Sitting in the MCG’s Great Southern Stand on Saturday night, hearing the Bombers supporters cheer their team before the bounce thunderously and triumphantly, seeing them wave their scarves maniacally, the scene didn’t exactly feel dirty, but it didn’t feel clean either.
It existed in the netherworld in between that Essendon have lived in for the past four years.
There was something uncomfortable about the cheers being much louder for a team convicted of cheating than they were for a man returning from cancer, but little of fandom is rational, and even less is fair or balanced.
The raucous support for Essendon on the night felt like the fierce, feverish, unashamedly crazed screams of ‘ball!’ that come from the crowd the instant an opposition player is tackled, paying no heed to whether any free kick should actually be paid.
Whether it was ‘blood energy’ or something a little more pure, the Bombers’ players certainly seemed to feed off of it. There was a line of thought that Essendon would suffer on the field from a lack of continuity – the rustiness of key cogs not having played in 18 months – and that Hawthorn, a pristine model of continuity, would thus expose them.
Not to be.
The Bombers played like a team liberated from the past, while the Hawks played like one suffocated by it. The winners played with freedom – unburdened and adventurous – while the losers played vaguely not to lose.
The most poetic moment, for this neutral anyway, occurred in the final term when Travis Colyer tried to outsprint James Frawley from a clear positional deficit. Colyer never really had a shot, but he tried anyway, attempting to zoom by Frawley like a kid on a school oval.
It was symbolic of the night, where Essendon played like men set free, desperate to express themselves in whichever way possible, while Hawthorn just stood there and reacted, looking disappointingly content to simply be the backdrop to what was actually happening.
Beyond the drama and the symbolism, Essendon just looked like a very solid football team. They were incisive while Hawthorn were insipid. The foot skills of Dyson Heppell, Zach Merrett and Brendon Goddard sublime, all three of them showing that courage isn’t just about taking a hit, it can be about caressing a pass through traffic, and the results can be just as uplifting for a team. Of the two teams on the night, only one looked like Hawthorn, unfortunately for the Hawks.
Essendon has always had a list construction that makes sense. They have star players in all three phases and enough depth to get by. With Cale Hooker forward, Michael Hurley back and Jake Carlisle gone, the key position structure looks to have finally fallen into place.
The Watson/Heppell Bombers have never really had a clean run at success, constrained by injuries or worries. Now they have a shot, and on the basis of Saturday night, when their aim was outstanding, the worries might be left for the rest of the competition.
Then again, maybe the Hawks are just bad. They looked old, tired and, more than anything, lifeless at the MCG. They looked like a team standing only as a monument to its former self.
But it’s Round 1, a time more for cheers than conclusions. In a month things will be clearer. How we should feel about Essendon and their ‘return’ probably won’t be, but in a saga where the public judged them culpable, then innocent, then maybe, well, yeah, probably, sort of guilty, and the authorities found them not guilty and then guilty, clarity is likely never coming.
All that can be done now is to watch the football, thank God. On the ‘defiance’ front, the roars for Essendon are hard to get behind.
On the ‘our football team is back and the games mean something again’ front, it’s much easier to support the Essendon fans in their loudness.
Birdman
Guest
spot on Dougie.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
LOL. Slow down Dave. It's only Round 1.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I think the players and club of Essendon have been appropriately punished and it's time to move on. I have no problem with the club and supporters enjoying putting that disturbing saga in the past and happily enjoying the dawn of a new era. But I don't accept some supporters on this site suggesting the Essendon players, including Jobe, were victims or hard done by - they foolishly, voluntarily participated in a needle injection regime to try and gain a secret and unfair advantage over the rest of the competition. Period. They may have been naive, but they still willingly went down this path. No sympathy. Let's get on with the footy now. And let's allow the club and supporters to enjoy it.
Birdman
Guest
Luke was probably consoling himself with his 4 premiership medals and 2 normies, Bobby. He's got nothing left to prove IMHO.
dave
Guest
Bulldogs fairy tale flag might be trumped by Essendon. I mean the Dogs had a long time before winning a flag and had a lot of troubles with injury and started underDogs in every final but... It pales in significance compared to the troubles Essendon has been through.After injecting their players with unknown substances they dragged out the court cases for 3 years and finally got found guilty so another year for the club and the rest of us who were already sick of the story. Now they beat Hawthorn in a feel good story they will be able to share with their two headed kids for years to come.
Bobby
Guest
How good was hodgey on saturday night birdman? Just behind Lewis and Mitchell for best on
Seano
Roar Rookie
We're going to win the flag!
Julian
Roar Rookie
While not as vitriolic as yourself, I do tend to agree. It leaves an uneasy feeling in your stomach that isn't going to be excised until the list has been completely turned over. Seriously, if West Coast is still being brought up 10 years later after illicit drugs - the stench is going to keep for quite some time.
Qlder
Guest
Hopefully swimmers will take that on board and welcome back the drug cheats in their sport. I hear everyone (except other players) has their arms open for Maria Sharapova!
Joe B
Guest
"actually being drug addled during the season" - really? You imply he used recreational drugs all the time, even at this stage, yet still managed to win a brownlow... seems highly functional. Might be his post career spiralling drug abuse clouding your view on that earlier period. Truly sad story... but serves as an example of drugs not discriminating who it's victims are. It is worth noting that Cousins was banned for a year, all 2008, for bringing the game into disrepute.
Birdman
Guest
the revising of the facts and the ongoing crafting of the narrative by people like you Mike is why this saga has been perpetuated and will continue to be. Give it a rest, pal.
Birdman
Guest
you've missed the point Mike. The issue was about the victimhood status that some people hold on to,
Brian
Guest
Well you know where Robinson worked before Essendon, they certainly looked fit in that 2009 Grand Final
Brian
Guest
Except the forward line is not the problem pace is. Maybe with the bye before finals their fitness is to peak later, I certainly think this is the case with GWS who if I was coaching would still be in semi pre-season, however its also possible we are just shot.
Birdman
Guest
I emphasise with the Bombers fans but not their players.
Mike
Guest
It is often sad to observe people who apparently have zero idea how our western democracy and justice works in Australia... And also the sportspersons status by WADA and ASADA once that have been penalised. You get found guilty, you are penalised, your slate is then clean. That applies to the AFL as well. The only stain here Birdman, is well and truly in your mind.
Bobby
Guest
I am as one-eyed a cats fan as they come, but I went on Saturday and I felt happy for the bombers fans and players. I'd hate to have gone through what they have, when the reality is save for some good luck it could have happened at my club, you club or anyone's club. Imagine having your footy team taken away from you for pretty much five years, for what reason no one really knows. This whole thing of "convicted drug cheat" may be true, but I argue that the bombers players certainly did not have the intent to cheat which is what we find so abhorrent about performance enhancing drugs
Mike
Guest
One of the clauses the AFL used to hammer EssendonFC and staff/players was to bring the game and AFL into disrepute. Being a convicted drug addict eventually, and actually being drug addled during the season that the Brownlow was won, would clearly qualify as bringing the game and AFL into disrepute?
Mike
Guest
Once you have stood up to as much public scrutiny, false accusations, public scourging and attacks as Jobe has, THEN and only then would you be in a position to speak of and question his bravery. No matter what he did some unqualified clowns piped up and attacked him, questioned his ethics and his intentions. Meanwhile you shoot off such comments from behind an anonymous Roar account. Yep, that sure was a "classy" comment "Birdman"...
Birdman
Guest
Hawks faded in and out of the game but 19 points indicate they are still creating scoring opportunities that they would normally convert better. Cyril corked in the first qtr didn't help either. I know Clarko's adding extra dimensions to their games but I'd love to see Sicily and Gunston back in the forward line.