Essendon

It wasn’t that long ago that the Bombers were coached by a cranky old guy who thought he was God (Sheedy, not Demetriou).  Spending more of his life in the coaches box than most people spend in bed, it looked as though nobody would be able to fill the massive shoes left by Sheeds.  And, as it turned out, Matthew Knights proved the point.  But then the heavens opened and the voice of God gently spoke: And He said unto the AFL “I think I’ll back the Bombers for a while”.  Which, as it turned out, wasn’t such great news for the Cats.

If you are a Bombers fan, looking into the coaches box would make you feel as though all your Christmases had come at once.  Firstly, the patron saint of Essendon himself, St Hird, sits proudly on the throne that seems to have been his as a birth right.  And for his disciples he has had more than a bit of divine intervention. One man who ascended with him to the coaches box is so ingrained in the Essendon Football Club that the name “Bomber” is permanently tattooed between his other monikers of “Mark” and “Thompson”.  And Bomber knows a little bit about on field success.  Add to the mix yet another favourite premiership son in Sean Wellman and you have the sort of coaching panel that would make any self-respecting Demons fan weep and curse the Gods.

But are they any good?  Well I guess it all depends on how you measure success.  Does winning 7 out of 8 games with only one elite midfielder make you good?  Maybe, but it still doesn’t make you likeable – and that is the good news for lovers of both decency and the AFL.  James Hird still appears as the impossibly privileged smug prat he was as a player and Mark Thompson continues to ooze all the warmth and character of a dead fish.  In short, now more than ever, it is OK to hate the Bombers.  And you can thank God for that.

Here's God having a little laugh at James Hird 

James Hird	Senior Coach
Mark Thompson	Senior Assistant Coach
Sean Wellman	Assistant Coach
Simon Goodwin	Assistant Coach
Matthew Egan	Assistant Coach
James Byrne	Development Coach
Rick Ladson	Development Coach