Round 1 – Geelong v Essendon: Cat Power bombs the Dons!
Leaving the MCG late Saturday afternoon my mate and myself were both shell shocked and completely baffled by Essendon’s performance.
That was not the Essendon we were expecting, the new confident forward looking team with finals aspirations we started to see late last year. Instead we got the Essendon of a few years ago. A shambles!
Our high expectations against Geelong were well and truly, and absolutely shattered as the Cats blew us away, the only shining light being the fantastic debut by Nick Martin with 5 goals.
Slow to the ball, flat footed, poor decision making, and poor skills, and the fierce pressure exerted by Geelong made the Bombers look second rate, that was from the first minute, and continued throughout the match.
I felt sorry for Kaine Baldwin who was completely out of his depth in his debut but his team mates didn’t help with their delivery to him. He did take a strong grab but the resulting kick for goal was a shocker.
Where do the Bombers go from here? For their sakes I hope it is the one shocker for the season that most teams have. We got ours out of the way early!
We play Brisbane next week who are coming off a strong win over Port Adelaide so the Bombers cannot afford to put in another effort as they did against the Cats.
Depending if Stringer and Snelling are fit there could be at least 4 changes next week. Langford will miss with another hamstring which is becoming a common issue with him over the past few seasons, and Draper may have a nervous wait with the MRO.
I think the Bombers need to forget about this game and think about next week. I believe we were a big man short down the back half, and probably the same up forward. Francis, Zerk-Thatcher, and Bryan may all be in the mix for next week. Who makes way I’m not certain but there were a number of players who had no impact at all on the game.
Let’s hope for a turn around next week.
GEELONG 7.5 12.9 17.14 20.18 (138)
ESSENDON 2.1 3.3 6.3 11.6 (72)
GOALS
Geelong: Hawkins 4, Stengle 4, Cameron 2, Close 2, Holmes 2, Dangerfield, Dahlhaus, Tuohy, Higgins, Guthrie, Evans
Essendon: Martin 5, Wright 2, Caldwell 2, Smith, Cutler
BEST
Geelong: Dangerfield, Stengle, Hawkins, Parfitt, C.Guthrie, Selwood
Essendon: Martin, Merrett, McGrath, Parish, Caldwell
INJURIES
Geelong: Cameron (hip pointer)
Essendon: Langford (hamstring), Laverde (hip)
SUBSTITUTES
Geelong: Francis Evans (replaced Jeremy Cameron in the second quarter)
Essendon: Tom Cutler (replaced Kyle Langford in the first quarter)
Crowd: 54,495 at the MCG
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About Colin Ritchie
Retired teacher who enjoys following the Bombers, listening to music especially Bob Dylan, reading, and swimming.
I agree Colin. Hawkins and Danger played at their best in the first half. Hawkins was superhuman. The cats were so good they made us look like a reserves team. I hope we play better next week.
CGR, Perhaps as Titus O’Reilly noted (possibly with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek), when Mick Malthouse predicted The Bombers to win the flag, “it was a colossal blow knowing their season was doomed.” I’m not so sure. Don’t be too hard on Truck’s team, the playing list is good. After all, you taught half of them and it’s only Round 1. I do feel you could have mentioned Geelong’s Dad’s Army team with a little more detail in your review. The Cats now have some handy youngsters to complement the often criticised pensioners. Max Holmes, Sam de Koning and Frank Evans played well. How will we ever fit Duncan, O’Connor, Bews and Menagola into the 22+1?
Cheers. w.
Btw. Who’s Mick Malthouse?
Pards, the ease Hawkins took that mark in the first minute or so of play was not a good omen and set the scene for the rest of the match, the Cats did everything with ease.
WRM – expected to hear from my old Cat mate.Too much build up too early in the season did not help. They certainly came crashing back down to earth with a resounding thud! I think the team will play better next match — at least I hope so; surely they couldn’t repeat that performance again. There will be changes but subtle changes, they got a few things wrong last week, we need another tall both ends of the ground for a start.My fingers are crossed! Your Cats were very good! Cheers.