My Essendon FC Year End Report
13/09/08 18:04
Good afternoon,
Well, for the Mighty Bombers the season of 2008 is over. Roll on the off season of surgery, trades and hope!
My year end review is not much different to what I wrote for the mid season report.
Overall, as a club I would rate our year 6/10 based solely on results, not potential or effort.
Coaching staff - 7/10
A good year by Matthew Knights and his support staff. As a relatively inexperienced group (except for GO’D), I thought they coped well in the aftermath of Sheedy era, a savage early season slump, injuries to nearly the entire side and some pretty heavy media scrutiny of the ‘new’ game plan.
I thought Matthew Knights stood out with his confidence in his game plan, the support he appeared to give his players and his ability to manage the list and to apply appropriate discipline as necessary.
Early days, but a promising start as a leader.
Playing Group - 6/10
Can’t get too excited based on performance which was principally limited by the massive injury toll the club suffered. While I have no reason to doubt John Quinn’s talents as a high performance fitness coach, I am very much hoping that the recent change in this area helps the club keep more of our best players on the park next year.
It was pretty hard to find a consistent player over the entire year but David Hille must be close to the Crichton Medal winner. Leadership, physicality and skill were highlights to me.
Matthew Lloyd stood tall and showed a lot of backbone and pride under heavy criticism when the entire world (well the media at least) were putting him down and writing him off. Not flamboyant, but was a strong part of Knights club leadership and direction.
Other notables - Jobe Watson, Mark McVeigh and Andrew Welsh were impressive both in effort and leadership. And I loved the spunk of Kyle Reimers and the run of Brent Stanton.
Disappointments - The ongoing injuries to Scott Gumbleton prevented him showing the faithful his undoubted talents.
Farewells - Thanks and good luck to Rama, Jason Johnson, Damien Peverill, Mal Michael, and others who may move on over the course of the off season.
I look forward to an exciting trade period and for the Bombers to contend for the ‘Eight’ in 2009.
Bye for now, BomberBoy
Well, for the Mighty Bombers the season of 2008 is over. Roll on the off season of surgery, trades and hope!
My year end review is not much different to what I wrote for the mid season report.
Overall, as a club I would rate our year 6/10 based solely on results, not potential or effort.
Coaching staff - 7/10
A good year by Matthew Knights and his support staff. As a relatively inexperienced group (except for GO’D), I thought they coped well in the aftermath of Sheedy era, a savage early season slump, injuries to nearly the entire side and some pretty heavy media scrutiny of the ‘new’ game plan.
I thought Matthew Knights stood out with his confidence in his game plan, the support he appeared to give his players and his ability to manage the list and to apply appropriate discipline as necessary.
Early days, but a promising start as a leader.
Playing Group - 6/10
Can’t get too excited based on performance which was principally limited by the massive injury toll the club suffered. While I have no reason to doubt John Quinn’s talents as a high performance fitness coach, I am very much hoping that the recent change in this area helps the club keep more of our best players on the park next year.
It was pretty hard to find a consistent player over the entire year but David Hille must be close to the Crichton Medal winner. Leadership, physicality and skill were highlights to me.
Matthew Lloyd stood tall and showed a lot of backbone and pride under heavy criticism when the entire world (well the media at least) were putting him down and writing him off. Not flamboyant, but was a strong part of Knights club leadership and direction.
Other notables - Jobe Watson, Mark McVeigh and Andrew Welsh were impressive both in effort and leadership. And I loved the spunk of Kyle Reimers and the run of Brent Stanton.
Disappointments - The ongoing injuries to Scott Gumbleton prevented him showing the faithful his undoubted talents.
Farewells - Thanks and good luck to Rama, Jason Johnson, Damien Peverill, Mal Michael, and others who may move on over the course of the off season.
I look forward to an exciting trade period and for the Bombers to contend for the ‘Eight’ in 2009.
Bye for now, BomberBoy