Short answer, how good is footy? The last four matches between the Swans and Bombers have been decided by ten points or less and this win for the Swans brings the aggregate wins for each side since the Swans moved north to 30-30 with one draw.
This game had it all. Swings in momentum, bold passages of end to end footy, and egregious misinterpretations of the rules. While I am heartbroken for my boys, they did have their chances but failed to take them. The Swans had clearance domination over my Bombers and they had 28-20 scoring shots; the Dons had no right to be as close as they were but it speaks to their resilience as a playing group and their ability to keep their heads up in light of the opposition.
Kicking six goals either side of quarter time, the Bombers looked to have the ascendancy early over the very fancied Sydney outfit. This was largely built on ensuring the Swans did not have unobstructed access to the corridor, and clogging up the box of short options surrounding the Swans player, something that I am surprised Richmond didn’t do last week.
The forward half turnovers made the Swans look lethargic and lazy as the smooth-moving Essendon players took their chances early, in particular Jake Stringer and Darcy Parish were able to get a couple of quick goals with Parish’s miraculous snap from the deep pocket an early contender for the goal of the year. However, you give the Bloods an inch and they will take a mile, the swings in momentum resulted in a continually see-sawing contest throughout the match. I, for one, await the return fixture later this year at Marvel Stadium.
The score of 11.17 (83) to 12.8 (80) flattered the Bombers somewhat as the Swans bookended their performance with horrendous shots on goal. In the first quarter, the home side kicked 2.5, before kicking 2.6 in the last. This accounted for a super majority of their behinds and a minority of their goals. This is something that Horse and the much vaunted assistance of Don Pyke need to bear in mind when coming up against other sides in future.
I believe that part of this score was attributable to Essendon’s pressure on post-clearance possession and clogging up the corridor such that the Swans didn’t have an easy time of moving the ball end to end. The pressure on the ball in transition led to the Swans being clipped with dozens of low quality entries in the forward 50. This shows the Bombers to be a blue collar side built on effort and exceptionally well drilled by the intelligent coaching of Ben Rutten, Daniel Giansiracusa, and Blake Caracalla.
Nik Cox and Nick Hind were among the best players for Essendon on a dour night. In the third quarter, Hind went on a line break dash that was reminiscent of Adam Saad’s highlights when he was with the club. Being traded from the Saints for a solitary third-round pick, Hind is proving to be a very solid acquisition, with the potential to push Stefan Martin and Lachie Fogarty as the most valuable-for-money acquisition this season.
Cox on the other hand, moves with the grace of a gazelle and coordination that is unfair for someone who is 202cm tall. Josh Mahoney has said he believes Cox will inevitably find himself as an inside midfielder in the future (not a ruckman – an inside midfielder), and if the highlight package from early in his career is anything to go by, he is already a creative and confident player that will only get better with age.
The free kick count was exceptionally lopsided in favour of the Swans. I am willing to acknowledge that umpiring is a difficult job, and they’re always going to end up on the receiving end of vitriolic criticism from spectators. But what stood out to me was the many times that players (on both sides) just straight up dropped the ball, a particularly bad example sticks out from Tom Hickey where he took the ball out of the ruck and took a few steps and was tackled and dropped the ball. This is still holding the ball even under the new interpretation of the rules regarding taking the ball out of the ruck contest.
The second particularly egregious rulings were the deliberate out of bounds, deliberate out of bounds is only supposed to be ruled when there is no one near the ball. Yet the umpires paid multiple deliberate out of bounds free kicks when they did not meet the requisite threshold for calling deliberate out of bounds. Each time this kick was called it resulted in a shot on goal for the Swans, this is not a good look for the game. To simply blame the parochial Swans fans is disingenuous and minimalist but it is something that the AFL umpiring association needs to improve.
Now, before we move onto the best I am going to announce the best players for rounds 1 and 2.
Round 1
1. Andy McGrath (6)
2. Zach Merrett (11)
3. Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (4)
4. Dyson Heppell (3)
5. Nick Hind (2)
6. Jye Caldwell (1)
1. Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (10)
2. Mason Redman (5)
3. Nick Hind (6)
4. Cale Hooker (5)
5. Will Snelling (2)
6. Jordan Ridley (4)
1. Nik Cox (6)
2. Will Snelling (7)
3. Jake Stringer (7)
4. Zach Merrett (14)
5. Darcy Parrish (7)
6. Dyson Heppell (4)
1. Zach Merrett (14 votes)
2. Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (10 votes).
3. Will Snelling, Jake Stringer and Darcy Parish (7 votes)
As always thanks for reading guys, I look forward to the Bombers pegging one back over the Swans in Round 20 this year.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Caldwell is a downhill skier because he continually ran forward of the ball in the match against hawthorn. I’m willing to attribute part of that to lack of coaching and experience but I believe that was a big issue that led to the bombers losing against the hawks
Jeb Heslop
Roar Rookie
Cox is going to be a star. He's developing into a cult-figure of the club
JamesH
Roar Guru
I don't think they have a dilemma that need ssolving. Phillips and Bryan are coming back from niggles and they didn't want to rush them in. I expect to see one of them this week (or next, since the Lions don't have a strong ruckman at the moment anyway).
JamesH
Roar Guru
It’s not that black and white, Cam. Take it to the extreme: if one side only gets 5 frees and the other gets 30, surely that points to a problem? No one is suggesting a fee kick count has to be close to even. But a significant differential will usually – and should – raise questions about the standard of officiating even if, on its own, it isn’t conclusive evidence of poor umpiring.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Marvel is longer (8m) but narrower (7m) than the SCG. It will arguably be easier to guard the corridor there.
JamesH
Roar Guru
As poetic as that might be, Chucka, McKay would monster him! Reid needs 12 months of putting on muscle before he can start tangling with the big fellas. If he comes in at any point this year it will be as a second or third tall.
JamesH
Roar Guru
If we go down in a tight one to Brisbane this week I reckon we'll be about the best-performed 1-4 side I've ever seen.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Some of these umps have forgotten the old adage that good umpires aren't noticed. I blame Razor Ray. The pioneer of 'look at me' officiating in footy.
JamesH
Roar Guru
They do, and it's wrong.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Walla definitely lucky to not give away the free for a trip on that occasion. To be honest the umpiring standard so far this season has been pretty ordinary on the whole. Hopefully as the season wears on we see a bit more consistency across the board.
JamesH
Roar Guru
I think calling Caldwell a downhill skier is both premature and grossly unfair! He's played a dozen games of footy and he lays a lot of tackles. Shiel I can understand to a point, although I think teams can afford - and perhaps even need - that one midfielder who is primarily focused on attacking (as long as everyone else defends consistently).
JamesH
Roar Guru
I disagree that there was no prior opportunity. After he took the ball out of the ruck he took several steps before being brought to ground. That was the prior, not the fact he took it out of the ruck. IMO he *clearly* had time prior opportunity to dispose of the ball between taking possession and being tackled. If you imagine that he received a handball instead of taking it from the ruck then you'd expect it to be called.
Tom
Guest
Missed the biggest reason Sydney won the match. Essendon played without a recognised ruck, Tom Hickey had a field day and it was like shelling peas for the swans miss in terms of clearances. Hickey, Parker,Mills, Kennedy had a field day. Essendon won’t go anywhere until they solve their ruck dilemma.
Chris M
Guest
We Sydneysiders watching the game may not have figured out all the rules yet, but the Sydney Swans players seem to have been coached to know the rules more than the Essendon players. Hence the free kick count.
Phil Maguire
Guest
Snelling lays nine tackles in round four and you put him second best in the team. Caldwell lays nine tackles in round one, does a hamstring in round two and he's a downhill skier? Rubbish!
Phil Maguire
Guest
Snelling had nine tackles against the Swans but he was nowhere near our second best player. Ridley, Merrett, Hooker, Stringer and Francis were all ahead of him. Other than that good summation although I think disgraceful umpiring killed our momentum during the game. We should have won it.
Peter Warrington
Guest
It's only 2m narrower than the MCG. almost identical to the Gabba. 20m wider than the egregious cattery it is 6m shorter than the G which accentuates the slightly narrower ground
Peter Warrington
Guest
just asking for a geographer friend of mine, where's your boundary?
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
I live in Sydney so when I say the fans don’t know the rules it’s because I know them haha. But you are right it is something of a stereotype that is less and less applicable given the dominance of AFL as a sport in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Nope they aren’t contradictory. You can clog the corridor and still not like the fact the oval is tiny.