The blame/glory pendulum for coaches doesn’t rest on an even set of scales, the potential on the downside always outweighs that on the up.

That’s not to say coaches aren’t lauded when they guide teams to success, they are, just that when the wheels have fallen off often criticism seems all-consuming. Maybe it’s a function of the limits on what you can do when the sky is falling, it’s hard to sack 12 players in one fell swoop but it takes only one quick knife slash to kill a coach.

This is all in sharp relief now with the incipient performance of Essendon. The crisis is partly a product of expectation after a good first year under Knights and some cracking performances in the first half of this season. The young Bombers have seemed capable of anything, unfortunately being woeful is part of the ‘anything’ spectrum.

When the captain comes out saying the coach has the full support of the players, you know he doesn’t.  Rumours abound of bust ups between the coach and players and the whole commentariat is chiming in, Sheedy – football’s equivalent walking headline to Keating in politics – claims Knights was never the right choice and the job should have gone to an Essendon man he groomed.  Knights himself is, unsurprisingly, claiming he’s safe. Lloyd is calling for a total review and favourite son-cum-patron saint Hird is devastated by the form but when pushed on the coach’s future falls back on the prosaic defence of having a contract – not resounding support.

The knights (not-so)Merry-Go-Round is deflecting attention form Voss’ Lions who are hiding in the northern sun from similar intense scrutiny. Helped by the tyranny of distance from football’s southern capital, Voss is the only winner in Essendon’s collapse.

Teams rebuilding are allowed inconsistency, they are allowed to lose, but it’s how the Bombers are dropping games that breaks hearts and boils blood. Totally without vigor, with only scant self-belief and adrift in a leaderless sea. And to make matters worse they have the dangerous Kangaroos this weekend. Somebody say everything to lose?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure to subscribe to my rss feed and follow us on Twitter at Sportsnethols. Thank blogingbloging.com sharing this themes.