Insipid Dons Leave Fans Riled

It’s been a puzzling few weeks for us Don supporters. Just a short time ago , well six weeks actually, we had strung a few wins on the run against some pretty good opposition sides and looked like  we might even be pushing to stay in the top eight, then the wheels fell off. Listening to some of the more voracious fans really makes me laugh. I have heard theories of Richmond pay backs directed towards Essendon for taking Kevin Sheedy all those years ago, and planting Matthew Knights at the club. Some disgruntled supporter even blamed the colour of certain  players boots, others vented their spleen at particular players in the most colourful language and judging by their reaction on Saturday night at “Emptyhead Stadium” , I don’t reckon the coach will be invited to their next social get together.

I wasn’t planning to go to the last couple of games but Cousin David a Melbourne fan organised seats for that game. I thought we were a pretty good chance because I had read in the paper that Essendon had a good draw against lower teams and Melbourne was one of these. This game would get our season back on track. Well ,how wrong were the scribes ? The Dons were no where to be seen, out run,out marked, out tackled, out kicked and out thought. We had very few winners on the day,  I’m not saying that they weren’t giving it their best, they just weren’t in the hunt, they were outclassed. The score board flattered us, we kicked 4 or 5 goals in the last few minutes of the game.  The absolute highlight of the afternoon was seeing Jimmy Stynes with his son on the ground after the game celebrating the Melbourne win.  Long may we see him at the “G”.

Essendon to play West Coast tonight.   OK I thought ,I we can give this West Coast mob a good thumping. They haven’t won over here for ages, they hate travelling, it’s our home game , so when Jamie rings up  during the week  with a ticket for me, I  think this is going to be a win win. A couple a cleansing ales with a mate and watch the Don’s get their season back on track, what could be better. The omens  were against Jamie for a start, Metro trains decided to replace trains with buses from Williamstown to Footscray but forgot to tell passengers.  He waited at the station until someone informed puzzled passengers they thought they saw a bus picking people up.  Anyway, we got into a pretty sparsely populated “Empty Head” a couple of minutes into the game to see a Mark LeCras kick a couple of goals on Essendon’s Heath Hocking. Not content with those couple he became even greedier and kicked two more before quarter time bell.

Things started going pear shaped, West Coast were finding their targets with kicks and Essendon weren’t, and as the game progressed, this  team from Western Australia that hates travelling and are on the bottom of the ladder  and having been described as” hopeless jokes,” are showing the Dons how to play this game. LeCras keeps kicking goals from from all angles and from all distances, he is unstoppable and unbeatable . All of the Essendon ” brains trust” solutions to the LeCras problem amounted to zilch.  Even when he came back on the ground with his head bandaged like a zombie he kept kicking goals., no doubt he was a bit too scary for the backmen . He did make one mistake though, he fumbled or miss kicked from about one metre out and kicked a behind.  So he ended up with 12 goals and an absolute match winner.

As usual Essendon kicked 4 goals late in the last quarter to give their final score a bit legitimacy, but they were completely out played.  Best payers for Essendon were Lovett-Murray, Winderlich Howlett and Colyer in a very lacklustre and insipid team. The future looks pretty grim for the Essendon Football Club for season 2010.  Supporters weren’t too happy with the team as they trudged off the ground and the pressure will surely mount on players and officials for the next week. It will be very interesting to see how things play out over the next few days at Windy Hill.

Comments

  1. Brad Carr says

    A lot of talk obviously today about the Essendon fans’ reactions, the booing at 3-quarter-time, etc (there was a fairly vocal “sack Matty Knights, sack Matty Knights” chant on the La Trobe St bridge after the game), but we should give those fans a bit of the credit they’re due – when LeCras came off under the blood rule shortly after kicking his 10th goal midway through the 3rd quarter, he got a very generous (and sportsmanlike) ovation from the home team’s fans.

    As one of the blue and gold variety that has hated Essendon since the Sheedy jacket-waving days, I was very impressed (and my stereotypes challenged) by that display.

  2. The Eagles don’t always hate travelling.

    Unless to Emptyhead stadium (great name) where it was like a playground.

    Still kind of bowled over at LeCras and his effort.

  3. Chalkdog says

    Rod,
    Gotta love Metro trains dont you! My 9 year old reliably informed me that it was still Connex but they just changed the stickers on the trains. As for Dons, it looks like its their turn to dog paddle while the some others are free styling away. Most clubs grab hold of a patsy coach when they know they are not going to go well. Knighta will see out his contract, blood some kids and watch on as Sir James swans in and takes the biscuits.

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