A PAINFUL CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM

Jake Stringer fighting to land the tackle on a soggy MCG last Saturday night.

Over the weekend, Essendon supporters were treated to a lesson in pain.

Despite a valiant effort by the boys in red n black, that loss will hurt for a while. An opportunity gone. Another season beginning to slip into the realms of what could have been. Sitting at the game, damp and frozen it went a little something like this …

No expectations.

A flicker of hope.

Possible victory fading.

A jolt of electricity.

Victory in our grasp.

Hope rising.

Hope extinguished.

Pain.

That Dan Houston goal after the siren will live in the nightmares of Essendon folk for a long time to come. It had shades of Tony Lockett in the ’96 Preliminary Final about it.

So close, yet not enough.

The train ride home was filled with mutterings about Darcy Parish’s failed snap. The questionable umpiring of the first quarter. Sam Weideman’s struggles up forward. The turnovers, the fumbles, the missed goals, the missed handballs – the list seemed endless at 11pm on Saturday night!

However, despite the pain and the dimming hopes of locking up a spot in the finals, there is cause for optimism. Because once again, we got within a bee’s dick of knocking off Port Adelaide, one of this season’s premiership fancies. 5-points in round 8 and then 4-points on Saturday night.

This year, the Dons have been blown out of the water only a few times, with the biggest belting coming at the hands of the Lions in Brisbane by 42. Everything else, even when we’ve acknowledged the team wasn’t up to scratch, have been losses of 32, 28, 18, 13, 5 and 4. Put that list up against the same time in 2022 and you can see the difference.

By round 16 last year, the Bombers had accumulated losses of 66, 58, 48, 32, 32, 29, 26, 22, 16, 11 and 10.

And it’s not just the losses, it’s the way the team lost that hurt the most. Insipid, bumbling and confused were the descriptors of Bombers football in ’22. Aside from a few outliers this year, Geelong, Brisbane and Fremantle come to mind, the Essendon brand feels more reliable. Stronger at the contest, better communication down the ground and a style that makes you think the team is invested. I’ll be the first to say I was less than enthused by the appointment of Brad Scott during the off-season, but he has proven to be a mature leader and intelligent communicator – not just in press conferences, either.

Brad Scott giving out directions earlier this year.

Now this isn’t to say things are perfect. The team still has significant issues, most notably personnel. But the core of the Bombers in ’23 is looking solid.

The midfield is spoilt for choices and things down either end are looking better than they have in years, but I suspect every Dons fan across the country would be hoping the club does some hunting in the next trade period. Peter Wright is a quality tall in the forward line and we have a tasty assortment of smalls, both in the side and coming up through the VFL, to know that we have crumbers aplenty. But it’s the other true talls that are the issue. Harry Jones looked like the man to play second banana to Wright, but injury and poor form have put question marks against the youngster’s name. And then there’s Sam Weideman who … well … just doesn’t look like the guy we wanted him to be. And against Port Adelaide, it was glaring.

Down back there’s few positions we really need tidying up. The smalls look good and the mid-sized backmen look even better (please stay Redman!). But in the ranks of big-bodied defenders we have 0.

Kane Baldwin played manfully in his few appearances earlier in the season, he had good hands and better disposals. I personally thought he was stiff to be omitted when he was. But despite this being his first season down back and having plenty of craft still to learn, it’s clear the club doesn’t have faith in him to be the man for the job going forward.

Brandon Zerk-Thatcher has been a revelation and his performance on Saturday night will be added to his highlight reel. He’s got the height but lacks the body. He can take a lot of tall forwards in the game and run rings around them with his athleticism and decision-making, but when it comes to the Tom Hawkins of the world … BZT is in trouble.

For most teams, these types of personnel issues would be catastrophic. Season enders! But Essendon has found a way to get to 8 wins, and arguably left a few on the table. Collingwood on ANZAC Day and St Kilda in round 3 are key examples. There have been plenty of occasions for the Dons to sew up a finals’ spot, but new systems and youth rarely match up with consistency.

But they do pair well with optimism … and pain.

It’s early days for this Scott-led group. Bad habits of the past are hard to eradicate. New systems and beliefs take time to instil. But there is reason to be hopeful, even if the road most likely still has plenty of pain to come.

Finals are a strong chance this year – but so too is missing them. We can only guess, now.

But if the club remains on the right path and the players we need stay true to the colours, there’s plenty to be optimistic about for 2024 and beyond.

And all this pain we feel right now will be nothing but another step on the road to success.