Am I the only one that is struggling to comprehend the harsh criticism from many quarters of the media levelled at the Essendon Football Club in the past few days?

Of course the Bombers' 84-point capitulation against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on the weekend was inexcusable and unforgivable, but are they the first young and inexperienced team in the history of the game to cop an interstate flogging?

Collingwood lost to the Crows by 110 points at the same venue in Round 21, 2005 and failed to make the finals that year. How have they travelled since that day?

Let's not forget Essendon has the fifth youngest list in the AFL this season - the second-youngest of the eight teams who participated in last year's finals.

And on Saturday night it conceded almost 500 games of experience to the Crows and an average of over one year per player in terms of age.

While they are not excuses for the deplorable showing, they certainly are reasons.

I'm not in a position to comment on matters such as the mooted unease between the playing group and coach Matthew Knights, the factors that are stalling the careers of youngsters such as Jay Neagle and Bachar Houli or if there is a lingering bitterness at the club regarding Knights' treatment of club champions Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas at the end of last season.

However, I can certainly comment on the facts that are readily available to the media and the public but don't seem to be stressed all that often.

At the end of last season, four of the club's best players departed - Lloyd, Lucas, Andrew Lovett and Adam McPhee.

They took with them 800 games of experience and that is a tough ask for any team to cover the following season, especially when one considers the crucial roles each of them played within the team.

Compounding things for the Dons post-2009 was the fixture they were dealt.

In it contained two meetings each with Geelong, St Kilda, Collingwood, the Bulldogs (last year's top four) as well as big improver Hawthorn.

When you take all of that into account, the fact that the Bombers (5-9) are two wins behind where they were this time last year (7-7) is probably par for the course.

Which expert out there actually had the Bombers in their finals calculations pre-season?

Realistically, despite what Knights might have you believe, Essendon was never going to figure in September this year.

Eight to 10 wins would have been the realistic pass mark heading into this campaign and the Dons are on track for that, so what's all the fuss about?

In fact, since Round 5, this young Essendon team has shown extremely promising signs in each match bar its meetings with Geelong and Adelaide.

It accounted for contenders St Kilda, Hawthorn and the Dogs as well as the exciting Tigers and found itself in winning positions against the Hawks (again), Sydney and Port Adelaide.
ʉ۬But perhaps the most baffling thing about the stinging attack on the Bombers is their lack of star power.

How many developing teams have had an abundance of stars at their disposal in recent years?

How many does Melbourne have this year?

While Essendon may not have too many A-graders on its list right now, it would be a game observer to suggest the likes of Paddy Ryder, Michael Hurley, Tayte Pears, Jake Melksham and Kyle Reimers will fail to achieve that status within the next one to three years.

As it would be to say that young Demons Tom Scully, Jack Trengove, James Frawley and Jack Grimes won't realise their immense potential in the same timeframe.

Knights says he is aiming for finals every year but he is merely fulfilling his obligations as senior coach in saying so.

In reality Essendon is well and truly a work in progress that on the whole looks to be in reasonable shape.

No doubt the criticism will be non-existent on Monday if the Dons beat Melbourne on Sunday.

Ronny Lerner is one half of BPL'S Red Time team and an online producer for Triple M. And he barracks for Essendon.