Round 3 – Essendon v North Melbourne: Another crash landing!

 

Round 3

Essendon v North Melbourne

7.35pm, 28 March

Marvel Stadium

 

From an Essendon perspective

 

My grandson Ben picked me up at home in Colac and drove to the Waurn Ponds railway station to catch the train to Marvel Stadium for the Bombers clash against the Roos. 

 

During the drive to the station we discussed our team’s prospects for the game noting the VFL team had a good win earlier in the day. Gun recruit Sullivan Robey played a blinder, kicking 4 goals racking up possessions galore. Tom Edwards kicked 5 goals for his first game since his ACL injury last year. Elijah Tsatas also had another good match and supporters wonder what he must do to get a game at AFL level.

 

The carpark at Waurn Ponds was chocka-block, completely unheard of but an obvious sign the fuel crisis is biting and people are catching the train. We had to park up a side street. And, as we soon found out, public transport was free for myki card holders.

 

With mates Leigh and Garry joining Ben and myself we previewed our thoughts of the Bombers prospects for the game, As always I was optimistic but my fellow supporters were a little more subdued with their thoughts. Leigh did point out a fact I was not aware of which made my stomach churn – North Melbourne has not beaten Essendon in their past 12 encounters. As a believer in the law of averages I was worried. The Roos must be due for a win, and game number 13 coming up since their last win seemed a very bad omen for the Bombers.

 

My daughter Jemma and grandson Marley soon joined us in our seats at Marvel.

 

We know the result, a third straight lose for season 2026 but a much better effort this week by the Bombers, only going down by 2 goals. Poor kicking from set shots for goal let us down badly, as did our foot and hand skills. Too many fumbles, ill-directed passes, and panic errors caused easy turnovers that should not happen at this level of football, and the Roos took full advantage of our mistakes.

 

Again, bigger-bodied opponents out-muscled our players, seemingly with ease at times, but to be fair, many of our players are still kids – once they fill out and bulk up I believe it will be a different story. The basis for a good team is there but they need time.

 

Blakiston played another very good game in the ruck and is growing in stature in the role as number one ruckman. Unfortunately our mids were unable to take full advantage of his tap outs with the North mids snaring many of them or effectively dispossessing the Bomber mids and clearing forward far too easily. 

 

Caldwell played a much better game this week and Durham was busy at times. Darcy Parish is a shadow of his former self and looked really undone as did Kyle Langford. Yes, they both had long stints out of the game with serious injuries and they need the run to continue building up to full match fitness. Langford in the past has been one of our most reliable kicks for goal. There was hesitancy from him whenever kicking for goal as I felt he was holding his kick back for the fear of doing another hamstring. He must get those thoughts out of his mind!

 

Essendon’s movement of the ball into the forward line left a lot to be desired. Although Caddy tried his hardest, usually two or more opponents were contesting the ball with him, or the ball was kicked to a small who was out positioned or outplayed by taller and bigger opponents. The wrong option always seemed to be taken.

 

I suppose the positives to come out of the game, in my opinion, were as follows:  the continued development of Isaac Kako as a small forward taking turns in the centre; Archer Day-Wicks showed promise early in the match and I believe should be persevered with, Farrow looks good, and Archer May took a couple of fine grabs.

 

Next match against the in-form Western Bulldogs could be horrible. I still have nightmares from a few years back when the Bulldogs kicked 21 goals in a row against us. Whether the Bombers make any changes or not to their side for the match I don’t know but if I was coach it’s time to be proactive – give Tsatas a game, take a chance with Robey, and perhaps consider an extra tall, though I don’t know who, maybe Jones or Cox.

 

It will be a long season for Bomber supporters but all we ask is the team to have a real crack.

 

 

ESSENDON  2.5     4.8     5.12     9.15 (69)
NORTH MELBOURNE  3.2     7.2     12.6      12.9 (81)

 

GOALS
Essendon: Wright 2, Blakiston, Kako, Caddy, Caldwell, El-Hawli, Gresham, Merrett
North Melbourne: Duursma 3, Larkey 2, Trembath 2, Zurhaar, Xerri, Dovaston, Curtis, Blamires

 

BEST
Essendon: Roberts, Caldwell, Wright, McGrath
North Melbourne: Parker, Sheezel, McKercher, O’Sullivan, Davies-Uniacke

 

INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
North Melbourne: Nil

 

Crowd: TBC at Marvel Stadium

 

 

More from Col Ritchie can be read Here

 

 

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