Bombers Spanked By Swans

When does cricket season start?

Pretty much sums up the minds of Bomber fans as those masochistic enough sat through another Essendon humiliation, this time at the hands of Sydney as the Swans went on a 13 goal blitz to destroy the Bombers by 91 points at ANZ Stadium on Sunday afternoon in AFL Round 8.

Essendon was within 12 points heading into time on in the third quarter, yet just over 30 minutes later they lost by 91 as the kicked 5 goals in an 11 minute burst to break the Bombers back and in the process … spirit.

The final term turned into a one way procession with the Swans booting eight unanswered goals and hold the Bombers goalless for the second term in the match.

The match began as it ended, with the Swans running rampant and the Bombers failing to register on the goal sheet. With the Bombers under pressure, a scrappy first term ensured with the Bombers backline conceding two rushed behinds within a minute as the home term kicked four goals to none and take a handy 27 point lead into the first break.

While the match at that point looked like being a runaway Swans win, all that changed to begin the second term with goals to Andrew Welsh, Matthew Lloyd and David Hille all within seven minutes of the opening second quarter bounce had the Bombers back in the game. However, ex-Cat Henry Playfair’s steadied the ship at the 21 minute mark for the Swans, before Swan forward Michael O’Loughlin nabbed his second goal of six for the day, just before half time to give the home side a 16 point lead heading into the main break.

As the second half began, the Swans threatened to put the contest beyond doubt with goals to O’Loughlin and Ryan O’Keefe to extend their lead to a game high 28 points before the Bombers kicked the next three in a row through Welsh, a Leroy Jetta soccer goal and Jay Neagle reduced the margin to 12 points before the Swans went ballistic with the last 13 goals for the game.

Angus Monfries was the major ballwinner with 21 disposals (most of which were ineffective), Andrew Welsh and Brent Stanton finished with 19 possessions each while Welsh and ruckman David Hille were the major contributors on the scoreboard with two goals each. Mark McVeigh and Dustin Fletcher returned from injury to be amongst the Bombers best on a day where most of their teammates went missing.

“I thought Tom Hislop, David Myers, Darcy Daniher, those sorts of young men handled themselves pretty well. I was pleased with Kyle Reimers too. Those guys were our shining lights,” Essendon coach Matthew Knights said after the game. “I thought Darcy did a reasonable job. (Adam) Goodes still took the points , but Darcy did a good job.”

“I thought we matched Sydney for 40-50 minutes and we actually gained ground.

“Unfortunately a few of our mids – Mark McVeigh, Jason Winderlich, Sam Lonergan coming back – I thought they got a little fatigued as the day went on and the Swans midfield were able to keep persisting at the same speed and intensity.

“I think that really told at the end of the game.”

“Our younger bodies with their tackling started to fall off Sydney half-way through that third quarter and once you fall off those tackles, and they get those handballs out and overlap, and that makes it difficult for your defence and they start to score heavily. That’s when our tackling really started to disintegrate.

“Five, 10 minutes into the third quarter and you’re ten points down against a very, very good side on their home turf. What we spoke about was holding our standards in terms of our hard-ball gets, loose ball gets.

“It’s disappointing when you’re 10 points down 10 minutes into the third quarter and most people in the ground would’ve thought, it’s game on here.

“But they really dominated in the stoppages and the clinches and then they get rolling and run forward uninhibited.”

Having lost five in a row, Knights will be looking to break the losing drought with a win over his old side Richmond, as the sides meet at the MCG in AFL Round 9 next Saturday night.

Game Details
Ground	ANZ Stadium
Home/Away	Away
Attendance	34,904
Umpires	Armstrong, Avon, McBurney

Scores
	1/4	2/4	3/4	Full Time
Essendon	0.2	4.7	7.9	7.10.52
Sydney	4.5	6.11	13.15	21.17.143

Best Players
Essendon	Welsh, McVeigh, Hille, Fletcher, Reimers, Stanton
Sydney	O’Loughlin, Kirk, Jolly, O’Keefe, McVeigh, Moore

Goals
Essendon	Hille, Welsh 2, Lloyd, Neagle, Jetta
Sydney	O’Loughlin 6, Playfair, Jolly 3, O’Keefe, Moore 2, Kirk, Buchanan, Barry, Richards, Jack

Injuries & Reports
Injuries	Nil
Changes	Nil
Reports	Nil

The Team
B:	Daniher	Michael	Fletcher
HB:	Myers	Ryder	Reimers
C:	Stanton	Watson	Slattery
HF:	Lonergan	Neagle	Jetta
F:	Houli	Lloyd	Laycock
R:	Hille	Lovett	McVeigh
INT:	Hislop	Monfries	Ramanauskas
	Welsh
EMG:	Atkinson	Dyson	Johns

Posted 18 May 08 in News Match Review