Not sure if anyone else noticed, I am seeing over the top article after article about the Tullamarine drug cheats and how they are flag favourites etc etc!!!  The AFL now look like giving them another blockbuster and as many as 9 Fri and Thurs games!  WTF do they deserve all this for?  Looks damn corrupt to me.

I had Essendon in my 8 this year. I've really rated them for the past two years. That is, I've really rated their list.

They've actually got a really good list balance. Yes, okay, maybe they lack inside depth, but they will challenge next year if they can keep Daniher and Fantasia on the park. 

Adding Shiel to that midfield makes them extremely dangerous. I noted a few Demonlanders don't rate him, but I think he's a star and will add not only inside hardness to their midfield, but more breakaway pace.

My concern with Essendon (from a Melbourne point of view) is their leg speed and potential speed of ball movement. If they get it right next year, they'll murder us on the outside.

I think Worsfold is past it, but there's a chance with his list that he could pinch a flag in the next 2 years.

9 minutes ago, A F said:

I had Essendon in my 8 this year. I've really rated them for the past two years. That is, I've really rated their list.

They've actually got a really good list balance. Yes, okay, maybe they lack inside depth, but they will challenge next year if they can keep Daniher and Fantasia on the park. 

Adding Shiel to that midfield makes them extremely dangerous. I noted a few Demonlanders don't rate him, but I think he's a star and will add not only inside hardness to their midfield, but more breakaway pace.

My concern with Essendon (from a Melbourne point of view) is their leg speed and potential speed of ball movement. If they get it right next year, they'll murder us on the outside.

I think Worsfold is past it, but there's a chance with his list that he could pinch a flag in the next 2 years.

GWS couldnt get close with Shiel in their side, and the rest of their midfield schitts all over essendrug.

The Bombers would need Daniher to rediscover lost form to go anywhere, and it will be harder for them dominating the prime time slots, as it means harder opponents generally.

Thats my fervent hope anyway. Hate the bastards.

I had a dream that EFC were large scale drug cheats, to a degree unprecedented in world sport, treating their players like guinea pigs and bringing shame on their club and the entire competition.

I know it's a dream as a scant few years later, the body whose comp they tried to  subvert and compromise has actually rewarded them with another marquee game to add to their ANZAC and Dreamtime games.

In a fair competition, clubs like NMFC, WBFC, STKFC would be allowed proper opportunities to grow such games, instead of having them ripped off them, but I reckon I'm dreaming about that too.

32 minutes ago, faultydet said:

GWS couldnt get close with Shiel in their side, and the rest of their midfield schitts all over essendrug.

The Bombers would need Daniher to rediscover lost form to go anywhere, and it will be harder for them dominating the prime time slots, as it means harder opponents generally.

Thats my fervent hope anyway. Hate the bastards.

Daniher kills us every single time. He generates 5+ shots on goal against our defence. Absolutely owns us. The only reason we've beaten them the last two times is his poor kicking. The last time he kicked straight, they beat us.

7 minutes ago, A F said:

Daniher kills us every single time. He generates 5+ shots on goal against our defence. Absolutely owns us. The only reason we've beaten them the last two times is his poor kicking. The last time he kicked straight, they beat us.

If Lever makes it back to top form, in addition to slotting in May, our back line will be much better at coping with any mix of forwards.

Again, it will be our inside mids who determine our chances more often than not, and if they continue to improve, which they should, we should be in with a genuine shot next year.

4 minutes ago, A F said:

Daniher kills us every single time. He generates 5+ shots on goal against our defence. Absolutely owns us. The only reason we've beaten them the last two times is his poor kicking. The last time he kicked straight, they beat us.

That May change now.

I've got to add my voice to the collective bewilderment that Essendon are clearly being spruiked by the AFL as media darlings and next year's feel-good story, as if this season's throat-gargling commentary on them wasn't bad enough. Adding tangible commercial benefit to that is just an insult to the several honest struggling clubs.

They cheated, systematically, and actedlike the victims of a conspiracy when it was uncovered.

I'm not a football sadist, I have a natural sympathy for clubs when they are struggling, but I would savour every moment if the Demons put on a show and crushed Essendon to the tune of 20-goals.

Hell, I'd savour it no matter who crushed them. In fact, I would have long term more positive feelings about any club that put a boot in Essendon.

For discussion's sake and as a quick reference, here are afl.com and foxsports projected best 22 for the cheat club.

afl.com

B: Conor McKenna, Michael Hurley, Marty Gleeson
HB: Aaron Francis, Cale Hooker, Adam Saad
? David Zaharakis, Dyson Heppell, Andrew McGrath
HF: Orazio Fantasia, Shaun McKernan, Devon Smith
F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Joe Daniher, Jake Stringer
FOLL: Tom Bellchambers, Zach Merrett, Dylan Shiel
I/C: Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford, Patrick Ambrose, David Myers

foxsports

B: M.Baguley, M.Hurley, A.McGrath

HB: A.Saad, A.Francis, C.McKenna

? K.Langford, Z.Merrett, D.Heppell

HF: J.Stringer, C.Hooker, O.Fantasia

F: A.McDonald-Tipungwuti, J.Daniher, D.Smith

FOL: T.Bellchambers, D.Zaharakis, D.Shiel

I/C: D.Parish, J.Laverde, J.Stewart, D.Myers

 

I'm now officially declaring Essendon to beat a team packed ful of pretty good but definitely over-rated players. End to end, it is the defining feature of every line.

39 minutes ago, A F said:

I had Essendon in my 8 this year. I've really rated them for the past two years. That is, I've really rated their list.

They've actually got a really good list balance. Yes, okay, maybe they lack inside depth, but they will challenge next year if they can keep Daniher and Fantasia on the park. 

Adding Shiel to that midfield makes them extremely dangerous. I noted a few Demonlanders don't rate him, but I think he's a star and will add not only inside hardness to their midfield, but more breakaway pace.

My concern with Essendon (from a Melbourne point of view) is their leg speed and potential speed of ball movement. If they get it right next year, they'll murder us on the outside.

I think Worsfold is past it, but there's a chance with his list that he could pinch a flag in the next 2 years.

They remind me a lot of Port in the early 2000s, I expected them to make the 8 and steam roll teams on the fast track at Etihad, but felt come September when the tough hard contested footy was required they'd be found out. They lack midfield bulls IMO.

On their day they are going to be hard to beat but still think beating them at the contest will be what a lot of sides set their gameplan around.

With regard to Woosha he aint past it, he never had it. Fantastic motivator and a real come with me boys I'll run through brick walls for you type, but he is and has always been tactically inept

i read today that because Essenscum have drafted really well then they will be rewarded with more friday night games. Since when do teams get rewarded just because they recruit well? They failed to make the finals again. 

 

1 hour ago, Soidee said:

Not sure if anyone else noticed, I am seeing over the top article after article about the Tullamarine drug cheats and how they are flag favourites etc etc!!!  The AFL now look like giving them another blockbuster and as many as 9 Fri and Thurs games!  WTF do they deserve all this for?  Looks damn corrupt to me.

Possibly a brown paper bag syndrome in effect, again?

3 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

i read today that because Essenscum have drafted really well then they will be rewarded with more friday night games. Since when do teams get rewarded just because they recruit well? They failed to make the finals again. 

 

 

23 minutes ago, Pennant St Dee said:

They remind me a lot of Port in the early 2000s, I expected them to make the 8 and steam roll teams on the fast track at Etihad, but felt come September when the tough hard contested footy was required they'd be found out. They lack midfield bulls IMO.

On their day they are going to be hard to beat but still think beating them at the contest will be what a lot of sides set their gameplan around.

With regard to Woosha he aint past it, he never had it. Fantastic motivator and a real come with me boys I'll run through brick walls for you type, but he is and has always been tactically inept

The Dees have just about the correct amount of 'mongrel' to knock off the 'Druggies....'

28 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

For discussion's sake and as a quick reference, here are afl.com and foxsports projected best 22 for the cheat club.

afl.com

B: Conor McKenna, Michael Hurley, Marty Gleeson
HB: Aaron Francis, Cale Hooker, Adam Saad
? David Zaharakis, Dyson Heppell, Andrew McGrath
HF: Orazio Fantasia, Shaun McKernan, Devon Smith
F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Joe Daniher, Jake Stringer
FOLL: Tom Bellchambers, Zach Merrett, Dylan Shiel
I/C: Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford, Patrick Ambrose, David Myers

foxsports

B: M.Baguley, M.Hurley, A.McGrath

HB: A.Saad, A.Francis, C.McKenna

? K.Langford, Z.Merrett, D.Heppell

HF: J.Stringer, C.Hooker, O.Fantasia

F: A.McDonald-Tipungwuti, J.Daniher, D.Smith

FOL: T.Bellchambers, D.Zaharakis, D.Shiel

I/C: D.Parish, J.Laverde, J.Stewart, D.Myers

 

I'm now officially declaring Essendon to beat a team packed ful of pretty good but definitely over-rated players. End to end, it is the defining feature of every line.

There is just enough variation between those two 'best 22 teams' to suggest much is going on at Essendrug on a hope and a prayer. 

1 hour ago, faultydet said:

If Lever makes it back to top form, in addition to slotting in May, our back line will be much better at coping with any mix of forwards.

Again, it will be our inside mids who determine our chances more often than not, and if they continue to improve, which they should, we should be in with a genuine shot next year.

Agreed, although their spread away from the contest that killed us a few years back has not been addressed. Fortunately, Essendon's ruck stocks are weak and if we get first use from Gawn, we should account for them.

70,000 complete tossbag members is what will do it.  They will turn up and tune in, regardless of what a cheating pile of shyte this organisation is.  With even a faint sniff of success, that is enough to get the AFL warm and moist to the idea of marquee time slots.

2 hours ago, A F said:

I had Essendon in my 8 this year. I've really rated them for the past two years. That is, I've really rated their list.

They've actually got a really good list balance. Yes, okay, maybe they lack inside depth, but they will challenge next year if they can keep Daniher and Fantasia on the park. 

Adding Shiel to that midfield makes them extremely dangerous. I noted a few Demonlanders don't rate him, but I think he's a star and will add not only inside hardness to their midfield, but more breakaway pace.

My concern with Essendon (from a Melbourne point of view) is their leg speed and potential speed of ball movement. If they get it right next year, they'll murder us on the outside.

I think Worsfold is past it, but there's a chance with his list that he could pinch a flag in the next 2 years.

I agree with this.

Hate them as much as you like (and they probably deserve) but their list is actually shaping up nicely. We are ahead of them in the midfield, even after Shiel joins them, but in the next 3 or 4 years, they have as much of a shot at the cup as anyone. Lots of high draft picks, and they seem to develop them well. If Fugly stays fit and learns to kick straight, they could be anything.

Hard to argue that they are building nicely. 

Much larger following than us, so the upside for AFL management is huge. Thats why they will get tons of night games. I actually think they deserve it, but at the same time we also deserve at least the same, if not more prime time exposure.

I think we all know who will be gifted more by the AFL.

1 hour ago, dees189227 said:

i read today that because Essenscum have drafted really well then they will be rewarded with more friday night games. Since when do teams get rewarded just because they recruit well? They failed to make the finals again.

And if they hadn't recruited well, it would be because they had such excellent facilities. And if it weren't the facilities, it would be that they're good with kids and pets.

They're going to get the good slots because they bring in the $$$ and Gil's bonus clauses kick in.

It's called a "fix"-ture and not a draw for a reason.

29 minutes ago, ding said:

I agree with this.

Hate them as much as you like (and they probably deserve) but their list is actually shaping up nicely. We are ahead of them in the midfield, even after Shiel joins them, but in the next 3 or 4 years, they have as much of a shot at the cup as anyone. Lots of high draft picks, and they seem to develop them well. If Fugly stays fit and learns to kick straight, they could be anything.

Hard to argue that they are building nicely. 

I concur.

29 minutes ago, ding said:

Much larger following than us, so the upside for AFL management is huge. Thats why they will get tons of night games. I actually think they deserve it, but at the same time we also deserve at least the same, if not more prime time exposure.

I think we all know who will be gifted more by the AFL.

I don't concur.

Absolutely do not deserve more night games. They did not manage to make the finals and were comprehensively blown away in week 1 of the 2017 finals series. We deserve more night games and prime time exposure because we made a preliminary final and were a whisker off the 2017 finals series.

If we were talking about the fixture going into 2018 I'd agree with you more. But they failed in 2018.

1 hour ago, faultydet said:

If Lever makes it back to top form, in addition to slotting in May, our back line will be much better at coping with any mix of forwards.

Again, it will be our inside mids who determine our chances more often than not, and if they continue to improve, which they should, we should be in with a genuine shot next year.

If Lever comes back fit and firing by round 6 or so, and May can slot into the team without the teething problems Lever had, I am absolutely convinced we will have all the ingredients we need to go all the way. (Injuries permitting)

So convinced in fact, i have already asked my roster monitor for next years Grand Final day off.  She still thinks her sons team is better than ours. Silly woman. 

2 hours ago, A F said:

My concern with Essendon (from a Melbourne point of view) is their leg speed and potential speed of ball movement. If they get it right next year, they'll murder us on the outside.

While a very good trade period, I do think a small concern is that we've publicly said that we addressed all of our needs in the trade period. So adding Kade Kola addresses our need for outside speed in totality? With all due respect, the bloke can't even get on the park currently, so it seems a little dubious to pin our hopes on one player who is recovering from concussion injuries. I know we'll have Hunt, Stretch, Baker to return/debut, but I still think we could have picked up a ready made player like A. Hall or A. Saad the year before. Do we have our sights on a few speedy players in the draft?

Edited October 31, 20186 yr by John Demonic

And don't get me wrong. I hate Essendon with a passion. They're a blight on our competition and should have been sat out of the league for a year and not allowed access to the first round of 2-3 drafts. Their 'sanctions' were far too weak.

1 minute ago, A F said:

I concur.

I don't concur.

Absolutely do not deserve more night games. They did not manage to make the finals and were comprehensively blown away in week 1 of the 2017 finals series. We deserve more night games and prime time exposure because we made a preliminary final and were a whisker off the 2017 finals series.

If we were talking about the fixture going into 2018 I'd agree with you more. But they failed in 2018.

Yeah, i did not mean they deserve more than us, i meant only that they deserve more than most others get based on their list and potential.

Only a total fool would think Essendon deserve more prime time matches than MFC.

Hope that clears things up re. my post.

27 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

I think a small concern is that we've publicly said that we addressed all of our needs in the trade period. So adding Kade Kola addresses our need for outside speed in totality? With all due respect, the bloke can't even get on the park currently, so it seems a little dubious to pin our hopes on one player who is recovering from concussion injuries. I know we'll have Hunt, Stretch, Baker to return/debut, but I still think we could have picked up a ready made player like A. Hall or A. Saad the year before. Do we have our sights on a few speedy players in the draft?

No doubt our list is still a work in progress. I think we were simply hamstrung by the deal we had to do for Lever (which I support).

3 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

I had a dream that EFC were large scale drug cheats, to a degree unprecedented in world sport, treating their players like guinea pigs and bringing shame on their club and the entire competition.

I know it's a dream as a scant few years later, the body whose comp they tried to  subvert and compromise has actually rewarded them with another marquee game to add to their ANZAC and Dreamtime games.

In a fair competition, clubs like NMFC, WBFC, STKFC would be allowed proper opportunities to grow such games, instead of having them ripped off them, but I reckon I'm dreaming about that too.

I have no sympathy for them but they cant be perpetually punished

 

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