Former Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd has suggested that the Bombers will lift for this weekend's game and have a real chance of upsetting Sydney, but that they will be ripe for a letdown in the following game against Hawthorn due to pre-season preparation problems.
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"They've got Sydney round one, Hawthorn round two. Fifteen of them are playing their first hit-outs in those games," said Lloyd, referring to the impact of provisional suspensions.
"The adrenalin they're going to serve up to Sydney might be a big chance for them to topple Sydney over. But come the second week, there's going to be a lot of sore boys, a lot of boys who haven't been put under match intensity.
"I think Hawthorn get them at a better time."
Speaking at the MCC season launch, Lloyd said the players had been "badly let down" by the club in 2012 in the supplements program, which, he said, was unacceptable, but the clearing of the players at this week's tribunal was "good for the game" and meant that every club would go into round one on equal terms.
"I think everyone, whoever you barrack for, [thinks] the players were badly let down. It was not acceptable, what went on at the club and [in] the program.
"But after two years of that, whether it's fortunate, by good luck or management, there was nothing ... that came up positive in the tests.
"There's been a lot of supplements investigated by a professor at the club to give assurances to the parents and the players that nothing will harm them long-term, and for the good of the game yesterday – for everyone, not just Essendon, but the game – you're able to go into round one with an even competition, which is fantastic."
Lloyd, who is assisting the club tutoring players in goalkicking, said Essendon should this year win their first final in more than a decade. "Essendon hasn't won a final for over a decade (2004). With that you get good draft picks – they should be ready to win a final. It's unacceptable to go that long and not be able to win finals.
"So my own opinion, with everything being equal, they should win a final this season."
Hawthorn's triple-premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, meanwhile – who shared speaking duties with Lloyd – said he "defied anyone to be prepared" for what happened to the 34 players in the Essendon supplements drama.
He said the ills facing football were the result of the money flooding into the game.
Clarkson said world sport had seen "these sorts of controversies" before, now it was Australia's turn.
"We're talking about supplements programs and drugs at the minute, but it could be gambling, [or] the way we treat women'" he said.
"We've always thought we're bullet proof. n a sense, the unfortunate part about it, We've grown up with community sport, and basically, community sport doesn't involve of a lot of money, it involves a good work ethic and good values and volunteer work. But wherever there is money, there are problems.
"And elite level sport, this game is continuing to escalate with more and more broadcast money coming into the game, greater appeal, inevitably these things are going to happen.
"Much criticism has been levelled at ASADA and the AFL, I defy anyone to be well prepared for what went on.
"But was ASADA ready for 34 players to be under scrutiny for what they took? Was the AFL ready for that? There's not a code in the world that's ready for that. Good luck trying to be prepared for it."
