The Bombers were finally willing to get their hands dirty and showed enough at the MCG to suggest 2022 is not a complete write-off
Essendon looked like a completely different outfit to the one that barely gave a yelp against Fremantle last week.Essendon looked like a completely different outfit to the one that barely gave a yelp against Fremantle last week.Last modified on Mon 25 Apr 2022 23.21 BSTt 3:15 at the MCG on Monday, the only sounds were a bawling baby and the Australian, Aboriginal and New Zealand flags flapping at half-mast.
While Old Chuckles was reliving first world war cavalry charges, Essendon had eight days to figure out how to defend as a team, how to apply a modicum of pressure and how to work the locks to a talented Collingwood side. As they lined up to pay their respects however, their problems were on full display. They lacked big, mature bodies. Hooker had retired. Hurley was hobbled. McDonald- Tipungwuti, who kicked five goals in this game last year, was in the reserves.
To their credit, the Bombers responded. They looked like a completely different outfit to the one that barely gave a yelp against the Dockers. They tackled. They harassed. They shed their bruise-free tag. Their ruckman, who looks like something out of Beyond Thunderdome, threw his weight around. Darcy Parish had an astonishing 30 first half possessions, something no footballer has managed this century.
But they lacked polish. They couldn’t convert. In the second term in particular, they squandered some easy chances in front of goal. Collingwood, on the other hand, were kicking goals out of their backsides. They had kicked themselves out of the West Coast and Geelong games, but were dead-eyes yesterday. Jack Ginnivan and Brodie Mihocek booted nine goals straight between them. Ginnivan won the medal, but in many ways Scott Pendlebury was the architect.
Malthouse reckons that whoever loses on Anzac Day knows nothing but disgrace. But the only disgrace was Mick’s martial metaphors. On Monday, the Bombers were finally willing to get their hands dirty. On Monday, they showed enough to suggest that 2022 is not a complete write-off. The coach insists that they’re still a work in progress, that they’re still figuring out what sort of side they are, and that the football world was perhaps too easily seduced by them last year. He urged patience.
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