Robbo: Park win-loss record, Bombers are AFL’s worst performing team

The demolition of the Bombers in Sydney was a culmination of two months of struggles, and it might force the Bombers to re-think their future list plans, writes Mark Robinson.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 19: Mason Redman and Zach Merrett of the Bombers react following the 2023 AFL Round 23 match between the GWS GIANTS and the Essendon Bombers at GIANTS Stadium on August 19, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Essendon is the worst performing team in the competition.

Park the win-loss equation, it’s the team with the softest attitude, a non-threatening game plan, it lacks leaders and lives off excuses.

The Western Bulldogs might be the most disappointed team this week, but Essendon is the most humiliated.

Intensity. Urgency. Pressure. Menace. Fight. They are cliches but they remain fundamental in who you want to be as a football team.

Essendon, at round 23, is like a little boy lost in the forest: Whimpering and scared of the shadows.

Even the Eagles, with nothing to play for other than pride, showed more of a commitment to compete than what Essendon did.

Even North Melbourne against the highly-emotional Tigers were in for the scrap.

Coach Brad Scott lamented after the round 15 loss to the Bulldogs his midfield looked “tired and flat”.

From that cue, they looked like corpses against the Giants.

The Bombers’ finals hopes were ended in humiliating fashion. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

This season shapes like plenty before it: Threatening in patches, brave in others, beat some better teams, but lacks consistency and subject to mid-to-late season fade outs.

Of the litany of disappointments, nothing goes close to the declaration pre-season that defence would be a key to improvement.

At round 13, Essendon was 6th on the ladder.

Carlton, the team Essendon beat by six goals in round 13, was 15th on the ladder.

Since then, the Blues have won nine straight and Essendon have won three matches and lost six, and two of those wins were against West Coast (one point) and North Melbourne (nine points).

From Round 15-23, Essendon is ranked:

■ 16th for points scored;

■ 17th points conceded behind West Coast;

■ 17th for points conceded from turnover which means that when they lose the ball they can’t defend it;

■ 16th for pressure;

■ 17th for scores inside 50, which means that when they get ball in the F50 they can’t score and,

■ 15th for inside 50 differential.

They are also bottom six for clearance differential and time in forward half and their percentage (92.7) is the fourth worst in the league. Their profile is dotted with red flags.

The Bombers were entrenched into the eight in the first half of 2023 before a dramatic collapse. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

At the weekend, the Bombers’ average age was 25.2 and games experience was 86.

The Blues, who could finish fifth, were 25.8 and 88.

Clearly, the 126-point margin was an aberration, but what’s certainly questionable is the mindset in a crunch game, bearing in mind that in Round 4, the Bombers beat the Giants by 13 points.

A loss of that magnitude begs the same commentary which is being asked of the Bulldogs: Is something not right in the footy program?

Scott has talked about the future all season and evidently he’s right because the current group is lacking on several fronts.

With personnel, there’s a base there, but they need more talent.

In a cutthroat world, they’d put Jake Stringer and Dylan Shiel on the trade table. The Bombers need more injection of youth/experience and those once-brilliant players could do with a new environment. Either that, or they get fit and play footy.

If Darcy Parish wants to go, then don’t match. Essendon could have pick No. 6 in the draft and No. 7 for draft comp if Parish leaves.

They are in for Ben McKay. So is Port Adelaide and Sydney, but if McKay stays in Melbourne it’s likely to be with the Bombers. But not at $800,000 year as has been quoted.

They are scrambling for a key forward. They asked about West Coast’s Oscar Allen and were told no. There’s not a lot of other options.

Darcy Parish wants to stay, but has not yet signed a new deal. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

They need a premiership veteran, ala Jordan Lewis who went from Hawthorn to Melbourne, to help set standards. They also need grunt in the midfield. They are one of 10 clubs trying to get Elliot Yeo to fill those two needs.

Being tired can’t be used an excuse. The Eagles aren’t tired. The Hawks aren’t. Either is Gold Coast, Fremantle and Adelaide. If Essendon is the most tired team in the competition then it has to look at its high performance program.

Overall, they need a game style that promotes and demands intensity

As the season has progressedit’s apparent the kick-mark style, and kick-short-wide-stop style doesn’t stack up. It’s too easy to disrupt.

Is that what’s been coached into the players or do the players too often go into their shell and play boring, safe footy?

Or is Scott playing a brand of footy (similar to the Eagles in 2018) that he thinks will become a future trend?

Does Brad Scott need to change their game plan? (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The Hawks arguably are doing exactly that under Sam Mitchell. The Hawks are also a kick-mark team. However, they play-on, generally play with high handball and high corridor use, and attack with ball in hand.

From the start of the year to now, the Hawks haveimproved their defence and become a difficult team to play against.

Which leads us back to attitude and it’s mostly always attitude.

The Giants had plenty of it. So did their cheer squad. It should sting that a team barely 10 years old mocked a team 150 years old with a banner snide in the pre-game.

It showed a low level of respect for Essendon. Worse, two hours later, respect didn’t exist at all.

The Bombers have a week make to amends.