“It’s not as if they’re young”: Why Lloyd is gutted by Essendon’s last fortnight

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd is one of many Bomber fans who were gutted by Saturday’s 108-55 loss to St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.

The loss was Essendon’s sixth defeat from their last eight games, and it cost them a spot in the top eight as they now sit 10th following Round 20, just eight weeks after sitting outright second.

Lloyd thinks that the Bombers simply shouldn’t have dropped their last two to the 14th-placed Saints and 15th-placed Crows – especially at home – with a lack of effort the main cause for concern across the last fortnight.

The three-time Coleman Medal winner couldn’t understand why the effort wasn’t there in a game where finals were potentially at stake.

“The Bomber fans are absolutely gutted because everything was at stake,” Lloyd told AFL.com.au’s Access All Areas.

“They lose to the Adelaide Crows in a game they shouldn’t have lost and you think, ‘Ok, we’ve got our next chance with St Kilda’, and to put up a performance where he (Brad Scott) says, ‘Our effort wasn’t there’, how does that happen?

“With everything on the line, the effort wasn’t there. They looked nervous, they looked fumbly, they looked panicky, and they look to have lost their way.

“Earlier in the year everyone was excited by the ‘Essendon edge’ which was spoken about – well there’s certainly none of that now is there?”

Lloyd also doesn’t think that the Dons can use inexperience as an excuse with all of Dyson Heppell, Dulan Shiel, Jake Stringer, Jayden Laverde, Zach Merrett, Kyle Langford, Darcy Parish and Peter Wright all 27 years or older.

He thinks some big questions face the club this off-season around those players and their futures.

“It’s not as if they’re young either,” Lloyd said.

“This isn’t a young group, they were far older than the Adelaide Crows last week.

“These are players they roll out every week, I’m not sure Todd Goldstein is part of the future of the club and Heppell.

“I’d love to see an Archie Roberts play who has been on the list and is knocking on the door.

“Does (Dylan) Shiel go on another year? Stringer has had a shocking year. Nick Hind, do you keep going back and forth? Should Jake Kelly be at the club? Why doesn’t Ben Hobbs play? Peter Wright was non-competitive again and Kyle Langford has been off.

“Poor Zach Merrett, it’s all on his shoulders again. That’s the poor guy who it happens to time and time again.”

The Dons will be desperate to bounce back when they face the Dockers at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.