Round 5 - Collingwood Match Review

Essendon produced their most pitiful performance for 2007 on the AFL’s biggest home and away stage as they went down to Collingwood in front of 90,508 fans by 16 points at the MCG in AFL Round 5.

Truth be told, the final margin of 16 point seriously flattered the Bombers as a 10 goal thumping would’ve been more appropriate for the rubbish they dished out for their supporters on a delightful Melbourne Wednesday afternoon.

After three Bomber goals inside the opening eight minutes it looked like the Magpies were going to be on the end of the thumping, but from that point the Bombers were never in the contest as they struggled to keep in touch and pull off an unlikely and undeserved victory.

Skipper Matthew Lloyd and rookie Alwyn Davey combined for five of the Bombers six first half goals with Courtney Johns adding the sixth, with a goal after the half-time siren that brought the teams back level going into the second half despite the Pies having 5 more scoring shots in the first half for an inaccurate tally of 5.12 to the Bombers 6.6 and dominating general play.

Davey was electric in the first half, producing one of the goals of the year so far after he pounced onto a loose ball, rolled out of a Scott Burns tackle and deftly sidestepped Harry O’Brien before kicking truly.

Any hope of the Bombers getting a boost off the back of Johns’ first half closing goal was quickly snuffed out as the third term began with the Magpies once again dominating general player and being harder and more skilful with the ball.

An early miss to Anthony Rocca looked to have let the Bombers off the hook, but via Scott Lucas the Bombers also failed to capitalise on their scoring opportunities early in the quarter.

Pie forward Travis Cloke began to put his stamp on the game outpointing Kepler Bradley on several occasions with Bradley obviously struggling with the tempo of the match. After a few prior misses Cloke gave the Pies the opening goal for the quarter and an unmarked Scott Pendlebury extended the Magpies lead to 12 points.

Lloyd with his third of the match was quickly followed up by a goal to Mark Bolton after a dubious mark to level the scores once again, however playing his first game for the season, Magpie forward Alan Didak finished off the third term with two quick goals to give the Pies a 12 point break heading into the final quarter.

Rocca had the chance to put a nail in the Bomber coffin at the start of the final term but once again sprayed the effort and the Bombers capitalize immediately running the ball to the other end where Mark Johnson marked and converted from the boundary line to bring the margin back to a single goal.

Pies youngster Brad Dick lifted his team with an inspiring goal minutes later and then the match looked over as Bradley made a monumental error kicking across the face of goal only for the ball to be intercepted by Tarkyn Lockyer as he calmly put the Pies up by 18.

But the Bombers remained in the contest with goals to Johns and Monfries brought the margin back to 7 before Rocca finally managed to kick straight to give the Pies the winning buffer enabling them to run out the remaining time clock.

Defenders Dustin Fletcher and Mal Michael were not disgraced in their efforts and up forward Davey and Lloyd looked threatening all match, however the Bomber midfield was killed enabling the Pies first use of the ball on too many occasions.

“In the end, we didn’t get the ball inside our 50 enough times to give our team a decent chance of getting a reasonably-good score.” Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy lamented after the match. “We’re pretty fortunate really that the score line wasn’t worse. To have a two-and-a-half goal loss is very fortunate.”

With the loss, the Bombers now fall to 3-2 to end the month of April and a longer break before returning to action in AFL Round 6 on May 5 with a clash against Hawthorn at the MCG.

Game Details
Ground	MCG
Home / Away	Home
Attendance	90,508
Umpires	Vozzo, Jeffery, McInerney

Scores
	1 / 4	2 / 4	3 / 4	Full Time
Essendon	3.4	6.6	8.10	11.13.79
Collingwood	1.5	5.12	9.16	12.23.95

Best Players
Essendon	Fletcher, McPhee, Stanton, Ryder, Davey, Hird
Collingwood	H. Shaw, Lockyer, Burns, Cloke, Clement, Didak

Goals
Essendon	Davey, Lloyd 3, Johns 2, Bolton, M.Johnson, Monfries
Collingwood	Didak, Rocca 3, Lockyer 2, T. Cloke, Dick, Johnson, Pendlebury

Injuries and Reports
Injuries	Nil
Reports	Nil

The Team
B:	McVeigh	Michael	Slattery
HB:	McPhee	Fletcher	Ryder
C:	Dyson	Stanton	Heffernan
HF:	M. Johnson	Lucas	Hird
F:	Davey	Lloyd	Monfries
R:	Laycock	Peverill	Lovett
INT:	Bolton	Bradley	Johns
	Watson
EMG:	Houli	Jetta	Lonergan

Posted 25 April 07 in Match Review News