You cannot give an opponent a fast start. You just can’t. It puts your team behind the eight-ball and results in an uphill struggle for the remainder of the game. The Bombers learnt this the hard way, as the Blues got the jump, and it was enough to carry them to the win at the MCG.
After a one-sided first quarter, Essendon slowly clawed itself back into the contest before running out of time at the end. The Blues were dominant in the first quarter, kicking six goals to one. Adam Saad, Charlie Curnow, Jesse Motlop, and Mitch McGovern all kicked goals before Essendon finally got their first on the board with 21 minutes of the quarter already gone.
Carlton then continued to pile on goals, and the lead blew out to a game-high 38 points for the Blues before Essendon started to play themselves into the game. The Bombers scored consecutive goals midway through the second quarter, and Peter Wright added a goal on the half-time siren to bring the margin back to a more manageable 28 points.
Essendon continued to reel in the Blues, kicking four goals to one in the third quarter as it looked like the Blues would drop another game after their opponents ran over the top of them. All of a sudden, the Essendon midfield began dominating their supposedly star-studded Carlton counterparts. Carlton captain and two-time Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps had a particularly dour game, as he was held to just 15 touches for the game at 53 per cent.
However, Carlton held their nerves in the last quarter, holding out against a valiant Essendon outfit even though the Bombers kicked the final three goals of the game. It wasn’t like Carlton didn’t have their chance to ice the game, with Blake Acres missing multiple shots at goal. Small forward Jesse Motlop also could have iced the game, choosing to take a set shot from roughly 20 metres out on a marginal angle instead of running into a relatively open goal.
In the end, the Blues held on, taking valuable seconds off the clock by chipping the ball around in after Essendon had reduced the margin back to a single goal with almost seven minutes remaining in the game.
Return of the tagger
The tagger returned in force in the clash between Essendon and Carlton. The Bombers chose to hand former Carlton player Will Setterfield the task of minding Patrick Cripps for the entire game. As previously mentioned, Cripps was well held during the contest by his former teammate, managing only 15 possessions for the game, his lowest tally for the season.
Carlton also deployed their tagger, Alex Cincotta, who spent the game standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Essendon’s captain Zach Merrett. Like Setterfield, Cincotta also managed to nullify Merrett, holding him to his lowest disposal count of just 14, and restricting him to no goals and just one score involvement. Cincotta has been a revelation as a tagger since adopting the shutdown role, and the Blues would be happy to have him back in the team after coming back from an injury.
Debutants
Both teams rolled out debutants for this game, with Essendon playing Luamon Lual and Carlton bringing in Hudson O’Keefe as a late replacement for Harry McKay, after McKay couldn’t get through the team’s final training session due to a knee injury. McKay’s brother, who now plays for the Bombers, also missed the game due to a foot injury.
Lual, who came to Australia from South Sudan as a refugee with his family, kicked his first goal with his first kick in AFL football, joining an elite club of players. Unfortunately, this was his only highlight as he had only 11 touches for the game.
Despite multiple opportunities, O’Keefe failed to kick a goal in his debut but was primarily used as relief for Carlton ruckman Tom de Koning during the game. In his first game of AFL football, O’Keefe predominantly rucked against Peter Wright and managed to split most of the taps.
Another off night for Weitering
For the majority of his AFL career, Jacob Weitering has been a central cog in Carlton’s defence, and the team’s biggest issue has been that they don’t have a partner for Weitering to help him out. This season, Carlton brought in GWS veteran Nick Haynes and swung Jack Silvagni into the backline to support Weitering. After a slow start, Haynes has found his feet at Carlton and is quickly rising in the estimation of fans who may have been impatient with Haynes after his first few weeks, this author included.
Silvagni has also been a godsend down back, while not quite at the level of his father, JSOS has seemingly found his place in the team after largely being used as a foil for Carlton’s twin tower forwards.
However, while Haynes and Silvagni have stepped up, Weitering has seemingly lost a step, especially in the last few games. In his previous two games, Weitering’s opponents have kicked seven goals, while Weitering has only managed ten marks. At his best, Weitering smothered his opponents and is integral to Carlton’s intercepting defenders, but this has been missing over the last month.
Valiant Essendon falls just short
It must be exhausting for Essendon fans to watch their team fall short and hope for a brighter future. A few more results that go this way and the Bombers may again miss out on finals, extending their drought another season.
However, it wasn’t as if the Bombers didn’t have bright sparks during the game. Nate Caddy continues to be an excitement machine, producing several highlights during the game despite failing to kick a goal. Isaac Kako also had a quiet night but continues to show promise. Kako could have had an easy goal in the game, but instead chose to shepherd Jade Gresham’s bouncing shot to tumble over the goal line.
It’s also important for brooding Bombers fans to remember that this side is missing several key players, including Nick Bryan, Nik Cox, Sam Draper, Harrison Jones, Saad El-Haawli, and Ben McKay. Talented midfielder Sam Durham may also be heading for a stint on the sidelines after a bump he laid on Adam Cerra.
Cerra managed to play the game out, but this will test the AFL’s penchant for penalising the outcome over the action. It could have been a lot worse, and it will be interesting to see how the Match Review Officer assesses this one.
The Month Ahead
Carlton is now fresh off the bye and remarkably only two games and three percentage points outside the top eight. Still, even the most optimistic of Carlton fans will tell you that it would take a minor miracle and a dramatic turn of form to see them make it from here. The Blues do have some fortune with their run home as they play West Coast and North Melbourne in their next two weeks for the second time in the season before facing off against Port Adelaide and rounding the month off against Collingwood.
Despite Adelaide Oval being an unhappy hunting ground for the Blues, winning three of those games is not out of the realms of possibility, but it would again take something of a miracle to see them beating Collingwood at this point.
The Bombers will face the Cats next week at the MCG before travelling to Perth to face off against Freo at Optus Stadium. Essendon will then get their third bye in Round 16 before facing the Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium to round out the month. If Essendon fails to win any of these games, it could be curtains for the 2025 season, even though they have an extra game in hand against most of the competition.
Given how easily that could occur, with only Fremantle’s unpredictable form and Gold Coast’s poor record at Marvel adding a glimmer of hope for Bombers fans to cling to in the next month. Who knows, maybe the Bombers can knock off the Cats and restart their march into September? Bombers fans can certainly hope so, but it remains doubtful.
