatened Hird on several occasions. Both the Robinson and Dank appointments were signed-off by Paul Hamilton - Director of Football at that time. But like everything in this sorry saga, most of the facts were lost on the footballing public.
Eureka
Guest
Only following orders is not an excuse, it’s for sheep and that’s what the majority are. One or more players refused to follow orders. Maybe because they thought for themselves and did a little research?
DJCJ
Guest
Merrett and Stringer named in the squad is a marketing ploy - I honestly believe that. Its an Essendon home game, and that might mean a few extra thousand buy tickets over the Thu-Sat period (before the final 22 is named) thinking Essendon are no longer 'no chance' to perhaps 'some chance'.
DJCJ
Guest
...and don't forget being 13-3 in 2013 as well. Hird could actually coach and if it wasn't for the Weapon self-destructing within the club (and his offsider Mad Scientist) who knows what would've happened. We may very well had seen an Ess v Haw GF again in 2014 or 2015.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Can't see Merrett playing, and Stringer is surely only an outside chance. I think it's a bit of wishful thinking and we'll one or see both of them cut from the final squad. Playing them before they are ready and risking further injury would be lunacy.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Nah, it's both. They do get sucked into the contest too much (and often have an extra man there, rather than behind the ball as most teams do), but there is also a lot of one way running. If there wasn't, they would at least be chasing their opponents away from stoppages, rather than just letting them go altogether.
Andrew Powell
Roar Rookie
I like this reply a lot. That line was more about other supporters and the issues that they might have with their clubs. I don't want to hear from them as I only care about Essendon as a supporter. As a team I would be gutted to hear we weren't looking around the league at what other teams have implemented to bring the club back to success. Even looking down the road at Carlton and them finally clearing house in the front office at the end of last year and starting fresh. When the walls are looking stark you need a fresh coat of paint. I think Essendon might be at the wall painting portion of this never ending rebuild.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
AFL site says these are ins, which surprised me. Jake Stringer, Kaine Baldwin, Nick Bryan, Zach Merrett Dont think that is right
Aransan
Roar Rookie
Hird made a serious mistake, he was taken in by a con man — these people can be highly intelligent and very persuasive. Hird has paid a big price and should be allowed to move on with his life. I believe he still has much to offer Australian Rules.
Kick to Kick
Roar Rookie
And before anyone mentions anything, I don’t care about your team….I care about my team sucking. To be provocative I reckon this is part of the Essendon problem and mindset. Don’t respect other teams. Don’t analyse their history, battles, turn arounds. Above all don’t learn from them. Plenty of teams have sucked and then battled to success.,Being charitable, the supplements saga wasn’t blatant cheating. But it was a feckless attempt to find a shortcut - to achieve an edge without bothering with the hard grind put in at other clubs. And the gullibility in embracing a snake-oil merchant like Stephen Dank who offered quick results, is emblematic. The current version is if you dazzle and score heavily you don’t really have to defend. More snake-oil. The club, players, coaches and administrators could to look at other clubs. How Richmond and Melbourne became champions by embracing a team first, less selfish ideal. How a coach like Chris Fagan succeeds by respecting his opponents. I know this is just one fan wishing more for his club and good luck to him, but there’s an element at Essendon of wanting the magic pudding rather than looking and learning.
berrlins
Roar Pro
I think last seasons finals appearance maybe hurt Essendons more than helped, they were lucky to be a finals side having gotten to 11 wins mostly against bottom sides (they're the only team in the last 10 years to make the finals on 11 wins. Internally they know they'd far from the finished product and the squad they have now needs change and work to get them to a flag. Their midfield is too small and their forward line too raw and I think for once their coach knows that and has said as much. Is De goey the answer? No, not for the price he will want, I could see the sense in going for Dunkley again. But I'm biased as a dogs supporter, I think more than anything they need time.
Bobbo7
Guest
Cultural issues. The fact so many supporters still support Hird and bury their heads about the supplements saga is unbelievable. If a coach of a team I support allowed that to happen I would want them banned for life.
Aransan
Roar Rookie
Yes, please, please!
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Come on everyone lets all rile up the Bombers just in time for Anzac day...sigh