Round 12 1995, Essendon vs. Hawthorn

Game Statistics


ESSENDON.........3.7 7.11 8.12 10.18 (78)
HAWTHORN.........0.1 2.4  5.11  8.12 (60)

Goals:

ESSENDON: Salmon 4, Calthorpe 2, Cockatoo-Collins, Symons, Long, Young 1.
HAWTHORN: Bone, Hargreaves 2, Minton-Connell, JArman, Hudson, J Taylor 1.

Crowd:

47,237 at the MCG

Comment:

Put your hand up if you thought he were going to win by at least ten goals at half time. Yes, I thought there would be quite a few. Well so did I, and what happened? We did the same thing as we did against Geelong, decided to have a little rest. The first half was all Essendon, and even though we led by more than eight goals at one stage, we did not put all of our possession to use. Especially in the first quarter Hawthorn hardly touched the ball, or when they did, they either kicked it straight back to an Essendon player, or not to their team's advantage. Unfortunately, all this good play and pressure did not tell on the scoreboard, and the half time margin did not reflect our dominance in the first half.

Then it happened, Hawthorn started to get a sniff, and the Dons had gone to sleep. Ironically, and luckily for Essendon, at no point did Hawthorn get close enough to challenge the Dons. Even our poor play was not enough to let an undermanned Hawthorn side get in front. The final margin of three goals sounds fairly healthy, but given the circumstances surrounding the first half of play, it could have been a lot more. Hawthorn actually kicked six goals to our two in the second half, and this must be looked at seriously.

The highlights of the night came from huge "flies" by a number of our players. It even began in the reserves (and a special note should be made of the reserves, who had another huge win, this time by just over one hundred points!) with Ricky Olarenshaw (who should be back in the seniors next week) taking a speccy on the wing. It continued to the seniors, where in the first few minutes Jimmy Hird almost pulled down mark of the year, but sadly the ball just wouldn't stick. This could have even been surpassed if Peter Cransberg could have held onto the mark he flew for in the goal square, almost standing on the Hawthorn guy's shoulders. Undoubtedly the best player on the ground was Gavin Wanganeen. During the game he ended up moving up the ground, gathering his usuallly large quota of kicks, and each one used to perfection. It was even better than his performance for S.A. in the state game (for which he definitely should have received the Fos Williams Medal).

Overall the game was disappointing; a disappointing crowd, and not really a high level spectacle. At least Essendon got away with the four points, and due to our draw earlier in the year, percentage really isn't a factor.
- Brad

Votes:

Wanganeen continues his good recent form, picking up best on ground here.

3 - Wanganeen
Easliy best on ground, showing the form that won him the 1993 brownlow medal. Once again he gathered kicks across the backline, then when moved onto the ball he had a say in almost every Essendon move forward. A fantastic, skillful game.

2 - Long
Back in top form was Michael Long on Friday. His exciting play and numerous kicks and handballs were well needed by Essendon when things weren't going our way.

1 - O'Donnell
One of O'Donnell's best games for the year. He has consistently picked up a bag of possesions, and this game was no exception. He was also one of the players to do the hard work around the packs.

Standing after Round 12:

It could only happen to Collingwood, another bloody draw. And in what controversial circumstances, with Dermie kicking a goal that wasn't a goal! It was a bad week all round for umpires, with Richmond only winning after a very dubious deliberate out-of-bounds decision against Fitzroy; at Subiaco, the Eagles getting a goal that was touched before it went over; at Adelaide, the ball seemed to be touched off the pack and the goal umpire awarded a goal; and still at the Collingwood v. Footscray game, Footscray were given a point when the ball was clearly out on the full. So let's see, if we just take those decisions on face value, and don't take into account the effects of a goal with the ball going back to the middle of the ground etc etc, the Fitzroy v. Richmond game would have been a draw; Footscray would have beaten Collingwood, and the Swans would have beaten the Eagles - three completely different results! But anyway, that's football. We remain in fourth spot, Richmond still streaking the field, and now we are only half a game behind Geelong because of their close match with Carlton. The ladder is as follows: 
---------------P--W--L-D--For-Agst---%--Pts
RICHMOND......12 10  1 - 1176  992 118.6 44
CARLTON.......12 10  2 - 1226  919 133.4 40
GEELONG.......12  9  3 - 1419 1054 134.6 36
ESSENDON......12  8  3 1 1259  992 126.9 34
WEST COAST....12  8  4 - 1066  904 117.9 32
NORTH MELB....12  8  4 - 1211 1141 106.1 32
ADELAIDE......12  6  5 -  957  965  99.2 24
FREMANTLE.....12  5  6 - 1207 1181 102.2 20
Melbourne.....12  5  6 - 1016 1006 101.0 20
Collingwood...12  4  5 2 1078 1089  99.0 20
Hawthorn......12  5  7 -  960 1022  93.9 20
Footscray.....12  4  7 1  939 1208  77.7 18
Brisbane......12  4  8 - 1110 1303  85.2 16
Sydney........12  3  9 - 1142 1181  96.7 12
Fitzroy.......12  2 10 -  929 1328  70.0  8
St. Kilda.....12  2 10 -  850 1260  67.5  8

Next Week:

An interstate game next week, so no need to freeze once again at the MCG (it always seems to be cold when the footy's on, oh well, at least jumping up and down like a madman always warms you up :) ). The Swans will be tougher than their 14th positioning would suggest. At home they have proven to be competitive, so the Dons will not be able to take it easy at all.
Previous Round Next Round Return to Game Listing
[Current Info...] [From the Archives] [Club Info...]
[Other Stuff...] [EFC Home Page]