Failure fatigue: Is this the worst Essendon side ever?

March 29, 2026 — 3:16pm

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In 2016 Essendon gathered a band of second-string, old and speculative players, patching together a team to get through a season.

This 2026 team could be worse.

The Bombers are about to lose more consecutive games than that makeshift bunch subbed in to cover for the players suspended over the doping saga. One team was built out of necessity; the other by choice.

This might, on some measures – such as that crazy old thing, winning games of football – be the worst team Essendon has fielded in their 154-year history, although that really is an impossible comparison across eras. Is it worse than the team of 1933 that finished bottom of a 12-team competition, winning just one game? Probably not. Though in 1933, the depression was a different type of salary cap.

The fact this 2026 team is even in the conversation of being as bad is perhaps more telling.

Take just the AFL era, which began in 1990. Essendon won two flags, played in two other grand finals and missed the finals in just three of the first 12 years of........

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