‘Black hole’ Bombers need help, ‘No.1 priority’ Eagles call and Dimma’s ‘shocking’ message — Will Schofield column

Essendon needs AFL draft assistance. Desperately.

It’s not even a question. The Bombers shouldn’t have to ask for it.

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Right now, they are an absolute black hole.

The Bombers on Sunday night lost by 90 points to Brisbane – their 28th loss from their past 29 games. They sacked their coach in May, but it’s done nothing to alter their trajectory.

It’s been a horrific 2026 campaign to date. Coming into the year, I picked Essendon for the wooden spoon, so their ladder position isn’t a surprise. But even I didn’t expect them to be so uncompetitive.

We can’t have a team playing in the AFL that is completely non-competitive. They aren’t competitive in any phase of the game.

Would handing the Bombers an assistance package make them competitive straight away? Probably not. But it wouldn’t hurt.

I understand that the AFL, in the past, has leant on a ‘body of work’ when handing out assistance packages. West Coast last year received an end-of-first-round pick, as well as four additional rookie list spots for three years, after 11 wins in four seasons. Two years earlier, North Melbourne got an end-of-first-round selection in the 2023 draft and two end-of-first-round selections in the 2024 draft, as well as two additional rookie list spots through the 2024 season, after winning 12 of 84 games.

But haven’t the Bombers had a poor body of work for the last 20 years?

There are so many rules and directions made by the AFL to get equity. You want every fan to feel like their team is a chance of winning every week.

Essendon fans, for too long, have not felt like that.

If an assistance package is available, I’d have no problem with it. In fact, I’d encourage it.

Just give it to them.

BOMBERS CAN’T GO FOR A ‘BAND-AID’ SOLUTION

As for who should lead Essendon as coach for the next period?

I don’t know if John Longmire has put his hand up for it officially, but it should be him. If he’s available and you can get him to the football club, you have to make him the top priority.

Longmire has overseen sustained success in creating a winning culture — arguably the strongest in the AFL. He’s an experienced coach who understands the media and has repeatedly built strong lists through smart recruiting.

If you’re Essendon, you can’t get a Band-Aid solution like James Hird, proclaim ‘The King Has Returned’ and everyone’s happy for a month. You’re then just back to a really poor list and a non-competitive playing group.

The Bombers need someone to change the place. Not rehash the past.

Longmire to me jumps off the page of someone that would be perfect for the role.

NO.1 PICKS GET NO.1 PRIORITY … AND THAT MEANS NO YEO

At West Coast, which has clearly improved this season after its own AFL hand-out just under 12 months ago, it’s time to hand the midfield keys officially over to Harley Reid and Willem Duursma.

I’ve been calling for this for several weeks – and on Sunday against the Western Bulldogs, it felt like the first time it properly came to fruition, with Duursma and Reid leading the way on the ball alongside Tim Kelly. That’s their No.1 midfield mix going forward.

Yes, Duursma is still in his first year and has room to grow physically. But he’s as ready as he’ll ever be to be unleashed in the guts full-time.

The biggest lessons come from actually playing the role. So if the Eagles see him as an inside midfielder, you have to look at Marcus Bontempelli as being the direct correlation to how he plays.

Duursma was playing on Bontempelli for a lot of the day. That goal the young Eagle kicked out of the middle was Bontempelli-like, rushing out of congestion, running fast – but looking like he’s loping – and then banging it from 60m.

But then there was a goal kicked from a forward 50 stoppage by Bontempelli, who was being manned up directly by Duursma. He was daydreaming next to Bontempelli for one second before Bont put 5m on him and kicked a goal in a flash.

Duursma probably never makes that mistake again. Highly talented kids learn the fastest – they just need to see it. We wouldn’t be able to say that if Duursma hadn’t been given midfield exposure. You can’t learn that from vision alone. You need to make the critical error and it needs to be shown in the team meeting for you to feel the feeling of: “Gee, I never want to let my teammates down like that again.”

The time has come to hand the two No.1 draft picks full midfield responsibility for the rest of the year.

That means no Elliot Yeo on the ball for now.

I’m not sure if Yeo is carrying an injury or not, but I saw him in person two weeks ago and then watched him have more midfield time on the weekend – and he’s not impacting games at all.

So how do you get the best out of him?

I think Yeo’s match minutes need to be heavily managed, which they already are considering he played a team-low 66 per cent game time against the Dogs.

I wouldn’t put him in the back line. Use him in short midfield bursts before resting him forward as an explosive option, similar to Patrick Dangerfield.

That might help him return to the power player that has him as a two-time All-Australian and two-time best and fairest winner. But no longer can you just have Yeo out there plodding around – because the game’s gone past him plodding around.

MAJOR RISK IN DIMMA’S PRESSER TAKE

I had mixed feelings when Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick declared his team’s season was “effectively gone” and that they would “forge our way forward about what we want ourselves to look like for next year”.

On one hand, I loved the honesty … because it’s true. The Suns’ season is ‘done’. They’re falling away. They’ve become irrelevant.

And that must be so disappointing for Hardwick and his players in a season where they’ve gone from premiership favourites at the start of the year to losing 10 of their next 14 games, including their past seven straight.

But on the other hand, I was very surprised by his statement … because on paper their season isn’t officially done.

The whole game is to fight to play finals every year. Once you play finals, you fight to make a Grand Final and win the flag.

So conceding the season six games out – it’s not only mathematically possible, they’re one game out of finals – although I love the candour, I hate the message it sends to the players that there’s nothing to gain out of this year and it’s time to get the eyes on next year.

Imagine some of the players who might be in or out of contract and what they’re thinking for the last six games of the year? That doesn’t motivate any sort of performance.

I wonder about players who are there for the long-term, too. Are they thinking: “This is how it goes at Gold Coast. We don’t fight. We’re done. It gets hard and we can’t perform well.”

But this discussion is always a two-way one. It’s never ‘just’ the coaches or never ‘just’ the players.

So where do the coaches’ futures lie? Have they developed this group enough, both on the field and off the field, to withstand adversity and turn the talent on paper into consistent performances?

Matt Rowell is a Brownlow Medallist. Christian Petracca is a Norm Smith Medallist and premiership player. Even Ben Long is a heart and soul player coming off an awesome 2025 season. They’re three of many players who are significantly down on their potential – and that’s on both the playing and coaching groups.

Hardwick’s openness is great, but it’s a shocking message to send to the whole club.

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