There are a few sighs of relief in the Essendon camp, after a tough win at Optus Stadium against a vastly improved West Coast outfit.
The Eagles jumped Essendon, and rode a massive first quarter from Jake Waterman to sit 20 points up against the visitor, but a recalibration and a change in the way they attacked the contest brought the Bombers back into the game.
From there, it was a real arm-wrestle. The pressure was high, the mistakes came thick and fast, and each quarter seemed to belong to one or two players.
The first belonged to Waterman, Peter Wright stamped his claim on the contest in the second, then it was Archie Perkins dragging Jeremy McGovern to the goalsquare and slotting two vital goals in the third. And it all came down to the final quarter.
The Bombers looked to have sealed the deal, as Two-Metre-Peter slotted his sixth of the game, but back-to-back goals from Elijah Hewett (oh, we’ll be talking about him!) and Jack Williams cut the lead to just two points.
From there, it was one of the more intelligent clearances you’ll ever see from Sam Durham to kill the clock and secure the game for the Bombers.
I’ve been thinking about which format to use for this review, and I am stuck. There was so much going on, and so much to cover as the game unfolded. This may end up being a word salad, or it might be the best I’ve ever written.
My guess is, it’ll land somewhere in between.
Let’s see how this goes.
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