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Sydney star Tom Papley has made his disdain for Essendon’s controversially aggressive style of play at the SCG brutally clear, slamming the club in a series of interviews.
Essendon coach Brad Scott had promised earlier in the week that the Bombers would play with extra aggression and intensity in a bid to kick-start a return to finals, with the style dubbed the ‘Essendon Edge’.
It manifested in a series of spotfires at the SCG, most notably a controversial first-quarter incident in which key forward Peter Wright ironed out Swan Harry Cunningham in a marking contest, for which he is expected to face major scrutiny from Match Review Officer Michael Christian.
Papley, who was arguably best afield with 24 disposals and four goals in the Swans’ 30-point win, first hit out at half time, accusing the Bombers of dirty tactics behind the play.
“They’re trying to get after us, it’s all off the ball,” Papley told Channel 7.
“We’re just worried about the ball. We’ll keep being hard in the contest and get the job done.”
Following the Swans’ win, Papley doubled down in the rooms after the match, though he described his earlier comments as being made in ‘the heat of the moment’.
“Brad Scott came out and said they want to have that effort and edge – we knew they were going to come out. Obviously Peter Wright took it a bit too far, but that’s footy and we move on from it,” he said.
“They were still getting into us and getting into us – we knew we can play four-quarter footy now.
“We all love footy being tough, but you’ve got to do it for four quarters.”
However, Papley saved his most explosive comments for an interview with 3AW shortly after, claiming Wright will ‘have a nice holiday’ for his Cunningham bump and describing the Bombers’ approach as ‘all a facade’.
“Obviously yeah, he [Wright] is going to have a nice holiday,” he said. “You can be tough and do all that stuff, but you’ve still got to be able to play four quarters.
“They were hitting us behind the play and things like that, and we stuck to it and we played four quarters and we got the win.
They’re trying to do that stuff and I don’t know if it’s them or not.
“Brad Scott came out and said it’s the Essendon way… you can pretend to be tough, but you’ve still got to win the ball and win the game.
“Just down the field free kicks… it’s all a facade I think, but anyway.”
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