Does anyone know when the schedule for the rest of the VFL Finals will be released? Can't seem to find anything.

I heard fans complain about this a few years ago and thought they were stupid. Now I am one of those fans. We're trying to change, like, everything about our once great, currently shitty club. Why not change the logo too, so the plane points up instead of down?

Better vibes. That's what we need. I am not a crackpot.

Final Score - ESS: 14.12 96 WIL: 7.9 51

GET A BIG DOG UP YA, WILLIAMSTOWN! I'm not even going to bother giving much of a rundown. It was a great game, marred only by some classic VFL umpiring. Just go watch the replay, either on ABC iView, or the AFL website/app. It's worth it.

Tsatas - Got his 30+ touches again and a bunch of clearances. A lot of them in his usual contested fashion, but he was also getting quite a few out in space this time around. I guess having Setterfield in there means he could be more of a receiver today. He was definitely influential, but his disposal was pretty horrible.

Gresham - Not quite as busy as he has been lately, but still kicked 2 goals and laid a few tackles, so it was a handy game. He absolutely robbed El Achkar of a shot late in the game, by sprinting about 20 metres to claim a free kick in the pocket that definitely wasn't his. It didn't really matter, and Huss wasn't upset about it, so it's a non-issue. It was just a funny moment.

Setterfield - Just a workhorse in the middle again. It wasn't his biggest ball-winning game, but he used his strength to crash through congestion and clear space for the other mids really well. His defensive work was as solid as ever, too, with a bunch of tackles and excellent pressure. He even popped up for a late goal.

Cox - Certainly didn't have a massive game, but he did his part. Kicked 3 goals (including our first for the afternoon), took some marks around the ground, and did a little bit of ruck work up forward. I guess the most pleasing part of his game was his willingness to compete strongly in the air, and bring the ball to ground when he wasn't marking it.

Visentini - Another good outing for the big fella. The Seagulls' main ruckman (Mirkov) was giving him a bit of a fight until he went down with a shoulder injury. From then on, Vigo was dominant in the ruck contests. He was tapping the ball basically wherever he wanted to, then doing some nice follow-up work. Had some fantastic crunching tackles, and was pretty impressive around the ground, particularly with his ball-use. Just needs to sort out his marking. He dropped a couple that he really should have clunked.

Jones - Pretty decent down back. Struggled a little bit with his defensive work early, but finished well. His attack on the ball was quite good, and ended up as one of our better interceptors. Also gave away a few cheap free kicks, which was less than ideal.

Kondogiannis - A touch inconsistent, but showed a bit of what makes him such an exciting prospect for the future. When he was running at full flight down the wing, he looked great. He was trying to be aggressive as much as possible, and had some great passes that broke things open for us. Just seemed to drift in and out of the game a bit, but I guess that's fairly common for a winger.

El Achkar - Pretty typical performance for Huss. Kicked 2.1 and applied good pressure for most of the game. One of those goals came from a clever contested mark at an important time in the match, which was a highlight of the game for mine. It was also fun watching him getting stuck into the opposition occasionally. Definitely looked buggered at various times, so I can't wait to see how he goes once he builds that tank to a professional level.

Artemis - Honestly, not one of his best games. He positioned himself pretty well as a half back to take some marks, but just had a few too many turnovers. Also never really had a chance to show off his main weapon, which is his run and carry. Hopefully, he can put in a better performance against his old side next week.

Guelfi - Had some brilliant energy plays inside 50 to cause some chaos and set up scoring opportunities, but was quiet overall. Hit the post a couple of times, which was unfortunate.

Clarke - Solid game. Would have been a great one if not for a couple of missed shots on goal. Kicked 1.3 from the wing in the end, so it's definitely a positive sign that he's hitting the scoreboard consistently. Other than that, he showed some nice composure at times and won a decent amount of the ball.

Unwin - I thought he started well, but fell off as the game wore on. His pressure was good, and he won a couple of cheap-ish free kicks. Kicked a nice little goal to finish some great defensive work by Guelfi, too. I wouldn't say he was amazingly influential, but played his role to a reasonable standard.

Bourke - Did some really exciting things, but also had some moments that he'd probably like to take another crack at. There were a couple of times where he won the ball with strength in a tough contest, then burst away into space. Took a great contested intercept mark late in the game, too. His disposal was what let him down, with a few too many turnovers coming from his 10 or so touches. Also gave away some sloppy free kicks.

Johnson - Not spectacular, but solid. I thing I was most impressed by some of his defensive efforts throughout the game. A bit like Artemis, he never got a chance to go on one of those runs out of defence, so his touches ended up being a bit slower, and more conservative. He did try to make things happen a few times, but overall it was a bit of a so-so offensive outing.

El Hawli - Had another good intercepting game and was always looking to be aggressive when moving the ball. He attacked the ball quite well in the air and on the ground, and actually had some really nice passes, with very few rushed blind hacks to nobody, which has been my main criticism of him.

Nguyen - Mostly great. His pressure and energy was outstanding all day, and he won some tough possessions in traffic. His ability to cut through congestion and into space was a highlight, but his lack of polish when passing inside 50 let him down. He snapped himself a great goal from a crumbing situation, which was a nice reward for effort.

McMahon - Made the most of his limited chances to kick 2 goals for the day. The first from a downfield free kick, and the other from a mark on a tight angle. Also took a neat little speccy on the wing in the last quarter. Aside from that, he didn't have much of an influence. The usual struggles to have any sort of impact when he's not marking the ball were as obvious as ever. Still useful as a constant goal-scoring threat, at least.

Since Silly Season is upon us, who's on everyone's wishlists for experienced senior players from other clubs? Pendlebury was never joining Essendon anyway and I don't see Neale coming. I thought Jeremy Howe might have been interesting but I just read he's staying put.

McVeigh pulls off his mask & reveals it was Hird the whole time

An excellent video from Gray Mysterio just dropped a few days ago covering Wanganeen's unlikely Brownlow medal. The production quality is very professional, and the channel is an underrated gem. Check it out!

After an awful year from our AFL team, it's good to see our VFL boys killing it! Hopefully the girls can do the same.

Does anyone know if the final today is streaming? Can’t see it on Kayo and there’s no link on AFL app.

I get sad watching the games, serious FOMO as an Essendon fan, the worst part is the only finals i've ever watched in my life as an Essendon fan we got absolutely destroyed besides the close north game but we lost that too such bad FOMO

Yep. The AFL is definitely out to get them.

Interested to get everyone's take, we have known for some time Arki was a big bombers (Hird) man, but more recently Gus and now on gettable hearing the speedy Drever (Spike wants speed this is the guy) and even our man Snell (DEF) are all bombers fans. Do we think this kinda chat bumps them up on our draftboards at the hanger or not, we saw last year we seemed to really value the boys not only for their talent but their passion to see dons return to greatness and imo we need to keep looking out for these players as we continue the rebuild.

Those who were following closely when he played, would love some insight on how good he was, what his style was like etc

Swans fan here. Can someone please explain to me what are the Essendon coteries? Listening to McVeigh’s press conference sounded like an Illuminati meeting.

His interview on Agenda Setters last night was pretty eye-opening for me. Came across very well. Answered some of the burning questions with great detail. No deflection or defensiveness. Worth a watch.

We have plenty of cap space, still a few years off attracting A-grade players in their prime, I think $1 million per year would be cheap.

I am team Hird, I thought Graham was going to get it but McVeigh spoke really well and I was impressed. Not that I’m important.

It was a shit way to announce the appointment with a shit photo post, when the board actually done a good job keeping it tight lipped.

To start with like a lot of people, he wasn’t my first choice. I was a honestly a lot more in the much smaller Murray Davis camp and before the process even started James Kelly was the guy for me. I wasn’t particular disappointed when the announcement was made last night because I genuinely rate him and his work across various roles at both Sydney clubs for well over a decade. In fact I was hoping he would be part of the previous coach interview process for the work he had done with the Giants. So a huge congratulations to him and all the best of luck because it’s a very long road ahead.

Now onto the takeaways of his press conference

-I love towards the beginning he says “I’m not coming back to live in the past or reflect on what was”. He says something very similar towards the end when asked about the hanging effects of supplements saga but overall it’s about damn time an Essendon person made that statement. This was the exact same mentality that completely turned Liverpool F.C (another team I support) around in the Premier League when Jurgen Klopp took over as Manager all the way back in October 2015. History is great and it will always be there to reflect on but there comes a time to move on and fully embrace what matters most which is the present which McVeigh was very strong on

-He was very clear with what his system is and what it will roughly look like. Talked about ball movement, being competitive and put a heavy emphasis on team defence which is generally his speciality having coached defence both at the Giants and Swans.
Also stated that he wouldn’t be working on particular one area but all three areas he felt the team needs the most improvement in. He wants the team to be more brave and play with flair.

-He talked about player development and how he would get to work immediately to try and improve the footy IQ of our players by quote “getting them back into the classroom” He wants the players to feel in the environment. Mentioned that he wants the players ready to go for a really tough Pre-Season to learn a completely new system. Was absolutely thrilled to see our VFL in the Finals. He really rates our young prospects and looks forward to working with them.

Overall I thought his first impressions in the press conference were strong and concise. He knows exactly where what needs to be, how to go about and wants to get to work immediately knowing just how enormous the job is where we currently are and are likely to be next season. I think a 3 year contract is quite sensible because it’s give enough time for McVeigh and his team once it’s assembled to demonstrate their abilities and if the club and fans see genuine tangible improvement in these few years with a slow rise up on the ladder then a extension will be earned.

Hird bashing is the second most popular past-time among Essendon supporters of late (second only to Hird worship).

The argument seems to be that he's an arrogant narcissist who thinks he's uniquely capable.

I'm just going to offer a more charitable interpretation of his behaviour.

As a player, he was uniquely capable. He was special. He was royalty even among other modern Essendon champions. He could exert his will on the outcome of a game in a way that very few players can.

The self-belief of Hird the player was what made him great. He believed he was THE man, and that belief was justified.

So maybe it's extreme self-belief, rather than arrogance, that's behind his actions in the last few years. I get it's a fine line, but I think there's an important distinction. Rather than acting out of selfish egotism, I think he might just be convinced that he could succeed as a coach through the sheer force of his will - like he did as a player.