AFL critics have lined up to slam the Essendon Bombers after their dreadful 1-4 start to 2022 including a 48-point less to Fremantle at Marvel Stadium on Friday.
The Bombers were the talk of the AFL in 2021 after surging back into the finals but have barely fired a shot in 2022, with their sole victory a four-point escape over the battling Adelaide Crows.
Injuries have hurt the Bombers with critical players Jake Stringer, Zach Merrett and James Stewart sidelined.
Dejected Bombers walk off after they were defeated by the Dockers on Sunday in a shocking performance that’s been roundly slammed by fans and experts
But AFL analyst David King told Fox Sports that Essendon have plummeted so low they are literally handing results to opposition teams.
‘I’ve been really bullish on the Bombers over the last couple of years – and off the mark,’ he said.
‘I know [Sunday’s team] was a young team and there’s a fair bit of inexperience in there. But when you’ve got inexperience, you fall back on your senior players and you fall back on your system.
‘They are the nicest team in the AFL. Every team in our competition would love to play against the Bombers every week. 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.’
Ben Hobbs of the Bombers competes for the ball during his side’s 48-point loss to the Dockers on Easter Sunday.
Former Bombers champion Matthew Lloyd blasted his old club and has already ruled them out as contenders for finals footy.
‘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,’ he said.
‘There’s losing and then there’s losing the way they lost yesterday, which was as poor a loss as you’ll see.’
Matthew Lloyd played 270 games for the Bombers including their last premiership in 2000 and he was disgusted with the performance his old team delivered against Fremantle
AFL journalist Damian Barrett conceded that injuries were an issue for the Bombers, but slammed the team’s fit players for not standing up in their absence.
Big-name recruit Dylan Shiel is in the fourth season of a big-money, six-year deal and Barrett singled him out for the issues in the Bombers midfield in 2022.
‘And there’s question marks [over Shiel] prior to this year. Prior to yesterday’s game, prior to the opening start of 2022,’ Barrett said on his AFL Daily podcast.
‘It just hasn’t worked. That may sound harsh but when you are at this stage of this long-term deal … it just has not transpired the way they wanted it to happen.
‘There is a number of reasons for that and a lot of them can be [attributed] to Dylan Shiel himself. He has not fitted in the way they wanted him to.’
Shiel is in the fourth season of a six-year megadeal with the Bombers but has not been delivering performances that justify his pay packet
Barrett also singled out Shiel’s fellow midfielders Darcy Parish and Andrew McGrath.
‘You go to what happened last year with Darcy Parish, he had an extraordinarily good year which was acknowledged and widely celebrated by the club itself and in Brownlow medal voting and rapport and ravings by other footy clubs.
‘His numbers are OK this year, but they are only OK. He is not impacting, he was not able to change the course or the flow of what happened yesterday.
‘Another issue is Andrew McGrath, again, his numbers aren’t necessarily looking too bad but you get back to impact on number and there is just no impact when it comes to his work as well.
‘It’s these players who the club right now needs more than ever and they are not delivering to this point.’
Ben Hobbs and Dyson Heppell of the Bombers look dejected after the full-time siren brought mercy following their flogging at the hands of Fremantle.
Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph accused Bombers players of stat-stuffing to improve their numbers despite having little impact in matches in 2022.
‘I watched live as five Essendon players exchange a quickfire string of handballs today just to feel warm & cuddly as they padded the stats sheet and it had absolutely no impact on the game,’ he tweeted.
‘Apart from the big forwards mauling them and the forward line not kicking many goals and the midfield getting smacked around and the rucks having no impact and last year’s improvers mostly hitting the wall they have been great.’
Two-time All Australian Leigh Montagna questioned whether 2021 was a false dawn for the Bombers.
‘Surely [coach] Ben Rutten is not teaching them to play this way, so is his message not getting through?’ Montagna asked.
‘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.’