- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Essendon have produced a brilliant performance to comprehensively defeat a rejuvenated Hawthorn team by 25 points in a Saturday night blockbuster at the MCG.
In one of the greatest performances of their recent history, Essendon quite literally performed a real life interpretation of their “comeback story” marketing campaign, storming back from a Hawthorn counterattack in the second quarter to get on top in the third, and were never deterred by a desperate Hawthorn to hold on to record a famous victory.
The game started all on Essendon’s terms, with the team running out to a 19 point lead just eight minutes in before Hawthorn slowly but surely climbed back into the game.
With goals from Cyril Rioli and Liam Shiels, the Hawks shook off the original Essendon attack before faltering a little to be thirteen points in arrears at the quarter time mark.
It was all the Hawks in the second quarter, with the Alistair Clarkson-led team scoring four goals to Essendon’s one throughout the quarter.
With a halftime lead of eight points, and quick goals from Issac Smith and inspirational new captain Jarryd Roughead to start the second half, pessimistic Essendon fans would’ve been forgiven if they thought the Hawks would run over the top of their team. That wasn’t to be.
The optimistic members of the huge Essendon contingent in the MCG crowd would’ve been proven very, very right with their team suddenly opening the floodgates and scoring five consecutive goals to stun the Hawks.
They went into three-quarter time with a very impressive 10 point lead.
The fourth quarter picked up immediately where the previous one had finished off, with two quick Dons goals putting their teams close to triple-figures.
The time for the Hawks to launch their final offensive was seemingly always ripe, but they never managed it. The glory was all the Dons, and the finished off with a historic win.
The Dons were more efficient with their 428 disposals – compared to the Hawks 374 disposals. They also destroyed the Hawks on the wings, constantly making it way too easy to move out of defence straight into attack.
The Dons were brilliantly served by new captain Dyson Heppell (34 touches, eight marks, three goals), Zach Merrett (37 touches), Brendan Goddard (29 touches), Orazio Fantasia (4 very impressive goals), Jobe Watson (27 touches) and their number one draftee Andrew McGrath (22 touches and 6 marks).
Hawthorn were very well served by new recruit Tom Mitchell (37 disposals, but 2 behinds), Will Langford (27 disposals) and Jaeger O’Meara (23 disposals, but a disappointing 3 behinds).
The Hawks face the Crows next week in a tantalising game, whilst Essendon face a suddenly harder assignment against the Lions at the Gabba.
Final score
Essendon Bombers 17.14.116
Hawthorn Hawks 12.19.91
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.