After 12 rounds, the Essendon Football Club are a game outside the top four.
Yes, you’ve read that right.
After a tumultuous 2022 season where the club had nightmares both on and off-feld, the new look Bombers under coach Brad Scott have been one of the biggest surprise packets this year.
Boasting a 7-5 win/loss record and sitting a game clear in the top eight, many Bombers fans are spruiking the idea of playing some finals footy.
But David King isn’t as convinced, identifying some flaws in their gameplan that could be exposed late in the year.
“My overarching fear when I see game plans is what’s going to work on preliminary final weekend or what’s going to work come the first final,” King told SEN’s Whateley.
“There’s no point on Essendon getting to sixth, seventh or eighth on the table and getting hammered in a final, they’ve been there and lived that.
“I worry about the control and marking game where you do get some luxuries with the stand rule and I know the game now probably favours more than it has so maybe I’ve got to adjust.
“They took 120 marks on Sunday, they do give up some opportunity to the opposition, they allow you to move the ball, they allow you to go coast to coast and they don’t really win the ball back between the arcs as they build about winning the ball back in their defensive 50.
“It’s a bit of a dangerous method, if you come up against a team that’s good enough, they can get you. “
Despite his sentiments around their game style, King is loving what he’s seeing from their leaders, especially their new skipper, Zach Merrett.
“Essendon’s senior players, particularly the ruckman, the goal from (Sam) Draper was just ridiculous, those sort of moments when you say ‘hey, follow me and I’ll get you over the line’, I love them,” King added.
“Zach Merrett was huge, I’m really enjoying their leadership, they’ve absolutely nailed that with Zach Merrett, an absolute duck to water with the captaincy.
“It looks like a club that’s got a rigid plan, whether you like the plan doesn’t matter, everyone plan can win or fail but they do have a system that they’ve bought into and it’s probably the best Essendon have looked in a long while.”
The Bombers will face the undermanned Carlton on Sunday night at the MCG.