The appointment of Mathew Knights to the coaching role at Essendon FC for 2008 raised a few doubters but was also welcomed amongst the Bombers faithful. Many didn’t expect success to occur right away yet we were treated to some thrilling risk taking football under Knights’ game plan in his first year. However, the high octane game plan wasn’t able to be sustained for the full four quarters required to win a game of AFL. In Knights’ first year, we were given glimpses into the future for Essendon and it looked very promising. The plan sanctioned for Mathew Knights was to lay the groundwork in 2008. Make the top 8 in 2009. And then push for top 4 in 2010. 2011 and 2012 were ear marked as the years that the Bombers would stake their claim for premiership glory. Last year, we witnessed the Bombers make the finals for the first time in quite awhile. It was also the first time in AFL/VFL history that a side had made the finals with more losses than wins. What eventuated in the away elimination final against Adelaide was an absolute mauling. The tactic of taking in no recognized ruckman severely backfired and the question marks about Knights were slowly being raised.
This year, the so called year where we would shake up the top 4, has gone horribly wrong and the Bombers fanatics have had enough and the patience is quickly running out. The outside world has quickly laid the blame on the coach, Mathew Knights. They have good reason too but they are quick to forget that he is only just over halfway into his 5 year succession plan. Okay so yes this year didn’t quite plan out the way it did but the jaw dropping wins against top 4 bound teams St Kilda and Western Bulldogs is surely something to cheer about. Add to that the wins against top 8 teams, Hawks and Blues plus the resurgent Tigers and suddenly it brings a smile to your face. But it seems as though the losses to Port Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and most recently the embarrassing thrashing by a LeCras inspired bottom-placed Eagles unit has flipped the pandemonium switch in the Bombers fans’ heads. The Eagles game was as shocking as a team could perform. Continuous turnovers in the corridor and the Bombers’ ill discipline to hit a target hurt them severely on the scoreboard. The first 11 weeks, the Bombers were number 1 for tackles laid. The last 6 losses on the trot has seen them come in last place for this vital statistic for winning a game of modern day football. Several times the Bombers went for a bump instead of a crunching tackle. And when they went for the tackle there was no ferocity behind it but merely a limp one handed effort to stop the opposition players momentum. That clearly failed. It begs the question as to whether the players have the burning desire to either play for their coach and more importantly represent the highly prestigious red and black sash jumper.
The playing list looks very solid on paper but the selection policies of the coach is one that is very hard to fathom. We’ll start at the beginning of the year. The Bombers put in a gallant effort against the defending premiers Geelong in round 1. Leading by 4 goals in the 3rd quarter, the Bombers penetrated into their forward 50 where Jay Neagle took a strong mark. For some unknown reason he decided to take on the more quicker Harry Taylor. He dismally failed and from the following turnover, Geelong scored and then went onto nail 8 more goals without reply. If only Neagle had gone back and perhaps given the Bombers an unassailable 5 goal lead, we’d maybe see the Bombers avoiding all this scrutiny having gained confidence from the potential round 1 win. Jay Neagle was dropped for the next game and for the following 10 weeks, he plied his trade in the VFL mixed with injuries. This was the guy ear marked as the future replacement to Mathew Lloyd. So why did Knights leave him to rot in the VFL?? Surely if he wants to make a better player out of Neagle it would be playing in AFL games. We know there are some serious fitness concerns with Neagle. And what better way to enhance the fitness issue than by playing in more AFL matches where the intensity can not be simulated anywhere. He has a very strong mark but can be slow on the lead and lacks awareness late in the game. Here is my proposition for hopefully a successful transition for a fit Neagle as a full forward. We know our other hopeful Scott Gumbleton can take a good mark and is starting to trust his body and look like a forward target in his first full year of AFL. So put him down at full forward to rake in the marks and have shots on goals. Put Neagle at half forward and ask him to just run and present at the footy. He might be buggered by half time in his first game but over the next month he will be able to run out games by acquiring this match fitness. Give him a couple games at full forward and ask him to do the same but this time just run continuously within the fifty metre arc ala Nick Riewoldt. We will not only see him leading up strongly but hopefully apply enough defensive pressure to keep the ball in our forward half and give us more shots on goals. Jay Neagle is our most effective player for the future to score goals and it is paramount that Knights utilises him and continues to show faith with him. It wont be long until he finally comes of age and delivers the bags of goals week in week out that we desperately require. We nearly saw Jack Watts get his Demons over the line against the Dockers. Watts is due for a big game and Neagle just needs one of these to announce himself to the footy world that he is here for good.
The other quandary that is backfiring against Knights is the use of his players that are playing consistently well in the VFL. Such players are Bachar Houli, Michael Quinn and Brent Prismall. The main victim has been Houli. Over the past month, he has been in the top 2 performed players for the Bendigo Bombers, Essendon’s feeder team. Yet consistently finds himself being named as an emergency for the senior side. There is nothing more he can do and surely a player with his talent will be getting frustrated at biding his time away from the Bombers. With the new team, Gold Coast, looking to poach players, surely Houli will consider an offer put forward from them which is sure to be financially tempting. Michael Quinn, is an international rookie hailing from Ireland. The week before the round 14 Adelaide game, Quinn was named best on ground for Bendigo. So Knights rewarded this performance and selected Quinn to play for the Bombers’ senior side. However, the Bombers were horrendously thrashed by the improving Crows and Quinn looked out of sorts. Surely the young kid would have been given more than one game to make a mark at AFL level. Wrong! Knights dropped him back to the reserves side. This was severely disappointing as it shows the coach showed no faith in Quinn to perform again. It is selection policies like this that have the wider sporting community puzzled. Give the talented kid a month to prove his worth. If after a month there are no results then an omission from the senior side is warranted. The last piece of the selection headaches is the non usage of Brent Prismall. The Bombers’ pursuit of Luke Ball, at the end of last season, indicated that they sought an in and under type midfielder to support Jobe Watson. Prismall can fit this role perfectly as his disposal manner is quite impressive and isn’t afraid to win the contested footy. The Bombers were hoping that Brent Stanton would be the support to their captain. However, lets be honest, Stanton hasn’t got the body suited to get under packs and cop the bumps. I see Stanton more suited to a Leigh Montagna style role from St Kilda. Just continuously roam the wings and set up attacks while lending a hand in the defensive 50. Prismall showed promise at Geelong at being an elite midfielder but the Cats didn’t show the perseverance with him once he endured an knee reconstruction. The Bombers took him on and he looked proppy and lacked the confidence in his first handful of games. However he had a standout game against the Hawks in the round 6 win where he racked up plenty of possessions (28) and kicked a goal. Since then he has spent time, like Houli, playing in the reserves even though he was worthy of a seniors call up. Even in the games he played for the Bombers, there wasn’t much game time and wasn’t running on the ball.
Knights has 6 weeks, if he is given the opportunity, to sort out the under-performing playing list belonging to Essendon. He needs to give game time to the blokes that are on the cusp of a seniors call up and play players in positions that allow them to enhance the winning prospects for the team. He needs to experiment with an alternate game plan or modify his current one so that goals aren’t leaked in large amounts on a consistent basis. His stubbornness to only play through the corridor is slowly leading to his demise. Its well and truly amazing taking the game on and taking the shortest route to goal through the middle of the ground but when superior teams block this passage, the Bombers are lost when having to play wide. Therefore it is wise to use the hard running players on the outside so that when it does eventually come back into the middle, we have the skilled kicking cattle to deliver into the forward line if not kick truly from 40-50m out.
The Essendon Bombers can go places in the near future. We shouldn’t have to wait 40 or 50 years like the Saints and Bulldogs to taste premiership glory. We have a man leading us in the right direction but just needs to open his eyes and realise that his game plan just needs some fine-tuning and to play the appropriate players built for his style of game. There is no need for a clean out of players or staff. If anything, the recruitment of another highly rated player/staff member to take the load of Jobe or Knights is what may be required. A player of this calibre could be perhaps Max Rooke, Travis Boak or David Armitage. In the staffing department, the ex Port Adelaide coach, Mark Williams or outgoing Swans coach, Paul Roos could provide assistance to Knights with match day commitments or training methods. The Essendon Football Club has a very proud heritage and it is in this following 6 week period where they should stand together and unite and support the coach. Play with passion and play to win. That is all we can ask of a team that have no chance of finals aspirations.
GO THE BOMBERS!!
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