MARK ROBINSON: SO, WHY IS WORSFOLD STICKING WITH THE DONS?
IF the football world is laughing at Carlton, it is sniggering at Essendon.
Expectations at the rebuilding Blues were minimal — expectations at Essendon were they would be contenders.
What they produced against the Bulldogs on Sunday was laughable and worrying.
After three rounds the Bombers are failing.
They started pre-season against Richmond, where coach John Worsfold oddly said his team was confused. Confused about what? They then beat Geelong with a withering final quarter in their second JLT game.
In Round 1, they got Adelaide minus Walker, Crouch and Lynch and found 20 minutes of good footy at the end. They lost to Fremantle and played lazy against the Dogs. Lazy is probably too nice, but it’s what Essendon has become: A nice, fun club.
The Dogs took 152 marks, the most conceded by Essendon since records were first taken in 1999. That’s 19 seasons.
The Dogs were by far the youngest team fielded at the weekend. They must have felt like they playing schoolyard football, such was Essendon’s disinterest to defend.
There looks to be a disconnect between what Worsfold wants from his players and what he’s getting. That’s probably where the confusion lies.
His team is not playing what most observers would argue is the “modern game’’.
Worsfold says he wants to play press football, but his team is not. Forward-half football is what other teams play, not Essendon.
Why did they re-sign Worsfold for an extra two years?
He was not leaving, he was not going to get poached and the style of football his team delivers, which Wayne Carey said on Sunday would not win finals, is questionable.
Worsfold’s a good man and good football person. He did a terrific job after the drug-ban decision, keeping the club together. This helped him get a new contract but there are queries about his coaching. He has a talented list, a nice age and games profile, at his disposal.
They play nice football. It is a nice club. They are currently polling members about a possible NBL team. They are hammering e-Sports. It’s inclusive and happy and left-field, but meanwhile their core business — football — is putting up rubbish results.
It is disrespectful to say the premiership coach needed to earn his contract extension. But it is reasonable to ask why his game style is so trusted when successful teams go about it so differently.
It has to change and when it does Essendon’s faith in Worsfold will be rewarded.
But it’s Round 3 and they have been beaten by two teams most predicted would be bottom four or five.
Worsfold and his No. 1 offsider, sacked Melbourne coach Mark Neeld, who is basically the strategy coach, need to rework the game plan.
They persist with Cale Hooker forward, who when he went to defence in the final quarter on Sunday, slipped back into interceptor mode.
The midfield is a struggle. They can’t get it. They are on average -43 in disposals, -44 in uncontested possessions. In contested ball they are +2.3, but clearances are down -4.7 which is 15th in the competition, and ground ball is at -4.7.
They want to be an outside, transition team, but are getting beaten in that regards.
Their pressure against the Bulldogs was rated 160 which was the lowest from Essendon in the past 26 games.
Today’s game is about forward-half football. At the weekend they scored two goals from forward-half chains. The Bulldogs kicked 10.
The Bombers average 20 stoppages a game in the forward half, comfortably the worst in the competition. The ball goes in and the ball goes out. The Demons average 41, Gold Coast 35 and GWS is 34.
Worsfold is stubborn with structures. They can’t persist with three talls in the forward 50m. It’s not working. They have one of the best young forwards in Joe Daniher but don’t kick it to him enough. He’s fighting for the ball with Hooker and James Stewart. And when it hits the ground, it’s run out of there.
Jake Stringer hasn’t cut it as a midfielder. Move Hooker back and Stringer forward.
But it’s got to be about pressure and defence.
They don’t tag. They let Zach Merrett get tagged out of games. They don’t pressure enough and take too many risky kicks in the back half.
They play Port Adelaide this week and if they don’t change, they won’t win.