The Demons are officially in hell, with the team now resigned to a 0 and 5 start to the season. This was probably the Demons’ best chance to win, lining up against a fellow struggling team in Essendon, who were coming off their second bye to start the season.
Before Round Five, Melbourne had lost all their opening games, falling just short of Greater Western Sydney in Round One, before suffering surprising back-to-back losses against North Melbourne and Gold Coast. Melbourne again turned in another respectable performance against Geelong at GMHBA Stadium, heading into this game, but the heat was on them. You could feel it all week.
The Bombers have had an interrupted start to their season after their Opening Round game against the Gold Coast Suns was postponed due to the threat of Cyclone Alfred. Then the Bombers would earn their second “bye” in Round Three, putting them almost two games behind the rest of the competition. However, outside of their byes, Essendon’s form had also been uneven, losing to Hawthorn, getting smashed by the Crows, but beating Port Adelaide just before the bye to regain a semblance of hope for their season.
Let’s jump into a few talking points from this game.
Jumper Clash seemed to be a factor early.
It’s hard to say for sure, but the start of the game was plagued by players passing to opponents rather than their teammates under not much pressure. This might be partially explained by the poor football that both of these sides have served up so far this season, but it could be the fact that both teams were wearing predominantly red jumpers.
Not to delve too far into football fashion, but the Dons wore their red-jumper-with-a-black-sash tops, while the Demons were in their blue top with the large red demon on the chest.
Is it that hard to wear something that distinguishes one team from another? Who ticks this stuff off?
Anyway, this seemed to disappear early in the first quarter as the players settled into the game. So maybe the jumper clash wasn’t the issue and both teams were playing terrible football.
May-day, May-day!
Melbourne’s defence seems to rely heavily on the impact of star defender Steven May. Since crossing over to the Demons from the Gold Coast, Melbourne has looked far steadier when he was on the ground. So when he hobbled off the ground in the first quarter after pulling up lame, lots of Melbourne supporters would have been very worried.
The defender hobbled off the ground but eventually returned to the game in the second quarter and played out the game. Meanwhile, Essendon suffered an early injury themselves, with young ruckman Nick Bryan suffering a knee injury and being subsequently subbed out of the game.
May was involved in a heavy clash with young forward, Nate Caddy, that landed the youngster flat on his back. Bomber fans held their breath, but to Caddy’s credit, he demonstrated exactly the type of guts you want to see from your big forwards, as he got to his feet, regained his breath, and went on to win the next contest.
That’s your future, right there, Bomber fans. That’s the type of player you have in Nate Caddy.
Young Roo’s Struggle
Since the retirement of Ben Brown, Melbourne has been lacking a strong key forward. Bayley Fritsch takes up a part of the responsibility to fill that void, but he isn’t consistent enough to occupy a number one defender and help the team kick a match-winning score. Melbourne may have believed that they had found a saviour in young Jacob Van Rooyen in 2021.
In his first two seasons at the club, Van Rooyen averaged 1.4 goals and ten possessions, but the young star has fallen off the pace so far in 2025. Over the first five games, Van Rooyen has failed to kick multiple goals and was even held goalless against Essendon, taking his average below one goal a game to start the season. Van Rooyen also had only seven possessions for the game.
This follows an equally poor performance against Geelong last week, where he struggled to take a mark despite several opportunities. This poor run of form could spell trouble for the young forward, but it doesn’t seem like Melbourne has much depth in key forwards to replace him with.
Spark-a-plenty for the Bombers
Heading into this season, the two forwards for the Bombers who received the most excitement were undoubtedly Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako. While Kako was held goalless for the second game in a row, Caddy was held to two. The Bombers found a new way to the goal via Jye Menzie.
Menzie, who Essendon drafted via the 2022 midseason draft, before missing the second half of the 2024 season due to a shoulder injury, was the standout up forward. He returned as the sub against Adelaide in Round One, before being elevated to the full team in Round Three. However, his third game of the season saw Menzie turn in a match-winning performance. He ended up with four goals from 15 possessions, and was a menace whenever the ball was in chaos.
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Underrated Engine Room
The league may be sleeping on Essendon’s engine room. The Bombers’ captain, Zach Merrett, continued to attract the ball with a 37-possession game. However, other midfielders have also stood up, including Dylan Shiel and Will Setterfield.
Shiel has now moved away from the half-back experiment, and looks like a man with a point to prove in the midfield.
The Bombers also have Sam Draper, who continues to be underrated by seemingly everyone apart from Bombers fans. Draper played a lone hand against arguably one of the best ruckmen in the game. While Max Gawn was able to pick up more ruck taps, the Bombers were +5 in overall clearance, with their mids sharking plenty of Gawn’s knocks. Gawn finished with 49 hit outs, but Draper was able to go with him every step of the way, equalling Gawn’s possession count, taking a hanger, and picking up his first 20/20 game of the season, with 22 touches and 26 hit outs.
Clinical Finishing
It looked like Melbourne had dragged itself back into the contest in the third quarter, reducing the gap between the two sides to just 10 points before Nic Martin kicked the final goal to extend the margin back out to 16 points before the final break.
Even though Melbourne appeared to carry all the momentum, it was Essendon who did most of the attacking in the last quarter, with the Bombers expanding the final margin out to a game high 39 points right before the final siren.
Mason Redman capped a big day out with a running goal, whilst Archie Perkins started to demonstrate the flair and hard work that Essendon supporters have been waiting for from him.
Essendon have the Eagles at Optus Stadium next week, and given current form lines, would be raging favourites to pick up another win. With their midfield clicking, they should be able to expose the underperforming Eagles, and allow their forwards plenty of looks against a defence that is populated by unproven key position talent.
As for the Dees, they host Freo at the MCG. They dropped this corresponding game in 2024 and will be desperate to right the wrongs that have plagued them to start the year.
