NOT THERE YET

An unfinished product

After the weekend’s results Essendon sits outside the eight.

The club’s surprise tilt at a finals appearance teeters on the brink. A second straight season without September action looms.

In a year with some impressive highs and growth from all corners of the club, all that effort is appearing to be for naught. Another season of what could have been. It sounds bad, horrific even – but another finals-free September grows more likely by the day.

A mixture of over-hyped publicity from the media and a general desire for success from fans has this realistic possibility painted as the end of days. But is missing the finals really the worst thing that could happen to the Bombers in ‘23?

In the wake of the disastrous season that was 2022, the Dons began the oddly well-trodden path of surprising the competition – not only by being competitive in a supposedly down year, but by sitting inside the top 8 for long stretches of the AFL season.

The whole year has had a feeling of déjà vu about it. All at once, it feels exactly like 2017, 2019 and 2021. It’s one of the most bizarre quirks of this football club. Whenever the team look primed for a quality season, they fail miserably, and the opposite applies in the subsequent season.

On.

Off.

On.

Off.

But in all three of those surprise packed years, every season has ended the same way. Brutal losses in week one of the finals. Eliminated, often without firing a shot.

This year has the Dons on the edge of a knife, finals are still a possibility, but destiny is somewhat out of Essendon’s hands. The team has shown incredible promise and at times, the capacity to push some of the competitions contenders. Most notably Port Adelaide, who have beaten the Bombers by only a few points twice. But having said that, this Essendon team have shown equally that they just aren’t ready to confidently take on the best of the best, week in and week out.

Losses to Geelong and the Western Bulldogs in back-to-back outings have illustrated the glaring void between the AFL’s potential contenders, and those still waiting for their moment. But I don’t say any of this to have a dig at the club. As I said before, this season has highlighted plenty of positives, both on a team front and individually.

The side has shown great growth under new coach Brad Scott. Team defence and increased pressure acts have been key improvements across the season so far. The club as a whole has oozed a greater sense of team over self mentality. But as I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, bad habits are hard to break, and the ghosts of John Worsfold and Ben Rutten still remain. But in a single pre-season, Scott has done wonders with this list that hasn’t changed remarkably since the previous management. And with another pre-season quickly approaching, another chance to change arrives.

Brad Scott has improved this Bombers side - but still has plenty of work to do.

Individual development is another key success from 2023 so far, and there’s a long list to choose from. Archie Perkins has proven why he was a top 10 pick and so highly touted in his draft class. He’s silk, plain and simple. Ben Hobbs has grabbed his spot in the seniors by the scruff of the neck and doesn’t look like letting go. Jye Caldwell too has played in a fashion that demanded his place in the side, and larger minutes in the engine room. Mason Redman continues to impress and grow into one of the club’s most important commodities, the core reason Adelaide have hunted him so ferociously. BZT has amazed the fans by becoming a player most didn’t believe he could be. He’s dependable, hardworking, and smart … most of the time.

The list could go on, I mean, even Dyson Heppell has shown glimpses of his old self at times. But when discussing the development of a single player, Nic Martin is front and centre. How the hell did the Eagles say, “nah we’ll pass”. Thank God they did, because he is a gun!

Essendon are on a journey, the latest of many the club has ventured on. And there’s no guarantees either. It may not amount to anything – as all the others of recent memory have. But Brad Scott seems to have instilled something into the playing group the others couldn’t.

Respect in leadership.

Belief in the message.

The players liked Truck, there’s no one who doubts that, but I don’t know if that ever translated into respect. And when it came to his game plan, confusion not belief was the word of the day. And Worsfold, well it was never meant to last forever so I imagine it’s difficult to figure out how deep the sentiment for him went amongst the players … even harder to figure out how strongly he felt about them. Both of these two were able to provide fans with moments of joy and optimism, if only fleeting. Flashes of brilliant, energetic footy were seen by many as the future of the club’s success. But this was just one side of the coin. The other was nothing short of totally dysfunctional football. It felt like a pattern was emerging.

Over the tenure of these two senior coaches, another pattern also emerged.

The Dons played finals three times across the pairs collective stint. Because let’s be honest, the lines blurred significantly across the Worsfold/Rutten era.

2017, 2019 and 2021.

The argument could be made that we shouldn’t have been there on any of these occasions, just scraping into the eight every time. But at the end of the day, enough games were won, and Essendon was in. But sadly, each encounter ended the same. Each time easily outplayed and overmatched. As I’ve already mentioned earlier each of these failures was followed by an underwhelming follow-up season.

The visible gap in talent and style seemingly left the team despondent and rudderless after each.

Playing finals is said to be great for young players to gain experience. But whatever experience was absorbed in those failed ventures of ‘17, ‘19 and ‘21 has not helped. The team didn’t seem hungrier or more determined for their collective pain when the next season rolled around.

So perhaps, just perhaps rather than getting into the finals by a fraction, it’s time to miss the finals by a fraction. Maybe, rather than thinking you’re good enough and getting massacred, you leave the season knowing that you’re close, but not close enough.

Maybe that is the lesson the club needs.

No misunderstandings.

No illusions.

Essendon is in the mix … but no contender.

I know that the argument I’m making could easily be turned on its head, and I wholly respect the points against what I’m saying. But over the last 5-10 years the club has found itself scraping into the bottom of the eight, only to exit days later and in horrific fashion. Demoralised and derailed.

Something’s got to change and maybe waiting another year will do more good than another early failed finals campaign.

Essendon are still a chance to play finals in 2023, and I’ll be cheering for that long-awaited victory in September like everyone else in red n black if that eventuates. But if we don’t, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, in the long run, it might just be what the team needs. We’ve already been without a finals win for 19 years, what’s another one?

Maybe holding off and building another 12 months - growing, shaping and crafting the team into a true finals contender under the guidance of Brad Scott will help more than finishing the year with another September pummelling, all for the sake of ‘playing finals’.

Maybe that’s the experience we need.

Only time will tell.

As always, Go Planes.