It was built up as Gold Coast’s most important game ever, and it’s understandable why.
It was the Suns’ chance to not only take out a top-four team, but also put themselves into the top 8 for the first time this season. For Essendon, the game didn’t have nearly as much riding on it, as win, lose or draw they would remain second on the ladder, but that didn’t mean they took it easy as a highly entertaining game was played out between the two sides.
The Bombers started the game with the upper hand but couldn’t make the most of their chances. They kicked three behinds before notching their first goal and couldn’t get many clean forward 50 entries despite having more possession. Gold Coast struggled to get many clean passages of play, but were able to stay in touch and dragged the game closer to even terms by the end of the quarter.
The second term was almost a mirror image of the first, with Gold Coast this time taking control of the momentum but unable to capitalise. It was clear that stopping Essendon’s run out of the backline was highlighted at the break, as the Suns put a stop to the visitors’ handball chains and started forcing them to kick long. The result saw the ball spending more time in Gold Coast’s forward half, but they only managed a couple of goals on the board before Essendon started hitting back. However, they, too, couldn’t find the goals and at half-time the game was anyone’s to win with an eight-point margin the Sun’s way.
Signs were ominous early for Essendon after the main break, as Gold Coast appeared to be ready to put the game to bed. They stepped it up a notch with their fast running out of the centre and kicked the first two goals of the quarter to move to a game-high 20 point margin. But once again, Essendon started clawing their way back. They flipped the pressure back on Gold Coast and started finding their own ways to rush the ball forward, however, couldn’t get the clean entries they needed, and missed valuable opportunities. Still, Gold Coast missed chances late to have a larger lead, as well, leaving the game wide open.
Going into the final term, it felt like whoever was going to win would be the team who took their opportunities in front of goal. And didn’t both teams know it, with just two combined behinds kicked for the term, one to each team. The pressure, which had been low all day, was rising with every minute as Essendon drew scores level with the first two goals before the teams went goal for goal in a ferocious first half to the quarter.
But when Gold Coast kicked back-to-back goals to get a little bit of breathing room, the pressure went back onto the Bombers, and they missed a crucial chance that then saw the ball whipped down the other end for another Gold Coast goal.
The Bombers refused to give up and once again were able to get the game under a goal but a holding-the-ball free followed by a 50 due to a brain fade when the ball was not passed straight back to Touk Miller saw the game put beyond reach, the Suns running out victors by 11 points.
Chinese checkers football
It’s one of those footy terms that’s become popular with commentators lately, but if you didn’t know what it meant all you had to do was watch this game.
Particularly in the first quarter, there was very little pressure applied by either side as the ball made its way through the middle of the ground. Players were able to situate themselves perfectly between defenders as the ball jumped over them repeatedly on its way into the 50, often through handball chains.
In the second quarter, this had clearly been identified as something Damien Hardwick wanted to stop, as Gold Coast prevented Essendon from starting their exit chains and forced long kicks down the line. This was short lived, however, as throughout the match, when Essendon dragged themselves back into the game it was accompanied by a return in the checkers style play. Similarly, when Gold Coast were well on top they were able to chip the ball over Essendon defenders’ heads into position.
It’s not surprising the number of uncontested possessions was around double the number of contested possessions throughout the match. The pressure ratings for both teams also were around the average rating for much of the game too.
Guven that info, was really surprising that…
… the majority of scores came from turnovers
At the start of the third quarter, all of Gold Coast’s scores (52 points) had come from turnovers, while for Essendon all but four of their behinds had also been scored this way. In fact it took until midway through the final term before Gold Coast kicked their first goal a result of a stoppage clearance.
The two teams had the highest numbers of turnovers this weekend, 77 for Gold Coast and 76 for Essendon.
These numbers don’t seem to add up but it was interesting to watch how the two teams went about this. They both seemed happy to let the play come down towards their half-back lines where they could set up best for a slingshot play, and relied heavily on their defenders, Sam Flanders and Mac Andrew for Gold Coast, and Nic Martin and Jordan Ridley for Essendon.
That’s not to say there was no defence at all between the arcs but both teams looked at their most dangerous when they were able to run with plenty of speed out of half-back.
Where the difference was
When it came down to it, Essendon just weren’t as consistent as Gold Coast when the ball got into the defensive 50. A few too many times, Gold Coast had players completely on their own to target and with Ben King and milestone man Ben Long on song with four goals each, it proved to be too much for the Essendon defenders to stop.
At the opposite end of the ground, Essendon also wasted more of their shots on goal and had kicked 6.13 to three quarter time. They had to fight for every shot at goal and many times, particularly in the second and third terms, they were pushed wider than they would have liked to take their shots. Nik Cox was their only multiple goal scorer with two, and with Stringer missing all three of his shots, one of them a crucial fourth quarter miss out on the full. It was the only thing that really separated the two sides at the end of the day.
Rowell roaring back
Matt Rowell was back to his clearance best this week after a quiet game last week. He had already done better by half-time this week for clearances, with three, and was on track to rack up more than the 15 disposals he had against Carlton. His influence in the final term was crucial when the game was on the line and he was able to spread himself across the middle of the park. He finished the day with a game-high equal eight clearances, 26 disposals, nine score involvements and 11 tackles.
He was second only to Noah Anderson who also had eight clearances and led the day for fantasy points with 118 thanks to his 33 disposals, 17 of which were contested, five tackles, and three goal assists.
Zach Merrett did all he could to get Essendon over the line collecting 33 disposals, including ten in the third term alone, seven clearances, and seven score involvements. It was just his accuracy at goal that let him down with all three of his chances going through for behinds.
One to forget
Ben McKay did not have a good day. He was -1 fantasy points at halftime thanks to giving away three frees and only having two disposals. His end of game stats weren’t much better with eight disposals, two marks, and two tackles and he didn’t appear to give Ben King much trouble. His night was typified when, with a minute to go, his last kick of the match went straight to Long and really sealed the game for Gold Coast.
Not out of the woods yet
The new holding-the-ball interpretations have been largely welcomed by the AFL community but the rule isn’t quite figured out yet. Early on in this one, the umpires seemed to be paying frees consistently but later on in the game they seemed to put the whistle away. That is until Jye Caldwell was called holding despite neither Miller or Long being able to lay a solid tackle on him.
Common sense says this was the correct decision, despite the AFL usually calling this ‘knocked out’ and play on, yet this was not included in the announced changes. There may be a few more headaches to come yet with this rule but at least the AFL seems to be finally moving in the right direction.
One last thing
Gold Coast are starting to make People’s First Stadium a real fortress. They’re five from five there this season to go along with being two from two at TIO Stadium in Darwin. They still have problems on the road, but it’s still great progress for a team that’s looking to make themselves a contender in the near future. If they can win all four of their remaining games at home it will go a long way towards getting them an elusive first final.
Gold Coast will travel to Marvel Stadium next week to face off against the struggling St Kilda. This will be their best chance yet to get a win on the road, but St Kilda will be feeling revitalised after getting the win against the improving Eagles on their home deck. The Saints have also won both of their last two games at home against the Suns and will go in narrow favourites.
Essendon will be heading to the MCG where they will face Carlton coming off a big win against Port Adelaide. The last two games between these two have both been decided by around 30 points, with both teams taking one of the victories. It’s another tough game to tip, but with Essendon’s tendency to fall away later in seasons, Carlton are the favourites for the win.
