My club would have paid overs for JD last year and essendon should have taken it. I look at our young group and I’m happy with where they’re going, how they’re being coached, and what we’re building towards. What do essendon fans feel about their club? I’ve always felt (and a few Victorian clubs are guilty of this, apologies) that they have overrated their list post the ban. There’s some great stuff there, but across the list?? I also think some coaching clarity would help. The worsfold/rutten thing cant be helping. Give rutten the reigns for a year, see where the list is at, and then take the pressure off no matter whether it is push on or rebuild. Too much pressure at that club.

But even if essendon didn’t want to go to the draft, they could have turned those draft picks into a replacement for daniher – Bruce, Jenkins, Patton all on the table. With that kind of currency and a bit of imagination they could have landed someone who did fit the profile they were after.

If essendon truly believe they are in contention- why hang onto a guy who has played 11 games in two years? Why not go for one of those ready made forwards? Split 9 into something that could have landed Bruce and Jenkins, and then gone to the draft with 5. So many permutations that don’t involve ‘well 5 and 9 doesn’t get us a ready made forward’.

Fact is Doro’s stated aim was to hang onto the list – look at the mission accomplished tweet. Don’t go blaming sydney for not trading two first rounders and heeney/blakey – when the ask was that ridiculous and the answer they wanted from Sydney clear. Essendon are perfectly entitled to hold onto their contracted player – sydney have done the same with papley, and o’keefe in the past. But I don’t remember us having some charade with their prospective clubs asking for the sky and then saying they wouldn’t come to the table.

Nice article. But the key thing – surely – is the lack of inside midfielders. They have lost Stanton, Watson, etc – who is inside doing the actual grunt work? I don’t think the game has gone past Worsfold, I just don’t think he has the cattle. You can see it in the drop in Merritt’s output this year – there’s no one to take the tag/inside work, and his possession numbers have plummeted. It’s no wonder the forward line is misfiring, there’s no one there to deliver it. Heppell looks like he’s about to blow a fuse most games, so little is his support. You can have a great spine – and I reckon Essendon do – but without descent grun in the middle, it can all be for nought, as this season proves.

The other factor, albeit a bit dubious, I reckon is Goddard. The guy looks cooked/pissed off. He was a high class player, but is sick of the mediocrity around him. He’s probably still smarting from 2010, when he practically dragged his team into that draw. And when he (rightly) loses it, he gets grief in the media. You’re then left with a player who can’t play how he wants to without fear of being told to reign it in. He was always best when he was losing it, playing on the edge. And now he’s playing within himself, letting dudes like Jed Lamb wind him up for fear of being told to reel it in. And the Bombers have lost a genuine x factor/leader because of it.

I can’t see them anywhere other than bottom four this year.

Scuttlebutt is that GWS is the next story to ‘come out’. Toxic culture, unhappy staff, etc etc. I heard this, from a pretty reliable source, a few months back. The form slump is making me wonder if it’s true…

I only just read your article on the state of QLD footy. Really great read mate – I hope you’ll write more actual articles

I don’t care who wins. I just want a good, close contest. You know – an actual FINAL!

‘Anyone want to take at stab at who England will line up?

Andersen, Broad, Finn with Ali as their spin option? Or will they go for four pace bowlers and Ali as an all-rounder?’

Stokes will be the all-rounder, Ali as the spin option, with Anderson, Broad, and one of Rolland-Jones, Wood, or Woakes I reckon.

Yeah agree with all that. Horse seems to have blamed fatigue – which is fair enough to an extent. But the Bloods haven’t been great at adapting for a few years now and they’ve struggled to adapt if things don’t go their way.

The Hawks have shown the blue print for beating this team (not withstanding the dogs who beat us out our own game last year). I honestly don’t know why Horse just doesn’t switch to man on man when they face a possession game, which is clearly our Achilles heel. Their structures just break down when faced with clarkson – Scott seems to have learnt it as well. At least man on man would create an honest, accountable contest.

Ah well. A hell of ride this year. Questions can and should be asked about Horse, but one of the great things about being a swans fan is how professionally the back office stuff happens. So nothing knee jerk please.

And now that we’re out…… Go Tiges!!!

‘There’s something about Al, and so long as that’s the case, the Hawks are in safe hands.’ – this. I don’t hugely rate this list but Clarkson is a dead set genius. Who knows what he’ll be able to wring out of them.

Yeah, but he was delisted by geelong before the dogs picked him up.

Not sure I agree with your logic that a flag at all costs is a measure of success. Mighty be worth asking a Brisbane fan if they’d hand back one of their three premierships instead of being out of the mix for 15 years?

Success is one eye to the present, and one eye to the future. Not all clubs have the financial clout of a Collingwood, and are therefore able to swallow years and years of missing finals – they have to offer hope to their supporters or suffer oblivion as revenues and memberships dwindle. If the Tom Boyd deal means an unbalanced list for the next 7 years, and the Bulldogs don’t content for another decade or longer, is that ‘success’? Does another 60 year wait for a flag mean success? Flags as a measure of success is just too simplistic a take on it I think – sure it’s the ultimate, but I for one wouldn’t want my team going all in on one year if it meant mediocrity for the next ten.

Brilliant article Les – really enjoyed reading it. As a Swans fan it’s been sad to watch the Pies slump into mediocrity. In that run they had against at the turn of the decade (I think it was 11 or 12 losses in a row), they were a team I used to massively fear playing. I hated them! But ever since 2012, they just lost that killer edge they had, and they were no longer a team to be worried about. Sad given what they were. I think you do a good job getting behind the reasons – great read.

Is this a joke?

Ha ha. Shut. Down.

3rd man up rule had a massive impact on this team imo. Haven’t been the same stoppage beasts since it came in.

I like to see stats for how Collingwood’s win/loss ration with Jamie Elliot in/out of the team. I reckon he’s a real barometer for them

‘humility’ – noun:

the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance, rank, etc.

I don’t see what this is going to gain you. Why don’t you just issue a frank and full retraction of what you said, and you’ll get yourself out of a lot of silly bother.

Well I think your comments are ill founded. They are deeply ignorant, they show a complete lack of understanding of modern Australian rules football, and simply served to highlight the sort of intense stupidity that football lovers encounter from armchair pundits who forget to think before they open their mouth. But with a full and frank apology that you’re about to give us this morning I’m sure you can dig yourself out of this rather ugly hole.

Good article Cam – all very fair. Some of those lost players really do start to look bad when you add them up. I remember arguing with someone here that COLA didn’t help us retain players. I guess you could argue the toss about when it was cancelled, but I think Tippett and buddy cost us plenty. And Tippett clearly hasn’t been worth it.

Ah well. It was a good run and I don’t think a year or two out of contention will hurt them. At least their seeing what the young guys have, and haven’t yet lost to geelong by 100 points

You completely missed florent being cleaned up with out a free, and grundy being called for, I don’t know here, maybe running toward the ball?, but yeah sure. Allirs mistake was the big one here

yeah, well the jerk store called – they’re running out of you.

I don’t think he was thought of as the fifth best – I think he was rightly seen as one of the key cogs in that midfield group. Questionable disposal at times, but an absolute ball magnet. I was definitely very sorry to see he go. McVeigh is cooked as you say, and Jack was never the most skilled of players – he was a fierce inside scrapper, who tackled fiercely. I think we let TM go not because it was assumed that core group could cover him, but because we had the younger guys Lloyd, Jones, Mills, Heeney coming through.

I think that was still probably the correct call to make at the time, given who came out of contract when and the obvious cap pressures. Hard to predict Parker and Jack would drop off so dramatically, Heeney would get the glange, and Rampe would trip over a fence. Those factors probably make TM’s departure more prominent. If all had gone to plan you could see Parker playing that pure inside roll TM used to and drifting forward when resting, and Heeney/Mills (who’ve had to cover Rampe) directing the play. At the moment Parker is having to try and do both – could be why he looks lost at times. I don’t know…

I agree with the thrust of this article though. Sydney haven’t been a hard nosed defensive unit for a while, and precision going forward has not been their strong suit. They’re fine on the fast break, but in general play with defensive structures in place they’ve been a bomb it long team for a while now. Fast teams know how to counter it, and if they haven’t blown out to a massive lead (ala Geelong or Adelaide in the finals), then they struggle to win the close ones. If I was Horse, disposal efficiency would be my number one concern – especially for that core midfield group (Jack, Parker, Hannaberry) who seem to do the hard work in getting the ball, only to burn it once they do.

That said, I won’t mind seeing us down this year. They’ve had an incredible run, and if it takes a while to get the kids through so be it. Florent looks a good kick, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Fox, Foote, and Hayward. Marsh is improving too, and Allir I think could end up being something pretty special.

Now if we could only get rid of Kirk Tippett…

Umpiring was baffling across the round.

Last round it was holding the ball. This round it was knocked out in the tackle. Diliberate out of bounds didn’t exist.

Sort it out.

Swans – jeebus. I think that first quarter is the worst I’ve seen them play in quite a while. That said, I didn’t know a fair deal of the team so a fair indication it’s a young side. Lack of depth now showing, josh absolutely bang on. All credit to collingwood – they were efficient when they were given the opportunity to be and hung on for dear life when it mattered. Good when for them.

Hawthorn – ouch. Said it up above but it could accelerate retirements and lead to a prolonged period at the bottom. The Vickery recruitment looks stupider by the minute. Conversely, good on the Suns for standing up after a week of heavy criticism.

Melbourne – its almost like they needed a hard nosed mid fielder to provide leadership, and a genuine forward target.

Richmond/Adelaide – props. Their start to to the season has been magnificent.

I think I got 3 or 4 in the tipping. Good signs for the season ahead:)