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After that horrible first half against West Coast on the weekend, there was a feeling that Essendon, after losing their previous two games, were again being weighed down by their messy off-field issues.
President Paul Little had been in court all week along with soon to be returned coach James Hird testing the legality of ASADA’s joint investigation with the AFL into the Bombers’ controversial supplements program.
Last year, even though the club was banned from the finals anyway, they fell away on the field in the last third of the season as the scandal started to have an effect on the players.
The first half against the Eagles was the sign of a tired and distracted team who gifted their opposition golden opportunities with dreadful turnovers and decision making.
At one stage they were down 34 points and you thought this could be a 10-goal or more smashing, but the Dons’ players showed enormous character to drag themselves off the canvas and scramble over the line to almost bank the finals spot that had been taken away from them in 2013.
The three-point win was a reward for persistence and for the brilliance of Dyson Heppell. He is only 21 and this phrase is used too loosely to describe sportspeople, but he is fast becoming a great.
He had 28 disposals in the second half, which would be an excellent stat in an entire match, and he willed himself into the contest after being closely tagged early.
It helped that inspirational skipper Jobe Watson returned and had 30 touches and that Jason Winderlich, after he missed the goal when playing on from a mark 10 metres out, made amends with three goals, which were significant in the comeback.
It also helped that the second tier players such as David Myers stepped up and youngsters like Zach Merrett and Ariel Steinberg played their part.
With what they have had to go through since 2012, these Essendon players have been nothing short of marvellous with their resilience to keep producing superhuman efforts when all has looked lost.
On form, they are a long way from a premiership threat and they still have to contend with the court’s decision, which is due when the finals are about to start. But they are getting pretty experienced at having to deal with all of these outside influences.
It’s hard enough coping with the heat playing in the AFL, and last year if the Dons were confronted in the third term with that 34-point deficit, it probably would have been a one-sided result. But these players are made of sterner stuff now.
They are not safe in the eight yet, but with Collingwood losing easily, their cause was helped. They have Gold Coast and Carlton to come and if they can’t beat one or both of them they don’t deserve to be there.
They have a good record in the close ones as well, but I am sure coach Mark Thompson would want four good quarters, which haven’t been forthcoming. However, stirring come-from-behind wins are often the best ones. There’s certainly never a dull moment, both on and off the field, when following Essendon. You could probably say the same for Richmond, who keep finding a way as well.
It would be good for footy if both sashes are in the finals as passion would be rife and they both would have made it the hard way.
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