Serious questions need to be asked of the Bombers, according to North Melbourne champion David King.
After a demoralising 69-point loss to the Power during Gather Round, the Bombers seem to be stuck in their same mediocre ways of the past and are facing the heat.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, King declared the Bombers are “a mess”, pointing to statistical drop-offs and strange personnel placement during play.
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“I think the Bombers have so much work to do, everywhere,” he said.
“The more you look at it, the more you think that this is a long way from the finished product and how long is it going to take?”
Essendon are sitting at 2-2 in 2024, but it’s the horrifying nature of their loss to Port Adelaide that has drawn the spotlight, and it is cause for serious concern.
“They can’t move the ball,” King said.
“They can’t stop the opposition moving the ball, this has been the same Essendon for years, not being able to defend opposition ball movement.”
Essendon ranked second in the competition for their ability to transition the ball from defensive 50 to inside 50 but are ranked 17th for that same statistic in 2024.
“They threatened teams all the time, they were out and gone and it was an express machine,” he said.
“It’s hard to see, there’s no real clear evidence.”
The Bombers are ranked 15th in the competition for the opposition’s ability to transition from defensive 50 to inside 50, and they’ve plummeted to 16th for opposition score per inside 50%.
“What’s going on? They’re being saved by accuracy and scoring from forward 50 stoppages, two things that are so flighty that you can’t bank on week to week,” King said.
“Their offensive stuff has deserted them this year and I have no idea why.
“They’re having to try and manufacture, if you go with random play, you get random results.”
King highlighted vision where the Bombers had no tall representation down the line, which just increases their difficulty to transition the ball.
“If you’re going to play wide, where are your targets? If you don’t have tall targets or reference points, every play ends up being manufactured on the run,” he explained.
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Another example saw ruck Sam Draper lead into the centre of the ground, rather than to the boundary to act as a focal point down the line, leaving the Bombers kicking to contests involving smaller players.
“That should be a midfielder or a flanker (in the middle), he should be long down the line, so his opponent goes to where the ball’s going to go and puts a block on and away they go again,” he said.
“They’ve had plenty of time to get organised, if this is the plan, fine, but it ain’t working.”
King put the spotlight on Essendon’s users in the back half, saying that Nic Martin and Mason Redman “are nowhere”.
While Martin has been racking up high disposal counts, making his play look impressive, he has “failed the test”, rating a poor 143rd in the AFL for ball use.
“There’s a lot of tough conversations that need to be had at the Bombers,” King said.
“This is a club that is not rebuilding, so what are they, where are they?”
The Bombers face the Western Bulldogs on Friday night in what is a huge clash for both clubs.
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