Essendon lacks cohesion as 2020 is another disappointing year of no finals, Mark Robinson writes
Essendon looks like a team weighed down by a system — but we still don’t know what that system is. Teething problems adapting to new coach Ben Rutten are causing a lot of pain, writes Mark Robinson.
Mark Robinson
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Essendon plays like a team paralysed by the process.
Beaten up with injuries and players who have returned from injury and who are not fit enough, the Bombers also appear to lack motivation and instinct and cohesion.
The buzz word at Tullamarine is system.
Play the system. Know your role. Believe in the system.
Outgoing coach John Worsfold said this team would grow to be a good team. That it would be ready for next year and that it had learnt so much in 2020.
He may well be right.
This has not been a wasted year in that regard, but, gee, the teething, learning and executing of this new system under Ben Rutten and Blake Caracella looks like the result of dropping a watermelon from the top deck of the Windy Hill social club.
The Bombers were annihilated by Geelong on Sunday.
It was no surprise. The Cats played their second game in 10 days and Essendon played its third game in 11 days.
One has system that is the envy of most teams in the competition. The other system has training wheels on it.
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Still, one wonders what happens in the pre-match with the Bombers.
What are they doing an hour before the game? Half an hour before the first bounce? Even 10 minutes before they run out?
Is it still system talk or does it include a motivation strategy — a theme, perhaps?
Watching Essendon play first quarters this season is like watching pedestrians walking across the road: Orderly and without urgency.
It’s partly why ruckman Sam Draper has quickly become a cult figure among fans.
He’s played six games of football and throws his weight and attitude around like he was in Sheedy’s 1980s teams.
But back to the first quarters.
Essendon has the second-worst points differential in first quarters this season
The worst is Adelaide. The worst team the Crows have put on the park in their history is -7.3 points. The Bombers are -6.2 points.
Essendon has owned the fewest first quarters this year — they have won two, drawn three and lost 10.
The Crows and Sydney are next with three winning first quarters each.
The Bombers have lost the most first quarters alongside Adelaide (18th), North Melbourne (17th) and Sydney (15th), and they have the fourth-worst percentage behind Adelaide, North Melbourne and Fremantle.
The Bombers can’t get it right from the first bounce.
Motivation is not solely the role of the coach or coaches because there’s an expectation the players come with a level of competitiveness and pride within themselves.
But are they being weighed down by system? Are they struggling because of the demand to play the system, to play their role within that system at the expense of some level of instinct?
Rutten and Caracella need time, but at the end of last season and the start of this, when the club’s administrators spruiked the exciting succession plan, the conveniently did not say: By the way, we’re introducing a new game style this year.
And what is the system?
Rutten doesn’t speak so we’re no better for knowing.
At different times in a game, it’s either the happy, looping handballers, or short and slow kicks or fast ball movement, generally leading to long kicks into a forward line that can’t mark the ball.
It’s confusing.
On Sunday, former captain Jobe Watson said: “It’s when they go slow and play a possession game, that’s where I think they get lost.’’
Jobe’s a smart football person and even he seems bewildered by Essendon’s choice of system. So, what hope do the rest of us have?
Even non-Essendon fans, who are rejoicing in another unsuccessful season, would be confused by Essendon’s performances.
Still, the responsibility is on the coaches and the players.
It’s understood that when the players entered the rooms at half time against Geelong on Sunday, down by 10 goals, it was the skipper who first grabbed the team and stressed the unacceptability of their performance.
The coaches set about fixing the on-field problems.
It sort of worked. They only lost by 11 goals.
No disrespect to Lachie Henderson, but how is it that he’s playing consistently better football than All-Australian Michael Hurley?
That Sam Menegola is a better midfielder than all of Essendon’s mids, save perhaps for Zach Merrett?
The Cats are a well-coached, tough and organised football team and Chris Scott and this team get the best out of their players.
The Bombers not so much.
The question is: How long before the system is grasped by Essendon’s players, which then will bring confidence and cohesion?
From now to then, though, there needs to be an element of work ethic and fight and an indication at the start of games that today will be a 12-round scrap — while trying to incorporate Rutten’s demands as a unit.
Because that’s not happening.
The Bombers team is vanilla and you could argue the entire club is.
And the sooner we hear from the incoming president, Paul Brasher, the better.
In times of confusion and frustration, and when leadership at all levels is required, let’s hope he isn’t the invisible president like his soon-to-be predecessor.
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