Matthew Knights

Fremantle Win Impacts Finals

janetl — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:38:30 -0500

Janet Linn reporting for AFANA from Subiaco Oval

After their exciting defeat of top team St Kilda in Round 20, all that stood between Essendon and a guaranteed finish in the Final Eight was a trip west to Subiaco Oval and a win over the Fremantle Dockers. The equation was simple: beat Fremantle and play Finals football. The Dockers came into the match battle-scarred after a 63 point thrashing by bottom team Melbourne. Although many expected Fremantle to bounce back in an effort to redeem their sorry season, the high stakes for Essendon made it hard to imagine the Bombers would let this golden opportunity slip through their fingers.

It was a tight contest in the first quarter but with Patrick Ryder omitted from the team through injury, Essendon was without a genuine ruckman. Aaron Sandilands has been in fantastic touch all year and the Dockers held a clear ascendancy in the clearances. Signs were ominous early that it was the good Fremantle which had come to play. Matthew Pavlich, Des Headland and Nick Suban had plenty of the football and Clancee Pearce and Hayden Ballantyne provided reliable targets up front. For the Bombers, Jobe Watson and Jay Neagle were in good form and Alwyn Davey and Nathan Lovett-Murray looked dangerous. Scores were level at 20 points apiece when Luke McPharlin marked in the forward fifty and kicked a goal on the siren to take Fremantle into the break with a one goal lead.

Essendon struggled to find a target in the forward line in the second quarter and Fremantle started to pull away on the scoreboard. Long goals to Paul Duffield and Kepler Bradley inspired the Dockers and the Bombers looked shell-shocked as the lead spiralled out to 27 points. Essendon players were fumbling and not chasing hard enough particularly in their forward line which Fremantle defenders used continuously as a springboard to attack. The Bombers' style of play was indirect and inefficient and they had no answer to the complete dominance of Sandilands at center bounces and stoppages.

Not only did Fremantle players kick some excellent goals in the third quarter but their skill level, decision-making and speed at the ball were better than those of the Bombers, many of whom were noticeably down on form. Perhaps their nail-biting finish against St Kilda had left them mentally and physically drained, but it was a disappointing performance given what was at stake. At the final break the margin was 49 points and nothing short of a miracle could save the Bombers.

A miracle looked possible when the Bombers scored the opening three goals of the final quarter but their comeback was short-lived. Pavlich showed his brilliance to kick a steadying goal while being tackled and from then on the result was never in doubt. Both teams played hard until the final siren but Fremantle's desperation and desire were far superior to Essendon's all day and they ran out very comfortable 54 point winners.

While the Dockers recovered some of their football mojo with this excellent display of team football, questions must be asked. Why have they not been able to produce this level of commitment more consistently over the course of the season? Why is their winning record so poor away from Subiaco Oval? The positive going forward is the tremendous young talent the club has unearthed, a group of outstanding young footballers who will form the nucleus of the Fremantle team for the next decade.

As for the Bombers, this defeat has turned their Round 22 clash with Hawthorn into a virtual Elimination Final for eighth position on the AFL Ladder. To add even more excitement and anticipation to the mix, the composition of the Top Four will also depend on the outcome of games in Round 22. We are heading into a dream finale to the 2009 AFL home and away season.

Scoreboard
Fremantle 4.2 9.6 15.11 21.15 (141)
Essendon  3.2 5.3  9.8  13.9  (87)

Best
Fremantle M Pavlich, N Suban, A Sandilands, H Ballantyne, L McPharlin
Essendon  H Slattery, N Lovett-Murray, A Davey, A Lovett, R Dyson

Bombers Nose Dive From Eight

janetl — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:57:58 -0500

Janet Linn reporting for AFANA from Subiaco Oval

West Coast Eagles fans have long memories. In 1993 Essendon won a match against the Eagles after the siren and on his triumphant run down the coaches' race, then Bombers' coach Kevin Sheedy showed his elation by waving his jacket helicopter-like over his head. To this day, depending on the outcome of the game, fans continue the tradition. In Round 18, it was West Coast fans whose jackets were flying at full time. The unfancied home team caused an upset by beating Essendon and ejecting them from the Eight, effectively ending their chance of Finals action in September.

While the Essendon team arrived in Perth undermanned with key players Matthew Lloyd, Mark McVeigh, Jason Winderlich and Alwyn Davey ruled out through injury, their flat performance came as a surprise given the high stakes. West Coast started the game looking sharp and full of run. Newcomer Callum Wilson found glory in his first game in Eagles' colors by scoring two goals from his first two kicks in league football. David Wirrpanda's class showed itself when he skimmed a ball off the pack after a bounce and popped it straight through the goalposts to give West Coast a 20 point lead before Essendon made any impact at all on the scoreboard. It wasn't until halfway through the first quarter that Heath Hocking managed a goal for the Bombers but the going was tough. West Coast defenders Darren Glass, Shannon Hurn and Mitchell Brown were on top and repelled the visitors every time they tried to attack. With only four minutes on the clock, Jay Neagle spun around and kicked a good goal for Essendon bringing the margin down to seven points. With the siren about to ring Josh Kennedy kicked to Hurn running free off the interchange bench and Hurn's handball to Ben McKinley resulted in a late goal for West Coast. At the change the Eagles were ahead by only 13 points but the statistics showed they were completely on top of the Bombers.

West Coast continued their good form in the second quarter and increased their lead to 29 points at half time. The Eagles' forward line was in great touch with Mark LeCras, Kennedy and Wirrpanda making the most of their opportunities. Another young Eagle Tom Swift kicked his first goal in AFL and the home crowd was lapping it up. Essendon tried hard with goals to Brent Prismall and Kyle Reimers but they looked underdone and had no answer to West Coast's determination.

During the half time break Essendon coach Matthew Knights no doubt spelled out his requirements loud and clear and the Bombers played with more intensity in the early part of the third quarter. Jobe Watson was busy as the Bombers dominated the forward fifty entries and narrowed the deficit to 20 points. Suddenly the momentum changed as the Eagles ignited and McKinley and LeCras kicked two goals in a minute. The Bombers rebounded through Neagle and Patrick Ryder to get back to within 19 points. Yet again West Coast had the answers, finishing the quarter with some classy teamwork from Kennedy and McKinley for a steadying goal.

Fans were treated to a close tussle in the final quarter as Essendon tried to break the Eagles stranglehold on the game. Reimers led the way with an inspiring run from the half back line, several bounces and a long goal. Courtenay Dempsey followed suit minutes later and the game threatened to turn Essendon's way. Hard finishing has not been a feature of the West Coast game this season and in recent weeks there has been intense media scrutiny on "tanking", the phenomenon of lowly placed teams deliberately trying not to win to ensure themselves a priority pick in the AFL draft. A loss in this game would have helped the Eagles stay below the four wins ceiling to achieve that priority pick and with Essendon challenging hard the opportunity to tank certainly presented itself. If tanking exists, the West Coast players and coaches were clearly not interested in taking advantage of it. When LeCras, McKinley and Swift slotted through a goal apiece to seal the game, a priority pick was the last thing on for the mind of West Coast players and fans. Subiaco Oval erupted in a sea of flying Eagles jackets and the Bombers were left to contemplate their prospects of making the Finals from outside the Eight. With their last four games against Brisbane, St Kilda, Fremantle and Hawthorn, Essendon have their backs against the wall and disappointment looks inevitable.


Scoreboard
West Coast 4.2 8.6 11.7 14.11 (95)
Essendon   2.1 4.1  7.6 10.8  (68)

Best
West Coast M LeCras, A Selwood, J Kennedy, Q Lynch, M Priddis, B McKinley
Essendon   K Reimers, A McPhee, A Lovett, T Pears, B Prismall, J Watson

Bombers Blast Hawks

rickb — Sun, 10 May 2009 06:21:01 -0500

Rick Browner reporting for AFANA from Perth

Twenty-five years of rivalry came to a head Friday night at Etihad Stadium. A pro-Hawthorn crowd of 50,000 was looking forward to an easy win over the Bombers, and tipsters from all around Australia were licking their lips at the odds.

As expected, the first quarter was played in Hawthorn's forward line. Stuart Dew kicked the first Hawthorn goal as Essendon looked on with trepidation. Jay Neagle countered to produce Essendon's first goal and the game turned around when Nathan Lovett-Murray kicked their second. Hawthorn began to feel the heat and looked shaky in their goal kicking as their confidence waned. The Hawks were punished for their inefficiency in front of goal and when Matthew Lloyd kicked truly after the first quarter siren, Essendon found themselves with a handy twelve point lead at the break.

With eight behinds and only one goal to Hawthorn, the game could have been all over early in the piece. However the Hawks rebounded and kicked the first three goals in the second quarter to win back the lead. To the Bombers' credit, they didn't panic and kicked the next three goals in a row to reassert their authority on the game. It was an exciting quarter with both teams committed to the contest and neither giving an inch of ground. Some tough tackling by Buddy Franklin on Bachar Houli saw him rewarded with a goal late in the half. After a close and tight contest, the Hawks were up by a point at the major break.

At half time, many spectators thought that the Bombers had produced their best and that their intensity and determination would drop off as the game progressed. Most tipsters would have echoed those thoughts and predicted a second half dominated by the reigning Premiers. No-one told the Bombers however, and when the third quarter got under way, they scored the first two goals to fire up the team and their fans. It was goal for goal for most of the term, until an inspired burst saw Essendon kick four of the last five goals to take a 17 point lead into the final break. All watching had the feeling that the Bombers were in the mood to take it up to the champions in the fourth quarter.

Leading from the front, Essendon Captain Matthew Lloyd continued to present a consistent forward target for his midfielders. His spectacular overhead marking was inspirational and when he kicked the first goal of the last quarter, the writing was on the wall for the biggest upset of the round. Franklin kept the Hawks in the game with four goals for the match, but it was not enough in the end and Essendon ran out easy 44 point winners.

The backbone provided by the Bombers' ferocious midfielders was what produced the confidence needed to get up and beat last year's Premiers. The dilemma for Essendon coach Matthew Knights is how to keep up the momentum provided by this outstanding performance for the rest of the season. Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson faces some challenges of his own with a team that looked brittle and was clearly rattled by the defensive pressure of a less talented but more determined Bombers outfit.

The Hawks are on the road in Round 8, traveling to Subiaco Oval to face an in-form Fremantle who are on a high after three wins in a row. The Hawks face the formidable task of playing the Dockers in front of a home crowd which usually lifts them to the next level of performance.

Forlorn tipsters will be resigning in droves after the first seven rounds have produced one of the most unpredictable starts to an AFL season in years.

Scoreboard:
Essendon 4.2 6.7 12.10 17.14 (116)
Hawthorn 1.8 6.8  9.11 10.12 (72)

Best Players:
Essendon A Monfries, M Lloyd, B Stanton, J Watson, A Lovett
Hawthorn L Franklin, C Rioli, J Roughead, S Mitchell