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Embattled Essendon’s AFL campaign is off to a worrying start after a 61-point defeat by Gold Coast.
The Suns showed little mercy to the undermanned Bombers, who fielded a team including 10 players making their first appearance for the club, beating them 17.19 (121) to 9.6 (60) on Saturday at Metricon Stadium.
It’s an ominous start to the year for the Bombers, who are battling to avoid the club’s first wooden spoon since 1933 after 12 players were given season-long bans by WADA.
Forward Tom Lynch kicked four goals for the home team, but will face a nervous wait after a high-contact incident with Essendon’s Mark Baguley in the second quarter, which is likely to attract the attention of the match review panel.
Saturday’s match also marked an encouraging return to action for Suns captain Gary Ablett.
The two-time Brownlow Medallist, who didn’t play a single minute during the Suns’ pre-season, was one of 11 goal-kickers for the hosts and picked up 34 disposals as well as seven tackles.
Aaron Hall, Jack Martin and Sam Day were the other multiple goal kickers for the Suns, with two each.
The Bombers showed plenty of fight but simply couldn’t match Gold Coast after the home team booted five goals to one in the opening term.
David Zaharakis was the stand-out for the visitors, kicking two goals and notching 33 disposals.
First-gamer Darcy Parish, who was one of three Bombers making their AFL debuts, also got through plenty of work.
Matthew Stokes bounced back from a shocking miss in the third quarter to finish with three majors for Essendon.
Score
Gold Coast Suns 17.19 121
Essendon Bombers 9.6 60
The new season will herald different objectives for two of last year’s bottom four clubs when the Essendon Bombers take on the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 4:35pm (AEDST).
No team in the league’s long history has ever opened the season as decimated as the Bombers, who have twelve of their players suspended for the year after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) handed down bans in January.
It was a crippling blow for the Bombers and if the NAB Challenge was any indication, they face many heavy losses to come over the season. It won’t be surprising of course, not only are they missing some of their best players, but their ten top up players have only been at the club for less than two months and all of them missed crucial pre-Christmas AFL-level training.
New coach John Worsfold is faced with a daunting task and their goal this season will be to ensure the development of their promising crop of young players.
The Gold Coast Suns have probably never started a season in their short history under so much pressure. After just failing to make the finals in 2014 the Suns were expected to make an impact in 2015 but after a tumultuous pre-season they fell apart to finish the season in 16th position with just four and a half wins.
Suns were dealt a cruel hand with injury last season. Their star midfield quarter of Gary Ablett Jr, Jaeger O’Meara, Dion Prestia and David Swallow played just 20 total games between them.
Ablett, Prestia and Swallow were their leading contested ball winners in the few games they did play. In fact the Suns ranked 11th overall in contested possession when the trio did play but ranked 18th when the three were missing. Not surprisingly this contributed to the Suns ranking a lowly 15th in inside 50s.
Despite their poor year the Suns still had some reason for optimism. First year rookies Touk Miller and Adam Saad established themselves quickly and played 22 and 16 games respectively. Miller’s speed and poise through the midfield and up forward and Saad’s rebound off half back gives the Suns great hope for this season.
Similarly impressive was the sublime talent of second year player Kade Kolodjashnij who finished second in the club’s best and fairest. Kolodjashnij had 84 intercept possessions at ground level, ranking him third in the league and highlighting what a terrific reader of play he is.
Prediction
The Bombers will struggle to keep up with the pace of the Suns as they did in their late season clash last year at Metricon when the Suns scored their first ever win over the Bombers. Young Suns midfielder Aaron Hall was dominant in that game with 32 possessions and his pace hurt the Bombers all night.
With the suspension of Essendon’s two best defenders in Michael Hurley and Cale Hooker, Suns key forward Tom Lynch will pose a threat. Lynch has kicked 90 goals in the last two seasons and the Suns are hoping a strengthened midfield will see more opportunities for Lynch and the inconsistent Sam Day.
For the Bombers a lot of this season will ride on their young gun forward Joe Daniher who has bulked up over the summer and looks ready to step this season.
No team can lose so many of their best players and expect to be win too many games and it’s hard to see the Bombers keeping up with a team who have a lot to prove this season in the Suns.
Suns by 46 points.
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