Round 11 1995, Essendon vs. Geelong

Game Statistics


ESSENDON.........5.4 11.6 14.9 17.10 (112)
GEELONG..........3.1  9.3 13.8 19.9  (123)

Goals:

ESSENDON: Somerville, O'Connor 4, Wanganeen, Daniher 2, Hird, Cummings, Cockatoo-Collins, O'Donnell, Cransberg 1.
GEELONG: Ablett 8, Mensch 3, Riccardi, Brownless 2, Couch, Lynch, Simpson, Hickmott 1.

Crowd:

77,643 at the MCG

Comment:

There is only one word for Him - God. That man (if, in fact, he is a human being, that much I doubt) Ablett is unbelievable. And he's even playing with a knee injury - I'd hate to see him when he's fit! Simply - if Ablett had have been in our goal square instead of the other way around we would have won. Even given that he kicked 8 goals, we still could have won the game (similar to when he kicked 14 goals against us and the Cats lost). Poor disposal was our downfall yesterday, and a number of players were guilty of that sin. Without wanting to single out anyone, Michael Symons twice kicked poorly giving Geelong direct goal opportunities (in fairness to him though, he came back after making that mistake and took one of the marks of the year). These mistakes cost us dearly.

After Geelong started so well, we played brilliantly to gain a six goal advantage in the second quarter. We withstood a Geelong attack to still have a substantial lead in the third term, but in the last quarter it seemed as though everyone had run out of legs, except Geelong - and in particular Ablett. He took a freakish one-handed mark, goaled, and then Geelong went on with it. But the Dons weren't done yet. When Geelong got 4 goals in front, we came back, kicking two and putting us within two goals of victory. But unfortunately Geelong tied the game up and we couldn't get free to get the much needed goals, 11 points being the final margin.

On the day one Essendon player stood out - Ryan O'Connor. In the centre bounces he thrashed Barnes (the ex-Essendon player), and played with so much confidence that rather than just tap the ball out, he grabbed it and used his bulk to create the play for the Dons. But there was more, he drifted down to the forward line and kicked four goals for the game, one of which was a fantastic piece of play where he dodged around a number of defenders to snap the goal. One may question the move Sheedy made when he switched O'Connor out of the ruck - the position he had played in (and won in) all day, and put Somerville into the ruck in the last quarter. Even though Somerville had been playing well of late, O'Connor was on fire, and as such in the last quarter Essendon lost much of the drive it had gained in the centre.

Gavin Wanganeen was another player who had a good game for the Bombers, his steadiness in defence is incredible, and he repelled a number of Geelong attacks during the game. Not only was the loss disappointing, we sustained our worst injury of the season - Darren Bewick did his knee. Those bloody knees - they're more hassle than they're worth. This is a disaster for us, as Bewick was having one of his best seasons, leading the goal-kicking at Essendon with Jimmy Hird. It seems he won't play again this season. And to make matters worse, it seems Long and Hird are both having knee problems, with fluid on the knee. Hopefully the week off this week will allow them to recover (assuming they don't play in the State teams). - Brad

Votes:

This game was fairly easy to give votes on, with O'Connor and Wanganeen standout performers.

3 - O'Connor
Easily Essendon's best. He probably remembers last time when we played Geelong and O'Connor really got Essendon back into the game, only to be dropped for the next game. He was sure that that wasn't going to happen again. He played most of the game in the ruck, and absolutely slaughtered Barnes. He gained so much confidence he grabbed the ball out of the air, and acted like a rover. His strength on the forward line gave him four goals also.

2 - Gavin Wanganeen
One of his best games for the year. His defensive play was brilliant, always calm under pressure, and picked up by far the most number of kicks of any Essendon player. He took some brilliant marks stopping a number of Geelong attacks dead.

1 - Denham
The prime mover for the Dons. Whenever we play Geelong, you can expect Sean to play well (against his old team). He got a number of possessions, and roved well from O'Connor.
Peter Somerville was very unlucky not to get votes. His four goals on the forward line were a good contribution.

Standing after Round 11:

Our second loss in a row has meant that we fall farther behind Richmond (what can you say about them? We're going to have to take them seriously soon!), Geelong and Carlton. At least we stay ahead of the Eagles and North. The ladder is as follows: 
---------------P-W-L-D--For--Agst--%--Pts
RICHMOND......10 9 1 -  944  826 114.3 36
GEELONG.......10 8 2 - 1187  830 143.0 32
CARLTON.......10 8 2 - 1002  730 137.3 32
ESSENDON......10 7 2 1 1069  809 132.1 30
WEST COAST....10 7 3 -  930  709 131.2 28
NORTH MELB....10 6 4 -  935  980  95.4 24
FREMANTLE.....10 5 5 - 1051  933 112.6 20
MELBOURNE.....10 4 6 -  846  821 103.0 16
Adelaide......10 4 6 -  762  835  91.3 16
Hawthorn......10 4 6 -  787  873  90.1 16
Footscray.....10 4 6 -  822 1047  78.5 16
Collingwood...10 3 6 1  846  931  90.9 14
Sydney........10 3 7 -  999  995 100.4 12
Brisbane......10 3 7 -  889 1096  81.1 12
Fitzroy.......10 2 8 -  752 1087  69.2  8
St. Kilda.....10 2 8 -  690 1009  68.4  8

Next Week:

We get a repreive next week with the State of Origin games (go Vics!), in which a number of Essendon players will be picked to play (and a number will not play due to injury). After that we face Hawthorn, who are having an ordinary year this year, on the Friday night. We will be expected to win, and the return of Olarenshaw, Alessio, Thompson and Salmon (who played a brilliant game in the reserves, BTW: the reserves had a massive win over Geelong by 125 points!) should mean that the team will be much stronger.
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