‘It’s embarrassing’: Footy greats slam Essendon over AFL trainwreck

Essendon fans are being forced to watch some abysmal football as the critics dropped some truth bombs after yet another grim defeat.

The Bombers are getting pounded too often. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Commentators are lining up to give Essendon a whack after yet another disappointing performance on the weekend saw the Bombers register their fourth loss in five games.

They went down to the Dockers by 48 points on Sunday and have now conceded 540 points for the year — the most of any side in the competition across the first handful of rounds.

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Essendon great Matthew Lloyd torched his former club, which has only beaten Adelaide (by four points) and suffered defeats to Geelong (66 points), Brisbane (22 points), Melbourne (29 points) and now Fremantle.

“I’m putting a line through them right now. I was there yesterday just as a spectator — a lot of angry fans, really, really disappointed,” Lloyd told AFL.com.au.

“There’s losing and then there’s losing the way they lost yesterday, which was as poor a loss as you’ll see. I thought they were outworked by Fremantle, they were too tough for them, I thought they were out-coached from a strategy perspective by (Dockers coach) Justin Longmuir.

“I thought Essendon had no answers in terms of their inside 50 work — it was Peter Wright, sit it on his head, nothing other than that.

“Through the midfield, those guys didn’t want to work as hard as Brayshaw and those types of players who wanted to work through the midfield. It was damning in just about every department.”

The Bombers have no answers at the moment. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

North Melbourne legend David King also gave Essendon — who made the finals last year — a brutal reality check.

“They are the nicest team in the AFL. Every team in our competition would love to play against the Bombers every week,” King told Fox Footy’s First Crack.

“They allow you so many luxuries, you can move the ball as easy as you like, they are uncompetitive at clearances and are uncompetitive at contested possession.

“It’s embarrassing what this club is putting out there at the moment. This is a proud football club that want for nothing and I can’t believe where they’re at right now – I really can’t.”

King added he “can’t believe how poor they are without the football”.

“Is this a club without standards? Is it a club that accept what the opposition brings and say, ‘Not our day today, too hard, not our day?’” King said.

“If you’re an Essendon fan sitting at home you’re entitled to say, ‘What’s going on with my football club? Are we just frittering away another batch of talent walking through the door that are good enough to deliver better than this?’”

St Kilda great Leigh Montagna is another who took the Bombers to task.

“Surely Ben Rutten is not teaching them to play this way, so is his message not getting through?” Montagna said on First Crack.

“We saw signs last year Essendon were playing a brand and team defensive system and they were building nicely. But for whatever reason, they’ve gone completely backwards in it this season.

“Maybe they thought they were tracking better and going better than they were.”

Originally published as ‘It’s embarrassing’: Footy greats slam Essendon over AFL trainwreck