After tipping Essendon to win the 2018 premiership, David King has doubled-down on the Bombers for next year.
After an awful start to the season, they’ve coming home in tremendous form, but will likely fall short of September action.
However, King looks to 2019 and really likes what he sees.
“We might have gone a bit early this year, I think they got a lot wrong at the start of the year from a tactical and structural point of view, but they’re a serious football team,” King told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“If they get this midfielder they’re talking about in the off-season, and I don’t know who it is, they’ve got a couple in mind, they are one midfielder short of being serious premiership contenders.
“Everyone’s saying it’s Dayne Beams, it may not be a Beams, but it may be a Beams-type.
“If they can get one, things become quite flexible. Their magnets are quite moveable.”
The two-time premiership player loves their list and how their younger players have developed this year.
“2019, look out, this is (Essendon’s) under 25’s on their list at the moment. The quality of player is unbelievable: Orazio Fantasia, Andrew McGrath, Darcy Parish, Kyle Langford, Devon Smith, Jake Stringer, Adam Saad, Conor McKenna, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Joe Daniher,” he said.
“We’ve all stopped talking about Joe Daniher, but that is a quality group that’s going to drive them over the next couple of seasons.”
Former Western Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace feels Essendon fans will move on quickly from the unsuccessful 2018 campaign.
“If you’re an Essendon supporter you should just be waiting for next year and can’t wait for it to come around,” Wallace said.
Essendon is still a chance of making the eight, but will need to beat Richmond and Port Adelaide and make up a significant percentage gap.
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