Lions Send Bombers Back To Earth

Essendon crashed back to earth on Saturday night with a 43 point loss to Brisbane at the Gabba in AFL Round 6. Fresh off their amazing ANZAC Day victory over Collingwood a week earlier, hopes were high that the Bombers could break their 9 year losing streak at the Gabba, but after a 5 goal to 1 opening quarter the Lions way, the Bombers were never in the contest and the loss was compounded with defender Dustin Fletcher, who was playing his 300th AFL game, going down with a leg injury, that will see him sidelined for 6-8 weeks.

After an uninspiring opening 10 minutes of the match, Brisbane skipper Jonathon Brown started the scoring with the first of his five goals for the night after being on the end of a Daniel Bradshaw pass. Heath Hocking was the only Bomber to make a mark on the scoreboard during the opening term with a running left foot goal, but that was the Bombers only scoreboard impact as the Lions piled on five of their own to take a 23 point lead into the first break.

Things went from bad to worse for the Bombers in the second quarter as the home team again produced another five goal quarter to extend their lead to 36 points at the half time break. The Bombers could only manage two goals for the term – both from the foot of Jason Winderlich in the space of a two minute burst.

The third quarter was a forgettable affair, with both sides trading goals in a dour two goal each term. The only highlight being after many attempts, Essendon skipper Matthew Lloyd finally broke through the 900 career goal barrier after a strong overhead mark and conversion. Despite Lloyd’s milestone, the Bombers could not make a dent on the margin as it remained at 36 points heading into the final term.

With the contest virtually over, the final term intensity was lowered as both sides were happy to run out the clock. Lion forward Bradshaw chipped in with three final quarter goals to finish with four for the game as his side ran out comfortable 43 point winners and leave Essendon winless in Brisbane since 2000 and slide outside of the AFL Top 8.

Jobe Watson finished with 36 possessions, while Nathan Lovett-Murray, Brent Stanton and Andrew Lovett were also good contributors in a contest were the Bombers lacked forward power as Lloyd and Scott Lucas struggled once again.

“Anzac Day was fantastic to have a great victory … but I don’t think it was a let-down,” Essendon coach Matthew Knights said after the game. “I think that’s underselling the Brisbane Lions. They beat us in all areas. Their contested ball was terrific, their tackling was great.”

“They were always half-a-step in front of us and converted well inside 50. They were very crisp and their finishing was brilliant.”

“Brisbane were earmarked to be a potential top-eight team at the start of the year so if you don’t come with the right attitude you’ll get beaten. That’s what happened tonight – we were clearly beaten by a better side.”

“Good teams are able to string wins together and play consistent football and we’ve done nothing yet.”

The loss sends the Bombers down to 10th on the AFL ladder with a 3-3 record and a tough assignment against reigning AFL Premier Hawthorn at Jihad Stadium next Friday night to start AFL Round 7.

Posted  3 May 09 in Match Review