Essendon players erupt inside changerooms in brutal end to season

Another underwhelming Bombers season finished in embarrassing fashion and it led to a playing group meeting filled with “raw emotion”.

Another Essendon season has finished in embarrassing fashion. Pictures: Getty

Essendon’s players immediately launched into a robust and brutal conversation about the “mediocre” state of their football club after finishing the 2023 season with back-to-back defeats with a combined margin of almost 200 points.

The Bombers are once again the laughing stock of the footy world after extending their run without a finals win to almost 7000 days — and it led to a conversation filled with “raw emotion” at the MCG on Friday night.

Captain Zach Merrett declared his team was “clearly still a long way off” the top eight after a 70-point humbling by minor premier Collingwood provided a sour exclamation point on a season that had promised so much.

The Bombers were equal fourth entering the mid-season bye but won just three of their last 10 and coach Brad Scott was left to say little as the players took over the post-game debrief.

“We feel like we need to be working harder and challenge each other harder come the off-season,” Merrett revealed to Channel 7 after emerging from behind closed doors.

“We’re sick of ending our season in August. It’s no fun. It sucks watching other teams have their season alive. There were pretty strong messages from some of the players.”

Mason Redman leads a dejected Essendon team off the field after the loss to the Magpies. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“We know we’re clearly still a long way off the top six – and probably the top eight to be fair,” he added.

“It’s time to get past being a mediocre club and a club that falls away like that.”

“There was some pretty raw emotions in the rooms,” added veteran forward Kyle Langford on 3AW.

“We have a lot to work on both on and off the field … it’s a pretty s**t feeling.”

Essendon was still knocking on the door of the eight with two rounds to go but had its finals hopes extinguished in a 126-point defeat against GWS last weekend.

And on reflection its 11-win season – which was inflated by four wins against the Eagles and Kangaroos, plus victories over non-finalists Hawthorn, Gold Coast, Richmond and Adelaide – featured few complete performances.

Bombers supporters were fuming on social media as their two-decade long stretch without a finals win continues.

The annual tradition of lamenting the seemingly endless reign of list manager Adrian Dodoro was in full swing.

Essendon fans, why does there never seem to be any pressure on Adrian Dodoro’s position as list manager? You could easily argue that the majority of their issues over the last 13 years stem from his inability to construct a list that can contend for a flag #AFLDonsPies

— Riley Nelson (@rileynelson___) August 25, 2023

Adrian Dodoro has been Essendon's list manager since 1998. It remains my favourite appointment in football. Long may it continue.#AFLDonsPies

— Carlton News & Stats (@UptheBaggers) August 25, 2023

Essendon football club are a disgrace. There’s 8 blokes I’d keep.

Get rid of dodoro asap. Cull the list. Start again. Pathetic.

— Brendan Goss (@bg777bg) August 25, 2023

Dodoro’s ability to dodge off-season bullets is becoming legendary and with Scott just one-year into a four-year deal, the big changes will have to come from the playing group.

Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph revealed tall Brandon Zerk-Thatcher is “Port Adelaide bound” but the Bombers are confident of retaining out-of-contract midfielder Darcy Parish and see Dylan Shield as “very much a required player”.

But that’s just the early assessment of the list, as Merrett promised: “There’s going to be a lot of tough conversations in the next couple of days.”

Scott also sounded ominous in his post-match press conference. “The last few weeks in particular have proven where we’re at,” he said.

“We need to get a lot better to bridge the gap to the top teams ... We need to improve our list. We need to improve our football department. We need to improve right across the board.

“This is the first opportunity I’ve got to drive an offseason. Not even a preseason, an offseason - and what that looks like and the expectations we have.

“Because the observations of the last nine to 12 months (is) it’s nowhere near where it needs to be.”