SEN host David King isn’t sure whether the ‘Essendon edge’ is real.
The Bombers opened their season well with wins against Hawthorn and St Kilda and a decent performance in defeat to Sydney but were embarrassed during Gather Round by Port Adelaide, losing 111-42.
The Dons were smashed at the source on Friday night, losing both clearance and contested ball as the likes of Connor Rozee, Jason Horne-Francis and Zak Butters had their way in the middle as they outscored Essendon 13.9 (87) to 3.3 (21) after quarter time.
While King loves the leadership of Zach Merrett, he’s not sure whether Essendon is really bringing a new tough brand to the way they play in 2024 after seeing their meek performance at the Adelaide Oval.
“I don't know whether the Essendon edge has any validity or if it's the tooth fairy, do you believe in it or not? I don't know,” King said on SEN Whateley.
“I sort of was warming to it last week, I thought, ‘Ok, they’ve got something they want to hang on to as a group’, and I love the leadership of Zach Merrett, so I’m torn a little bit.
“But when you see that performance, you think, ‘How can you be glowing of his leadership when then they (the team) throw in that (performance)?’.
“Sometimes it's harder as one man leading this group than others, I feel a bit sorry for him.”
King believes that the biggest thing holding the Bombers back is a lack of consistency in performance with too many players putting in performances with next to zero impact in between weeks of high output.
He called out the likes of Jake Stringer and Kyle Langford – perhaps Essendon’s two best forwards – as the duo combined for just five marks, 18 disposals and one goal on Friday.
“But there's too many at Essendon that can have games that are just zero games, and they just give you nothing, not even a five out of 10,” King explained.
“They just give you a one or two out of 10 and you think, ‘Wow, is Langford out there? Where's Stringer? Is Stringer there? What's happening with (Ben) Hobbs?’.
“But they have too many that are out of the game for a long time or have very, very little influence.”
King also isn’t sure whether the Dons get full bang for their buck from players they invested in heavily at the draft with recent first-rounders Archie Perkins, Nik Cox and Hobbs among others showing some nice signs but never really breaking out to become stars of the competition.
“Again, we come back to those prime picks … they should be doing what we mentioned earlier. They shouldn't be nice performers, they should be ripping the heart out of the opposition,” King said.
“That's what Brad's talking about with the Essendon edge. Do those picks have the killer instinct that’s going to rip the game apart to say, ‘This is us’? They don't do it as often as they should.
“I take my hat off to Merrett because I think he does, and Dyson Heppell is trying as hard as anyone. But there are too many others that fluctuate and if you can't build consistency when you're a high-level pick or an experienced player, where are you going?
“The edge is only there if they want it to be there. I understand the logic of it, but it can't be the tooth fairy.”
The Bombers will hope to bounce back when they face the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
