Round 4 – Sydney v Essendon: Another of those heart stoppers!

 

Sydney v Essendon

7:20pm, Thursday April 8

SCG

 

 

It’s 2am and I can’t sleep. That’s what Swans v Bombers games do to you! Maybe it was the alcohol that my sister brought over (I rarely drink), maybe it was the chocolate another sister brought over (I rarely eat chocolate), or maybe, just maybe, it was simply the adrenalin still racing after another of those unbelievably close matches between the two sides that had me lying in bed, eyes wide open.

 

Have any two teams such a recent history of close encounters? I doubt it. Recalling some of them, the most famous of all comes to mind. 1996, Preliminary Final at the SCG. That game against Essendon has gone down in history as one of the best and most exciting of all finals games – all games really, considering the implications. Swans (and indeed Bombers) fans will never forget that last passage of play. With scores level and the siren, surely, about to sound, Chapman marks from Essendon’s clearance. Onto the boot, and the ball goes forward. Plugger marks. All we need is a behind! The siren sounds. Deadly silence around the SCG. (Even now, 25 years later, the heart races). The ball soars for 55 metres, and he’s done it! We are into the Grand Final. The Swans’ first since 1945.

 

Since then, we’ve seen some pretty amazing close ones:

1997 SCG, Sydney by 1 point
1999 SCG, Essendon by 14 points
2000 SCG, Essendon by 13 points
2002 Telstra Stadium, Essendon by 2 points
2004 MCG, Essendon by 10 points
2005 ANZ Stadium, Sydney by 6 points
2007 SCG, Essendon by 1 point
2010 SCG, Sydney by 9 points
2011 ANZ Stadium, Sydney by 5 points
2011 Etihad, Essendon by 1 point
2012 Etihad, Sydney by 4 points
2015 ANZ Stadium, Sydney by 12 points

 

And who could forget 2017? Two goals behind with 1:19 on the clock, we witnessed a miracle! Swans a goal, with just 51 seconds remaining. Needing a further 6 points, Buddy managed one of them from 50 metres, leaving us five points down, with 15 seconds remaining. Gary Rohan marks in the goal square. All over! Pandemonium at the SCG! Sydney by one solitary point!

 

And since then, our close encounters have not waned.
2019: SCG, Sydney by 5 points
2020 SCG, Essendon by 6 points

 

And now, on Thursday night 8th April 2021 at the SCG, we’ve done it again. Sydney by 3 points

 

I’ve been there to witness them all, except for last year’s no–games attendance for Victorians, and last night’s thriller. Oh, I wish I’d been there!

 

All week I’d been nervous about this one. Essendon, one of the youngest teams around at the moment, had played brilliantly the previous week, their inspirational captain Dyson Heppell was back from injury, and, well, simply, it was Essendon! Enough said. I also wondered whether my team could sustain the incredible pressure they had applied in the first three games, and whether the psychological ramifications after beating Richmond would come to the fore. All very possible.

 

This time it was Essendon applying the pressure, preventing us from playing how we had in the first three matches. It was Essendon who kicked straight, with six unanswered goals across the first two quarters that saw us down by 25 points at one stage. We could well have become despondent, but, on the contrary, we responded and kicked six of our own to take the lead, going into half time with a five point advantage.

 

The third quarter was pretty even, just one point separating us, and then our kicking woes returned. Having managed 2.5 in the first term, our last quarter, despite the ball being in our forward half for the majority of it, produced a lousy 2.6. Luke Parker (best on ground), Tom Papley, Nick Blakey and Tom Hickey some of the culprits. Three points up, with just minutes to go, Justin McInerney kicked perfectly to Buddy, who, despite being relatively quiet on the night, kicked his third and more importantly put us ahead by 10 points. Cale Hooker snapped one through for Essendon, but we managed to hold on.

 

28 to 20 shots on goal told a story, but the ending was a happy one! And all without our star Isaac Heeney, off early with a broken hand.

 

John Longmire’s summation of the game was perhaps the best: ‘When a team (Essendon) comes in and has 36 tackles in the last quarter you’ve got to do a lot right to win. To withstand that and do the things we needed to be able to do, and find a way, was a really good sign. I think that’s the most pleasing thing out of it. You get behind, you’re scrapping along, you’re coming from behind, you’re finding a different way to win. All of those things add up to just getting the overalls on and getting to work.’

 

And that’s just what we did! Another great win!

 

Go Bloods!

 

 

 

SYDNEY          2.5     7.9     9.11     11.17     (83)
ESSENDON     4.1     7.4     10.6     12.8     (80)

 

GOALS
Sydney: Franklin 3, Reid, McInerney 2, Parker, Florent, Mills, Papley
Essendon: Stringer, Hooker 3, Waterman 2, Cox, Smith, Parish, Jones

 

BEST
Sydney: Parker, Warner, Lloyd, Mills, Gulden, Kennedy
Essendon: Merrett, Ridley, Stringer, Parish, Cox

 

Crowd: 28,039

 

 

 

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