Bombers Finally Break The Drought

Essendon have broken their eight match losing streak with a tough 22 point victory over West Coast at the Phone Dome on Friday night in AFL Round 12.

Led by a BOG performance by ruckman David Hille (27 disposals, nine marks, 22 hit-outs and 3 goals), the Bombers dominated the match early but squandered a raft of scoring opportunities, until scoring the last three goals of the first half to turn a 14 point deficit into an 11 point half time lead.

Scott Lucas added three goals, young gun Kyle Reimers impressed (not only because of his orange boots) while Adam McPhee, Brent Stanton and Matthew Lloyd were amongst the Bombers best.

The game started badly for the Bombers as they missed chance after chance to put a stamp on the game early and it was the Weagles that benefited from the Bombers inaccuracy by converting successfully with four of their five scoring shots to build a handy lead going into time-on of the first term. However the Bombers got the last three goals of that quarter, with Hille giving the Bombers a 5 point lead heading into the first chance with a goal with one second left on the clock.

The start of the second term had a feel of the first term, as the Bombers had better of the play but could not capitalise on the scoreboard. David Wirrpanda put the Eagles in front with one of his four goals of the night before a three goal Bomber run into half time via a snap from Nathan Lovett-Murray and goals to Jay Neagle and Hille gave the Bombers a three goal break while now it was the turn of the Weagles as they frittered away opportunities with four successive behinds before the half-time break, which saw the Bombers head to the main change with an 11 point lead.

Scott Lucas extended the Bombers lead to begin the second half with the opening goal of the third term, before Wirrpanda reduced the margin back to 11 with his fourth goal of the night. Goals to Scott Lucas, Hille and then Angus Monfries pushed the lead to out a game high 23 points before a late trading of goals finishing with Adam Hunter via a free kick from Patrick Ryder saw the Weagles get the last goal of the third term and turn 15 points down going into the final quarter.

Adam Ramanauskas returning to the senior lineup gave the Bombers a 21 point break with the first goal of the final term, before skipper Matthew Lloyd answered a Weagle goal Lloyd with a classic hanger over Beau Wilkes early in the final quarter, and his resultant goal sealed Essendon’s victory to break their eight week losing stream and register their third win of the season.

As stated earlier ruckman David Hille was the standout performer with 27 disposals, nine marks, 22 hit-outs and 3 goals. Brent Stanton had 27 disposals of his own, while Adam McPhee (23) and Matthew Lloyd, Kyle Reimers and Mark McVeigh had 21 touches a-piece.

Bomber coach Matthew Knights praised Hille and Lloyd after the match.

“I just spoke to him about backing himself even though the big fella’s (Cox) a great player, but he (Hille) in his own right is having a good year, so I wanted him to attack the contest and see if he could gather some disposals as well, rather than (play) a shut-down role,’‘ Knights said. “He’s ended with up 27 disposals, David, which is a pretty amazing effort for a ruckman.’‘

“He (Lloyd) led at the ball, competed, kept the feet under tackle and duress and excited his teammates and the people in the ground with a couple of his efforts in the air,’‘ Knights added. “He put a pretty big smile on the coach’s face when he sat on that bloke’s head.’‘

The victory sees Essendon ‘vault’ over West Coast into 13th on the AFL ladder with a 3-9 record and a match up with arch-rival Carlton at the MCG in AFL Round 13 next Sunday afternoon.

Posted 14 June 08 in Match Review