Round 22 – Essendon v Gold Coast Suns: A Big Mac upsets the Bombers!

 

 

That was shattering! Bomber fans once again are heart broken by another game that should not have gotten away from us the way it did. One moment I thought with Gresham’s ‘goal’ the Bombers ensured themselves the win and a potential spot back in the 8 but it was not to be. A free was awarded against Gresham, the goal disallowed and with time running out it was anyone’s game.

 

Some panic from the Bombers in the back half, a long kick to the Suns’ forward line, a huge pack mark by Mac Andrew, his kick to occur after the siren sounded with his team 5 points down. The rest is history, he kicked the goal, the Bombers lost by a point and any chance for a finals berth was now virtually impossible and had flown out the door. 

 

1.9 in the last quarter did not help. Bad kicking is bad football! Most of those shots were more than gettable, and they should have been achieved. To watch experienced professional and well paid footballers miss such straight forward shots at goal was extremely frustrating to say the least. Dominating the last quarter with all the play in our forward half but we could not put goals on the board. I felt so sorry for Zac Merrett who once again busted his guts out for his team, only to be let down by his fellow teammates, very disappointing indeed.

 

Sitting in my usual seat at Marvel with family and friends, a number of issues critical to the team’s success have been glaringly obvious to us not only in this match but for most matches played this year were raised and discussed. Early in this game it was noticeable again we lacked height on the backline and as defenders were constantly outmarked by taller opponents far too easily. This was an issue identified pre-season for remediation. 

 

With Ben McKay recruited, and a fit Zach Reid supporting him it was finally hoped both players would be the nucleus to helping overcoming this deficiecy on the backline. Unfortunately Reid lasted half a game and remains injured and out of contention for the entire season, Ridley has been in and out of the side with injury resulting in extra pressure placed on Laverde, Redman, McGrath etc to compensate for these short comings. Nik Cox, who I believe has so much to offer though has become a whipping boy for many supporters, is being tossed all over the place in stop gap measures which is not helping his confidence. Although he has the height he does not have the strength to go one on one with stronger opponents as was evidenced once again this week He would be far better off utilised running freely on a wing using his speed and long kicking to advantage than having his confidence destroyed as it is now.

 

Kicking for goal has been a huge issue all year. We have missed so many easy shots on goal and kicked ourselves out of winning positions on numerous occasions.

 

A number of times during match our scintillating movement of the ball from the the backline to forward line was inspiring but unfortunately overshadowed by the disappointing final act of the missed goal. 

 

Goals win matches! Although Draper played a very good game and kicked three goals his end total should have been at least five or six – he missed some sitters. But he is a ruckman not your main goalkicker and fault should not be with him. Peter Wright has been horribly down on confidence since his suspension earlier this year but he is a goalkicker and must play in the team. Langford is another player with confidence issues and he is not the player we loved and cheered so heartily before his missed goal during the ANZAC Day match. 

 

One real positive out of the game is the continued improvement of Nate Caddy. Undoubtably he is a huge star of the future and really looks the goods at the moment.

 

Except for Merrett our midfielders were down and the Suns took advantage of this. Matt Rowell got a lot of the ball and was very damaging delivering the ball forward for the Suns.

 

I think consistency is a major factor affecting the Bombers game at the moment. Some players flash in and out of the game but cannot maintain that brilliance for the whole game. Often Harry Jones looks as though he will tear a game apart then just as quickly he disappears from the action. I believe it is a mindset thing Harry needs to remedy in his game and if he can do that then he has the potential to be anything. But many Bomber fans are now beyond waiting for these aspects to be overcome not only by Harry but with some of his fellow team mates as well.

 

Travelling home on the train, a loud mouth know it all Essendon supporter made certain everyone on the train heard his opinions about the team, the players, and the coach, and he wasn’t going to be bothered going to next week’s game. It was very disappointing his attitude. I had to bite my tongue as it is not worth arguing with buffoons such as him. A good supporter must take the good with bad. Yes, it has been a long time between premierships and winning finals performance but the time will come and it will be good knowing I suffered through all the angst getting there rather than be the fair weathered supporter who only support their team in good times. 

 

I will go the match next week against the Swans knowing our final chances are virtually dead and buried but you never know whether they are until the ‘opera singer sings’. I want to see how the Bombers respond to the loss against the Suns and hopefully regain some credibility, I want to see if the changes made to the side will effect the outcome of the team’s performance, and I want to be there to stand and cheer and sing the theme song after a win and soak up the atmosphere you can obtain by being at the game.

 

Go Bombers!

 

ESSENDON      4.2    9.4    11.5   12.14 (86)
GOLD COAST   4.3    7.5    11.9   13.9 (87)

 

GOALS
Essendon: Draper 3, Caddy 3, Menzie, Stringer, Jones, Caldwell, Durham, Roberts
Gold Coast: Andrew 4, King 3, Walter 2, Flanders 2, Holman, Humphrey

 

BEST
Essendon: Merrett, Martin, Redman, Draper, Caddy
Gold Coast: Rowell, Anderson, King, Collins Long, Andrew

 

INJURIES
Essendon: Cox (concussion)
Gold Coast: Nil

 

SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Ben Hobbs (replaced Nik Cox in the second quarter)
Gold Coast: David Swallow (replaced Jed Walter in the final quarter)

 

LATE CHANGES
Essendon: Nil
Gold Coast: Lloyd Johnston (managed) replaced in selected side by Sean Lemmens

 

Crowd: 29,401 at Marvel Stadium

 

 

More from Col Ritchie can be read Here

 

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