IF KEPLER Bradley was watching yesterday's Anzac Day clash from his loungeroom in Perth, he might have had more than a touch of deja vu. He certainly would have been sparing a thought for former teammate Courtney Johns.

It was this game last year that effectively finished the mobile tall's career with Essendon. Picked for the blockbuster against Collingwood, Bradley had a stinker. He fumbled, hesitated, picked too many wrong options, and in the final insult, had a hospital pass across his defensive goal square intercepted, the Magpies' resultant goal sealing their win.

Bradley played just two more games for the Bombers before being off-loaded to Fremantle in post-season trading. Injuries might force Essendon to play Johns a little more than that over the next few months, but if ever a game was going to hammer the final nail in the coffin of a career, Johns played it yesterday.

For some, the writing had appeared on the wall when Matthew Lloyd joined Scott Lucas on the injured list a fortnight ago, and still Johns couldn't earn a spot in the Bombers' best available 22. But even the staunchest supporters of the club's long-term project player must now be having grave doubts, too.

With Lucas out until mid-season, Lloyd struggling and Dustin Fletcher forced to the other end of the ground, then injured, Essendon badly needed something from the Western Australian big man, picked for his first game of the year, be it goals, some strong marking, even just a presence. He couldn't deliver. Never does.

This wasn't even one of those games where Johns would take a couple of strong grabs in a little cameo, just enough to have a few important people at Windy Hill wondering whether all their patience might still amount to something.

It was all bad. From Collingwood's first goal, when Scott Pendlebury slipped Johns' lunging attempt at a tackle with ridiculous ease and fed off to Ben Johnson. To the moment later in the same quarter when, Essendon having kicked three goals in a row and with momentum behind it, Johns unnecessarily charged into Pendlebury's back, gave away 50 metres and was reported for his trouble.

To the start of the second, the Dons still in front, and having built an attack in which the ball ended with Johns storming into goal on the run. With no pressure on, he could have made the margin two goals. He missed, the ball rebounded for Collingwood to tie the scores, then slam on another five goals for good measure to effectively end the contest.

Then there was the start of the third term, the big blond now opposed to Magpie key forward Travis Cloke. And this was a truly embarrassing moment, Cloke just slipping behind Johns and into space on the lead, a good 10 metres clear as the Essendon man stood flat-footed, watching the ball. Result? Another Collingwood goal.

He'd be benched again in time-on, returning as a forward late in the final term with all the sting gone to kick his only goal of the game. Woo hoo.

Of course, it wasn't Johns' fault that he'd initially been given a task he couldn't handle, far too cumbersome for the smarts of Pendlebury, much as Tarkyn Lockyer looked far too nimble for big Mal Michael, and Jason Winderlich all at sea on Anzac medallist Paul Medhurst.

But that early moment on Pendlebury and that later one with Cloke were significant. Essendon has made much of attempting to turn Johns into a key defender. But these little incidents showed a player still with apparently not much of a clue about how to play in the back line. Or with much football nous at all, for that matter.

Essendon has been exceedingly patient with Johns. He's been on the books since 2003, and played his first senior game four seasons ago. Yesterday's was just his 20th. At this rate, he'll be playing his 50th in 2014 at the age of 29. How long are the Dons prepared to go before admitting defeat?

It was the big occasion last year that exposed Bradley's frailties to a wider audience than normal, and sent an Essendon that had started the season pretty brightly into a bit of a tailspin. Yesterday's 73-point thumping threatens to do similarly to a team that has now lost yet another valuable runner, Alwyn Davey, for the rest of the season.

And perhaps another big man, too, in Fletcher. That will open the door for Johns once more. But perhaps it's time the Bombers had the decisiveness to keep it closed. The Johns experiment was a nice try. But Essendon needs to recognise, no matter how much pride needs to be swallowed, that this is one gamble which has failed.