Not There Yet

By Thinkindave
Things were looking up for the Bombers at the start of this season. A new coach, a new game plan and a predominantly new team were promising signs – And initially they yielded results. A fast, attacking style of play complemented our young squad and produced in a surprising first-round victory. Personally I was quite excited.

Then Geelong arrived. Even from my seat up the top of the 3rd level of the Telstra Dome I could see we were in trouble before the first siren sounded. I watched Ablett, Bartel, Ling and Corey seamlessly executing their warm-up drills and thought, “Oh dear…” Or something to that effect.

Things went from bad to worse in the following rounds as heavy defeats to Sydney, Port Adelaide, Collingwood and Richmond led many to conclude that Essendon had, “reached its lowest ebb since the 1970s.”

With such a poor start to the season it seems surprising to me that now, only three consecutive wins later (all against our cellar-dwelling companions), these same detractors are murmuring of finals possibilities. Surely they don’t think that Matthew Knights is doing something right? Well I do.

From where I sit he has done almost everything right. He has ‘played the kids’ and utilized a style of football more suited to his team’s abilities. He has put his faith new key position prospects and experimented with a new line up. He has dropped players when they needed to be dropped. He even admitted that his captain wasn’t performing as expected and took steps to ensure that he will in the future. All things considered I think he’s done an outstanding job.

However, despite all these positive signs I am not so quick to jump on the finals bandwagon. I understand that it is often required of journalists to create headlines where they are none and fear that the current hype is purely media-driven.

Essendon have not yet proven themselves against a top-eight side. Our scoring options are limited with one spearhead out of form and the other returning from 12 weeks on the sidelines. Two Gutsy victories against Carlton may look good on paper but, having been in the crowd on both occasions, I got a distinct feeling that these victories were inspired by a determination to beat an old rival and were not indicative of a return to form. Don’t get me wrong, when we’re good we’re good, and no one would like to see us sneak into the finals more than I. However, I fear that such a dream might be at least another season away.

Posted 2 July 08 in News