Why Matthew Lloyd’s finals fear about Essendon last year may have been vindicated

Essendon great Matthew Lloyd says he fears his concerns about the Bombers making the top eight last year and becoming complacent may have been on the money.

Lloyd drew criticism in the middle of last season when he suggested his former club “wasn’t ready” to play in the finals and it might be a good thing for them to miss out.

“I don’t want Essendon thinking they are better than they are because they’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said at the time.

The Bombers ultimately snuck into the finals and were knocked out by the Western Bulldogs.

The Bombers have won just one of their opening five games and along with Port Adelaide have been one of the league’s major disappointments so far.

“You make a final and think you’re going to just evolve into winning a final but other teams work hard and improve more than you do,” Lloyd said on 3AW on Monday.

“My expectation was they’d win a final this year and break that long drought and that looks highly unlikely now.”

Lloyd said Sunday’s 48-point loss to Fremantle was “as bad as it gets”.

“They were beaten, strategy wise, they were beaten for effort and there was a lack of accountability, amongst the players, for what they did,” he said.

Press PLAY below to hear Matthew Lloyd’s thoughts on the Bombers