The Dreamtime game at the `G fills me with a mixture of emotions.
It’s fantastic that a round of the AFL competition is set aside to celebrate our Indigenous brothers’ contribution to the game, but what about the rest of the year? The oldest living group of people in the world who looked after this country for over 60,000 years, had their land stolen, their languages and their culture forbidden to be practised. In many, many ways they are still treated like third class citizens.
I would like to see the Statement from Uluru included in the Footy Record for fans to read and think and discuss after the game. We as a nation need to change in so many ways especially when it comes to our treatment of Aborigines.
And now to the night at the `G, and what a spectacular night it was when the lights went off and people turned their mobile phones on for the ceremony. In retrospect this was the highlight of the night for a tragic Don fan like me.
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti set the crowd alight with a dash through traffic in the first minute but his long shot just missed and if my memory serves me correctly, the Dons took the lead for the first and only time of the game. Essendon had shown a bit of form over the last couple of weeks but Richmond smashed any hope of that to continue. David Zaharakis was flattened early in the game and with a broken collarbone called it quits for the night.
Richmond were far too powerful and far too skilled for The Dons. Whenever an Essendon player managed to get the ball he was mobbed causing turnover after turnover. The Richmond team always managed to have all bases covered. If The Dons had the ball around the centre area they looked up to find three or four Tiger defenders and not a Don in sight!
Hand-passing to a teammate’s feet, or misdirecting the ball by foot are not good ideas in any situation but at the `G against The Tigers is disastrous, but The Dons persisted, due in no small matter to the pressure applied by Richmond.
Richmond had winners all over the ground and it was difficult to watch Essendon being brushed aside so easily. By quarter time the Dons were down by 25 points and even though they fought back tenaciously in the second quarter Richmond had increased their lead to 31 points.
The third quarter has always been the Achilles Heel for the Essendon Football Club and tonight was no exception, The Tigers blitzed them. Richmond outscored us by 33 points, basically finishing the game if it wasn’t already finished.
The last quarter was more of the same, the Tigers were too skilled, too quick, too tough and far too organised and ran out winners by 71 points in front of just over 81,000 people.
I would like to suggest to the Essendon Brains Trust that it might be an idea to have a couple of the team permanently “camp” around the centre half forward area so when a teammate has the ball at half back they have some one to kick to.
At the moment they have to kick it across the ground or try a sideways hand pass, with disastrous results.
Richmond 17.12.114 defeated Essendon 6.7. 43
Goals
Richmond- Caddy 4, Moore 2, Butler 2 Edwards 2, Nankervis 2, Ellis, Menadue, Martin, Graham, Riewoldt
Essendon- McDonald-Tipungwuti 2, Smith, Laverde, Fantasia, Merrett
Best
Richmond- The 22 selected players for Richmond
Essendon- Heppell, McKernan, Hooker
Umpires: Findlay,Rosebury, Gianfagna
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A dirty night for the Bombers, Rod.
I like the idea of putting the Statement From Uluru in the Footy Record for this game. It would add substance to the ceremony.
But I fear, it may be testing the strength of the AFL’s political convictions to do so.
Cheers
Glad I missed this one! Travelling around the Red Centre at the time.