Bob Murphy used to write a lot about the winter grind. “The blue skies are gone, the optimism is tested,” he wrote. “This is the time of year for routine, repetition, aches, solitude, pain, will and resolve. The depths of winter are the time of year when the hardened, experienced teams who have been there before start to rev their engines and put a gap between themselves and the pretenders.”
For a team that plays its home games indoors, the winter grind has not traditionally been an area where Essendon has excelled. Last year, they entered winter in sixth spot. The next three months heralded five wins from 12, a percentage of 73, 11th spot and solemn vows to get fitter and more serious.
This year, Essendon entered winter in outright second position. They had a favourable draw. They had 10 games in a row in Melbourne. They had plenty of contenders around them who were dropping games. They’ve since won two from eight, with a percentage of 79.
It’s why their fans trudged to the Docklands on Saturday with a sense of impending doom. Their opponent was one of those dangerous floaters that cause misery every season – the sort of team whose season has ended early but who have finally found form, who are looking to salvage something out of their season, who have nothing to lose, and who are looking to take a few scalps.
The Bombers had already encountered one of those sides a week earlier when the Crows beat them by two points. Now they had Ross Lyon’s Saints to deal with. If you’re flaky, have holes and aren’t up for the fight, Lyon will expose and exploit it.
So it proved. It was a dirty day, particularly the third term, the kind of half hour that ends seasons and extinguishes hope. The Bombers offered little resistance. They were slaughtered in the air and sliced to bits by Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. They made Cooper Sharman look like Nick Riewoldt. It was a dismal performance. In some ways, it was an entire decade of football boiled down to half an hour.
Brad Scott has urged caution and watered down expectations all along. They have a lot of work to do, and a lot of trust to earn, he says. He says it after wins, and he says it after losses. It’s a language and an approach that buys more time, and doesn’t hurt his job prospects.
Scott talks a good game. He talks of building blocks and adding layers. In that defiant, jaw jutting, job interview manner of his, he spins and deflects and sometimes he leaves you nodding your head. Yes Brad, I agree. This list (the seventh most experienced in the AFL) is still learning, still developing.
But they’re miles off contending and in recent weeks, Scott has been seething. He tore shreds off them after their passive display against Melbourne. He was utterly bewildered when they threw the Adelaide game away. And he was furious on Saturday. So many of his senior players are out of form. Merrett and Durham have been excellent this year, but the likes of Draper, McGrath, Langford and Stringer are in a winter rut.
Jake Stringer came to the club with a scowl, a neck tattoo and a 10-page disclosure. The Bombers, as always, were crying out for a bit of aggression. Stringer has it in theory, but his entire career has been conducted in theory. Earlier this year, on tired legs, he kicked the long-range goal that scuttled St Kilda. But he barely gave a yelp on Saturday. In many ways, he’s emblematic of the entire team – good for the occasional sugar hit, but not a footballer for the long haul.
You can set your calendar to what will happen from here. Matthew Lloyd will ask about their DNA, and what they stand for. They’ll miss the finals then vow to get fitter and more professional. They’ll self-fund a trip to Boulder, or to Antwerp, or whatever, and film themselves doing Turkish get-ups and sled pulls.
They’ll have a great off season. They’ll win the trade period. They’ll land the steal of the draft. They’ll be flying in summer. They’ll take some big scalps in autumn. But then the grind will set in. And once again, the question will be asked – are the Bombers a constant work in progress, a fortnight-to-fortnight proposition? Or are they genuine, resolute and durable enough to tough it out?
For Essendon supporters who have lived the cycle of hope, hype, reality and disappointment since Stephen Dank first waddled in, the red and black scarf hurled in wrath onto the field answered those questions – another dismal loss, another thwarted campaign and another season up the spout.
