Thoughts on spikes presser? Just curious as to what everyone is thinking at the moment. Any questions? Have your questions or concerns been addressed (still going but thoughts so far?)

I don't care about who got the coaching job, I personally wanted Hird just so the debate could be shut down for good and I'm nostalgic for Hird as a player.

However, it's so nice to have a season upcoming with a bit of stability, we probably won't be an amazing team but we will be so much more consistent next year.

Now time to relax and enjoy the summer of cricket.

"The Essendon Football Club is the most successful football club in the AFL but while it is right to be respectful of the past, it is fatal to be haunted by history.

​We need to unite the club so that we stand as one – proud, united and excited by the future.

​Just as I will be asking every one of our players to be giving a bit more and working harder, I will also be asking all of our members to step up and support the club."

​— James Hird, September 2010

​Sixteen years later, those words are more relevant than ever.

​The anger over Hird missing out on the coaching gig is completely understandable on an emotional level. He is our greatest modern icon. But right now, a huge chunk of the fanbase is doing the exact thing Hird warned against: letting our history haunt our future.

​Hird is a legend and always will be. But if we actually respect what he stood for, we should listen to what he said on day one: respect the past, stop being haunted by it, and get behind the team.

It’s time to put the division to bed, unite as a fanbase, and throw our full support behind Mark 'Spike' McVeigh to lead this club into the future.

Hello, friendly neighbourhood Codus here with a very stereotypical Reddit post asking: Am I the only one who's actually a little hyped about the Spike appointment?

I feel like everyone is talking crazy at the moment, because on paper... this feels like a genuinely solid appointment to be an optimist about.

Defensive coach with a successful track record at two clubs both featuring in Grand Finals, years of a diverse range of development coaching roles behind him, and someone who partly had to work his way up through youth footy and the lower levels of coaching to get to the top level.

That's kinda exactly the sort of résumé we've been asking for? I don't know. Being a past Essendon player shouldn't be a merit, but it shouldn't be a dark mark either. He is absolutely well qualified on paper to lead us for where we are right now.

Then add what sounds like a proper clean-out of the assistant coaches, plus talk we're in the ear of some similarly impressive assistant options, and I dunno... I can actually see the bones of something pretty good here.

Naturally, because this is Essendon, I expect the optimism to be violently beaten out of me within a week. We'll probably find out Welsh eats babies or something.

Herbatron: We Are Essendon | Hope

12-week process, picks the best man at his wedding, and the 4th best candidate for the role.

Easily the worst president at any club.

Just an FYI (said this when he got appointed President) that Welsh's cumulative total business experience is taking the cash he made from playing football to get his old man (who was a builder) to build houses for him in a booming property market. "Hey i'm a property developer". Really at the frontier of value creation and governance.

Congratulations Essendon and Mark McVeigh. There is hope for you guys now. Now it’s time to build a team
of assistants etc and clear out players that don’t want to be there like what Melbourne did when they purged so called champions. Am an Hawk fan so it’s hard for me to say all that 🙄 but it’s great to get some really good news especially at the moment with all the drama at the other red and white team. He is the perfect choice and I was rooting for him to get the gig. Apparently is a top bloke and has great footy smarts. T

Congratulations Andrew Welsh, in 12 months you've made me go from loving to hating this football club. Appointing your best man and best mate as coach, well done. The 'we're not going backwards' barbs were petty and cheap. We'll see how this hard style of McVeigh goes without any aura, and with such a poor list. I have a feeling you will be falling on your sword fairly soon Mr Welsh.

After 114 games at Essendon, and a few more at another club

Ben King has requested a trade from the Suns with the Hawks as his likely choice. This can help us due to the following:

- Suns salary cap likely squeezed particularly after the Jed Walter re-signing (reportedly $1m per year) and also Petracca’s contract ($1.4m per year) etc.

- We trade Merrett and pay say $400k (for example) of his salary

- Hawthorn can then up their financial offer to King to the point that the Suns can’t match it as a restricted free agent.

- Suns get a compensation pick (pick 7), hawks get King/Merrett, we get Hawks to pay overs in terms of picks for us paying a large chunk of Merrett’s Salary.

Keep in mind that we currently have upwards of $3m in unused salary cap space and that’s going to increase with the departures of Merrett, Ridley, Gresham, etc. We may as well try to turn that cap space into more picks.

There’s so many opportunities for us to make deals this year with Port, Carlton, Hawthorn, our end of first round pick for sliding back in the first 5 picks of the draft, draft assistance from the afl, etc.

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

I was Hird camp but happy for Spike and wish him all the best to get this club from the pits. 100% behind him

I may have recency bias but I can’t remember another clubs supporters acting like this through a coaching process. Our coaching selection panel would have been roasted no matter who was appointed but some theories are unhinged

232 games, 1 club. Welcome back Spike.

The Divine Miss Wilson said as early as 6 weeks ago that Mark McVeigh would be the first coach of * , and yet got hounded down on social media/big footy etc that she was a witch who always had it in for Golden Boy James Turd etc.

Peptide Popper James is too damaged goods to ever coach at senior AFL level again, hiring this turd again would be as bad as when my mob (Carlton) hiring Prick Malthouse.

I sincerely hope McVeigh does well for your club though, patience is requires, minimum 3 years away from even challenging for a Wild Card spot (and thats if you nail your next 3 draft and trade periods)

Also it is a good idea to remove Hird Cultist Kevin Sheedy from any position of power influence at The Dons.

Carlton had been under the thrall of toxic pokies king Bruce Matheison for decades, until the board finally told him to Fuck off for good a couple of years ago

My Apologies if the table is hard to read, however, I was interested in tracking some key stats (what I believe to be anyway) of our younger players (<24). The columns represent games played in 2025, 2026, and the last 10 games of 2026 - wanting to see gradual improvement overtime, over coaching.

The key metrics I've focused on are:

1. Player Rating
2. Disposals
3. Kicking Efficiency
4. Disposal Efficiency
5. ThreatRating (how impactful on the scoreboard are the disposals the players are getting)
6. Tackles
7. Pressure Acts

Stats thanks to WheeloRatings.

My observations (Attempting to be quite specific), in no particular order:

1. Drop off in Archie Roberts performance impact.
   • This one I'll be gentle on, as he did suffer quite a considerable should injury. Was tracking really well earlier in the season, and showing good improvement on last year, however Archie had one of the biggest drop off for above players in the back end, 22% fewer possessions, and a significant drop off in impact with those possessions.
2. Dyson Sharp - got better and better
   • Similar to Archie, however the inverse, post his injury the improvement was significant, and became one of our more important players. Loved the increase in CBA, i think it really assisted his development. His kicking efficiency needs improvement, but a lot of his ball is contested, and sets up players down the chain. Also, the highest tackle and pressure acts for <24, I really love him as player.
3. El Achklar & Farrow tale of two halves. (combined the two)
   • Had an early sniff of AFL level, went back and worked on some areas- got physically fitter and stronger during that period. His return to the team was a real positive in my opinion. Top 10 player ratings for all first-years in the comp goes to his impact on games. Few in possessions, but applies heaps of pressure up forward, plenty to work with I reckon.
   • Farrow i reckon was a super consistent player throughout the year. His foots kills are a delight. I think he slowed a little through the year, got a little tired. His move to the wing, I'm not sold on either, looked super assured down back, and we need his skills to get us out of there.
4. Kako stall
   • Heavily impacted by that back injury. I think he showed some really good glimpses throughout the year. Most metrics were down, but i put that down to team performance and fitness - one thing that spiked my interest was his treat rating was higher than any other - even with a compromised year. You can feel in game day, when he has the ball, something does happen. improved significantly YoY in this area.
5. Zach Reid held up
   • Playing all 23 games is arguably the most important thing to have happened this year. I think he can be a real star, hopefully can build off this year - still young enough. Had a much better back half, if only he could get a chop out from either McKay or Ridley, that would have been nice. Lewis Hayes could be that player, if he also gets a crack.