I feel dirty because of all of the theft they have done to us, it makes me feel genuinely sick when I watch them. Yes, we had lots of success we can be happy about, but it was the new culture and new Richmond I cared about, I enjoyed 2017 so much way before we won the flag, I was just happy to see how we had transformed into a fun team I loved to watch, and Essendon took that all away and took it on for themselves, piece by piece.
The absolute gut punch? My best mate whom I always discuss footy with, he's an Essendon supporter. Can barely look him in the eye when it comes to footy anymore, I have to stop myself from saying things that will make him feel bad that his team has come good. He messaged me recently saying how happy he was they got Wanganeen, inside I wanted to say get stuffed, but it's not a personal thing so of course I won't say that, I just hate his club now. All I could muster was a thumbs up.
Copying and a little poaching in the AFL is standard fare, I get that. Everyone tries to emulate the best. Normally teams look to get a coach and/or a player from a really good team, perhaps one or multiple teams will try to emulate the style (or certain aspects of the style) of a really good team. But it has gone THIS far for Essendon:
- First they took Rutten.
- Second they took a still-contracted Caracella.
- They clearly then took the gamestyle, obvious in the preseason games in 2020 when I saw their forums and them jizzing at the "forward handball".
- At the same time they grabbed Townsend (fair, he was delisted, but still).
- They then start using our unique terminology like "celebrating" each other and their weaknesses and strengths.
- They start goofing around and smiling in the huddle, Richmond-like, being jokers, Heppell walks around looking like a goof, enters the field the EXACT same way as Cotchin does.
- They bid on Maurice Rioli jnr.
- They steal a RICHMOND VFL PLAYER, Sam Durham, just before we were (supposedly) going to take him.
- 2021 arrives and Richmond now resembles 2016 again, and as sick as I feel, Essendon do look to be playing how we did in 2017 (just not quite as good - yet?), filling the TV screen with Black and Red, pressuring like mad, swarming forward in waves.
- They start appearing in media for being cultural shining lights in a Richmond-esque way.
- Pre-2022 arrives and they steal yet another Richmond VFL player, McDonagh, and recruit our legend who retired in weird circumstances, a man we've absolutely PINED to have back at the club, Alex Rance (thankfully now left Essendon for some reason).
- They add red to the collar of their guernsey ala Richmond 2017 adding yellow (and some to the sleeves which we didn't do).
Like... I am almost lost for words. What the actual *smile* is all of the above? They have basically stolen and absorbed everything we created, then taken it on as their own, like some blob entity. No single team has ever gone THAT hard on taking stuff from another team. And what are we left with? We still don't really know, but the signs weren't amazing against Geelong on the weekend at times, despite winning. We've definitely lost that swarm and buzz that was so fun to watch and I genuinely *smile* hate Essendon for doing that to us, and when (if) I happen to watch them, and any success it brings them, I'll just turn my nose up at it and say it's all fake and stolen, be as smug as you like (looking at you Stringer and Parish you smug *smile*) but you still suck deep down, and all you've done is thefted your way to being any good.
Anyway sorry, rant over, you can see how much I hate them. As I said to my Essendon mate, who exasperatedly said during a brief discussion on it, "But you just won 3 flags, I'd love to be in that position!" - "Yes, but it's not about the flags, we created a new culture and gamestyle, a new Richmond that had an identity we've never had in my 30 years of watching (I'm nearly 35), and Essendon has just taken that away, and perhaps also made our success look fake, as if it was only ever due to Caracella and THAT gameplan." And to some degree that's how I really feel, too, as if Essendon can now make a flag push with that style and Caracella, and we were never really THAT good without it. Our change in identity was just too brief, and it's their bloody fault.
To put a final little bit of icing on a *smile* cake, they took Ben Hobbs in the draft who I really wanted and thought we needed badly (our midfield is the current biggest need and we didn't address it), after we passed on him... Watch him become a 200-gamer for them. I'm sure Gibcus will be very good but, right now when we have a small window potentially still open, it's quality midfielders we needed to push/stay afloat, then take us into the next phase. Could have gotten a key defender when it was definitely time to fully rebuild, then partner him with Balta alongside Vlastuin and perhaps Broad will still be there.
I took a Reddit re-post meme and made it suit the Bombers:
View attachment 14695
So yeah, however long Essendon play like this, I'll never take it seriously as it's all stolen, and I'll hate them for a good long while.
PS. I know we still beat them in 2021, but you can't tell me our "style" isn't somewhat gone and taken by them. Also they came roaring back in that 2021 game and I really dunno how we kicked 7 goals in 10 minutes.
Anyway, what it brings them remains to be seen, but I for one will turn my back to it.
