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Opinion
They’re a funny old mob, Essendon. They just don’t do things very well.
We know they don’t win many games of football. They haven’t done that well for over 20 years now.
But they don’t lose very well either – they don’t often finish in the bottom four, and almost never in the bottom two or three in that time, in order to access prime draft picks and trade capital.
They have redefined mediocrity for over two decades now, forever middle-of-the-road, seducing themselves into thinking they are better than they are and managing their list accordingly (hello Adrian Dodoro).
Occasionally they will play a final and lose by 10 goals.
Late last year, I wrote that the Bombers were a bruise-free football club, lacking hard-nosed leadership.
Brad Scott clearly agreed and went about implementing the already infamous “Essendon Edge” that we have already heard so much about.
Unsociable football is of course not a new phenomenon. Looking at this century alone, when the game has never been cleaner or fairer, every dynasty team has also been the toughest, and it is usually something that grows after their first premiership.
Brisbane 2001-03, Geelong 2007-11, Hawthorn 2013-15 and Richmond 2017-20 all had the same characteristics.
They all went hard at both the ball and the man. The first flag gave them all vindication and a swagger that they took into subsequent seasons.
They knew they were the best and wanted to act like it. Oftentimes they would drop “easy” games, but switch into assault mode against a worthy challenger.
They bullied teams as well as beating them.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Brad Scott was part of the Brisbane era, so he knows what he wants to see, and had decided on a “fake it until you make it” strategy with his playing group, almost all of whom are the type of people you’d love to see if your daughter was bringing someone home for family dinner.
The thing with effective unsociable football, and the common denominator with all those teams above, is that they didn’t talk about it. They just played that way as a natural evolution of their dominance.
Whereas Essendon is broadcasting it, and we are talking about it at every avenue after their Round 1 win.
The classic part about that was they only beat Hawthorn, fresh off a 15th-placed finish last year. Not just that, the Hawks actually had more contested possessions than the Bombers in that game, had more inside 50s and more scoring shots.
The mentality is correct for the Dons. It really is. And they played some excellent football on Saturday night against Sydney.
Despite the defeat, they played much better than they had against the Hawks. But keep that sort of talk as an internal benchmark, and let commentators and opposition sides declare you as being hard to play against.
Earn the respect by doing instead of talking.
In terms of where the Bombers are going, a five-goal loss to Sydney right now is a very fair reflection of where they are at as a team.
The Swans are faster, fitter, more skilful. But that level of football from the Dons may well be enough to play finals this year, if they can sustain it.
Although, The Roar Editor Tim Miller gave us some insight on where their gameplan is breaking down, earlier in the week.
But the question from a future perspective is, how are Essendon going to separate themselves from the pack? As any North Melbourne fan will tell you, it won’t be through anything the coach does, tactical dullard that he is.
Given the body shape of their midfield players, they are never going to be as tough inside or as hard defensively as the way a side like Melbourne plays.
Nor do they look capable of the sort of slickness embodied by Sydney and GWS at the moment, or Collingwood last year. It will be hard for their possession-conscious players to embrace the chaos that served Richmond so well.
Where is their edge going to come from, to leapfrog the rest of the competition at some point? It’s not obvious right now. But that’s what they’ll have to unlock.
