Round 3 1995, Essendon vs. Melbourne

Game Statistics

ESSENDON.......3.5 5.7 10.8 14.14 (98)
MELBOURNE......4.2 9.6 11.9 12.10 (82)

Goals:

ESSENDON: Bewick 3, Mercuri, Alessio, Darcy 2, Long, Somerville, Denham, O'Connor, Young 1.
MELBOURNE: Lyon 6, Neitz 2, Tingay, Lovell, Dyson, Smith 1.

Crowd:

60,057 at the MCG

Comment:

Well we finally got the Melbourne monkey off our back. They had beaten us the last three times and we had a bone to pick with them. But for most of the day it looked as though their winning run would continue, we just couldn't put a few goals in a row together to give us the lead. It wasn't until the third quarter when we started to find form. When Lyon goaled at the start of that quarter - from 65 metres(!) out, it almost put us out of the game. We were five goals down, and it didn't look good.

But then something snapped, and we kicked eight of the last nine goals of the game. Darcy, after being beaten by Lyon who was in magnificent form, was recalled, not to the backline, but to the forward line. And sometimes we think Sheedy is mad, this move worked wonders. Darcy took mark after mark and gave another option up forward. The play that sealed the game for the Bombers involved Darcy, and another player who had a relatively poor game, Gavin Wanganeen. The ball was kicked into open space on the wing, and Wanganeen ran at full pace, grabbed the ball as it bounced hard off the surface, and pumped the ball back into the forward line, where Darcy marked. He passed it to Bewick and the rest is history.

The oustanding player on the day was Michael Long. He was involved in a push and shove match with Todd Viney: Long was downed and Viney was reported. What transpired after that was sensational. Long grabbed the ball on the Member's wing, dodged numerous Melbourne players, bounced the ball about three or four times, then kicked a goal from 40 metres. It was electrifying considering he had just been decked by Viney. Another to have a good game was Stephen Alessio. In Salmon's absence he really took a step up, gathering almost as many possessions as a rover, and taking the most marks for the team. He was extremely solid in defense and looks like having a good season. Bewick also continued his good form kicking another three goals. This game was another case of Essendon coming from behind to win in dramatic fashion (of course we all remember when we came back from 8 goals down just after three quarter time against Melbourne a few years ago, don't we? I'm sure Melbourne does!).

Standing after Round 3:

Our win wasn't as big as some (eg. what Carlton did to Footscray - 98 points!) but we still hold onto third place, with a fairly good percentage. There are five teams left unbeaten now, and things are starting to take shape. The ladders is as follows:

--------------P-W-L-D-For-Agst--%---Pts
CARLTON.......3 3 - - 378 182 207.7 12
WEST COAST....3 3 - - 292 194 150.5 12
ESSENDON......3 3 - - 301 202 149.0 12
RICHMOND......3 3 - - 225 188 119.7 12
GEELONG.......3 3 - - 289 243 118.9 12
BRISBANE......3 2 1 - 300 325  92.3  8
NORTH MELB....3 2 1 - 228 254  89.8  8
FOOTSCRAY.....3 2 1 - 257 314  81.9  8
Adelaide......3 1 2 - 267 231 115.6  4
Hawthorn......3 1 2 - 232 205 113.2  4
Fremantle.....3 1 2 - 288 259 111.2  4
Sydney........3 - 3 - 259 286  90.6  -
Melbourne.....3 - 3 - 242 291  83.2  -
Collingwood...3 - 3 - 237 297  79.8  -
St Kilda......3 - 3 - 170 308  55.2  -
Fitzroy.......3 - 3 - 172 358  48.0  -

Next Week:

A BIG game next week, Collingwood at the MCG. Assuming fine weather, the crowd will be enormous, and even though Collingwood haven't won a game yet, they pushed the Eagles, and they always fire up to play against us. This game will be huge, but of course the Dons will come out triumpant.

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