Essendon has recorded an impressive 43-point victory over Sydney at Etihad Stadium to not only keep their top-eight aspirations alive, but put that of their opposition in serious doubt.
The Bombers had an even spread of contributors, and ended up wearing the Swans down with an eight goal to four second half, in which the visitors were kept goalless in the final term.
Essendon had all the ascendancy as the game drew to a close, smacking Sydney in the inside 50s (72-39), tackles (64-45) and scoring shots (34-16) to reaffirm their contentions of making an appearance come September.
Zak Jones was reported before the game began after he giving Zach Merrett a whack, and was again put on notice after a high bump on Kyle Langford in the latter stages of the game.
This set the tone for a fiery first half, with both sides showing a lot of physicality and separating by no more than seven points in the first quarter.
Luke Parker scored the first goal, but in general, Essendon made a bright start, as their midfield quickly got on top of Sydney, but thanks to some terrific work from Aliir Aliir in the backline, they found it tough to score.
With Heath Grundy also back in the line-up, and Shaun McKernan joining Joe Daniher on the sidelines, when the Bombers did manage to hit the scoreboard, it was usually via shots from their shorter players, with their opening quarter goals coming from David Zaharakis and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti.
Tom Papley responded with his first, which was followed by a silky blind turn and goal by ruckman Calllum Sinclair.
There was a constant stream of players limping to the interchange bench in the first half, but Essendon’s Matt Dea was the only player with a serious ailment, as he was stretchered from the ground when his head slammed into the ground following a marking contest.
Terrific forward line pressure brought about Essendon’s chances early in the second quarter, which they had plenty of.
Darcy Parish and Mark Baguley scored goals, but the Dons were not converting an inside 50 dominance.
The Bombers were doing most of the attacking, and Sydney appeared content to let it remain that way, until it was time to score and they would cash in.
Sydney’s forward line followed a similar script to Essendon’s in that Lance Franklin was being soundly beaten by Michael Hurley and that they too couldn’t take many marks inside 50.
The ball wasn’t coming down there much, as Heppell, Merrett and Goddard were right on top in the middle.
It took a very lucky 50m penalty to Isaac Heeney to get the Swans inside scoring range, where he tied the scores at 28 points apiece.
Nic Newman kicked a nice goal from a tight angle and Jordan Dawson kicked an even nicer one from long range, as suddenly Sydney shaped to go into half-time with a handy lead.
If the Bombers were unlucky to be 10 points behind heading into the final minute of the half, that was about to change.
A miscued shot 45m out from Conor McKenna took on a crazy bounce to evade Dane Rampe and still squeeze home, before Mitch Brown was paid a free kick on the 50 metre arc to inject the Bombers with a shot of momentum and put them three points up at the major change.
The Bombers kept up their midfield dominance to start the third quarter, and Brown also picked up where he left off, drilling his second major.
When Zach Merrett nailed a typically smooth finish out of congestion, it soon became a 16-point lead to Essendon, who now had the last four goals as the Swans began to flounder.
Franklin, who had barely been sighted, earned a free kick that was perhaps tenuous deep in the forward pocket, but there was nothing tenuous about the kick, which was absolutely perfect as he kept his side afloat.
The game was beginning to open after following Sydney’s ultra-defensive, boundary-line focus throughout much of the first half, but the Swans were still struggling to find players to win the ball in the middle – apart from Josh Kennedy who was terrific as ever.
Grundy had been swung forward, and giving their forward line another marking target, helped Franklin find more space.
The move gave Franklin another couple of shots, but it was Grundy who kicked the next - his first of the season and first in over four years - to close the margin right back to four.
Essendon steadied with two very exciting goals, an end-to-end transition completed by Jake Stringer, and a ripping snap from McDonald-Tipungwuti.
Sydney’s willingness to open the game up had predictable results, as they finally found avenues forward, but also lost the clinical structure of their backline which had prevented the Bombers doing much damage.
Ronke and Franklin both kicked goals, but not before Fantasia steadied for Essendon, as the game began to move like lightning.
After the Bombers created a few chances, it was eventually a shot from outside 50 from Mark Baguley which took it to a game-high 19-point margin.
It had definitely been a game of momentum; other than the very first goal of the night from Luke Parker, every goal was one of a consecutive run of two or more kicked by one of the teams.
Devon Smith brought the house down, snapping the next goal around his body, before David Myers kicked a signature roost from the half-forward flank to seal the deal, pushing the margin beyond five goals.
The game petered from there on, with the exception of Zak Jones, who finished the night as he started it – on report – and this one looked worse than the first; a high bump on Kyle Langford.
Another late goal from Smith consigned the Swans to their second straight loss, and with four sides currently inside the top-eight to come, their position is precarious to say the least.
Essendon meanwhile will finish the season with a wet sail, and may yet force their way into a cluttered top-eight if their form keeps up.
ESSENDON 2.3 6.7 11.11 15.19 (109)
SYDNEY 3.3 6.4 10.5 10.6 (66)
GOALS
Essendon: Brown 2, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Baguley, Smith, Zaharakis, Myers, Fantasia, Stringer, Merrett, Parish, McKenna
Sydney: Franklin 2, Dawson, Papley, Sinclair, Grundy, Heeney, Parker, Newman, Ronke
BEST
Essendon: Heppell, Hurley, Goddard, Zaharakis, Merrett, Brown
Sydney: Kennedy, Aliir, Rampe, Florent
INJURIES
Essendon: Dea (concussion)
Sydney: Nil
TALKING POINTS
1. IT’S ON
The word people are using more than any other is “logjam”, because there are so many teams contending for finals.
Essendon are still towards the back of that pack due to their percentage, but they are playing irresistible footy, are in red-hot form and get to inflict some damage to other teams’ hopes.
It means Hawthorn next week is in effect an eight-point game, and perhaps their round 23 clash with Port Adelaide could be too.
They have a splendid record against the top sides, and will back themselves in against just about anyone in the run home.
Their form might actually be better than they are receiving credit for.
They have had 68 shots at goal to 29 in the last two weeks, and were also off-target against the Suns the week before.
If they can straighten their goalkicking up while maintaining the other facets of their game, they’ll play footy in September.
2. HOW FAR CAN THEY GO?
Yes, they could well still sit in 12th spot after this weekend, but Essendon may well dare to dream about not just featuring in September, but featuring prominently.
Of the other 11 teams contending for finals, they’ve already beaten Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Geelong, Greater Western Sydney, West Coast, North Melbourne, and now Sydney.
Mitch Brown looked good tonight in his 50th game, but if they can figure out a way to fit Joe Daniher back into the forward line without being disruptive to the team, then there’s still plenty of upside.
The Bombers will have so much confidence in themselves, given their form against the best sides, and their current momentum as well is paying dividends in the most rewarding way.
They haven’t won a final for 14 years, and while there is obviously still a long way to go before they even qualify, if they can make it, they’ll go very close to ending that drought.
3. SMASHED IN THE CONTEST...
Sydney controlled the tempo in the first half, and determined to play the ball around the boundary line as slowly as they could.
This tactic was successful to a point, but what they would have rathered would have been to not be starting so deep in defence.
Josh Kennedy was pretty good, although his second half was much quieter than his first, but after they were crunched by the Suns in the midfield last week, they ought to have responded a lot better than they did tonight.
The inside 50 count was a freakishly lopsided 72-39.
Dan Hannebery hasn’t been the same player since his injury in the 2016 Grand Final, but they need him back, and back in form.
4. ...AND SMASHED UP FORWARD
The Sydney forward set-up is broken, big time.
Will Hayward is a good young player, who can mark overhead and has silky skills.
Tom Papley and Ben Ronke have shown over their relatively short careers that they can be very dangerous, and while Tom McCartin doesn’t have opposition coaches tearing their hair out about his impact, he is developing well and does his bit.
Issac Heeney and Luke Parker are both very attacking goalkicking midfielders.
They are all pushed to the side, however, for the sake of Lance Franklin, who looks either sore from his ongoing heel issues, or is in decline.
He never got away from Michael Hurley tonight, and couldn’t beat him one-on-one.
Although his reputation might be as big as any player this century, on current form, he is hurting the Swans, who clearly think they can just boot it forward and let Buddy do the rest.
Even with all the players they have out, they aren’t generating anywhere near enough shots at goal right now, and it looks to be an issue of system more than personnel.
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