Occasionally football teams have those days where nothing goes right. Where they just don’t give a yelp and are seemingly helpless to turn things around. There was a prime example of such a day in Round 4, 1999 when Essendon managed just three goals against the West Coast Eagles. And in terms of disastrous performances, Essendon’s Round 7 loss to Richmond this season ranks right up there. This weekend provides them with the chance to set the record straight.
Essendon had an absolute shocker in Round 7. It was 16 minutes into the second quarter before the Bombers kicked their first goal of the game. They managed just four more for the game and went down by 42 points. The loss came hot on the heels of Essendon’s loss to Fremantle. The trip back from Perth has proved a problem for most sides this season – perhaps it went some way to explaining Essendon’s performance.
Essendon was also without Dustin Fletcher, Dean Rioli, Adam Ramanauskas and Damian Cupido. Marc Bullen – this week’s National Rising Star nominee was still in the VFL side. But Richmond also had his share of injury problems with Brad Ottens and Matthew Richardson missing among others. So on balance there was little or no excuse for what the Bombers served up that day. But good sides put that behind them and a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since that day.
Essendon has won eight of its past 12 matches and is sitting in eighth place. Richmond has won just two games since defeating Essendon and is now out of finals’ contention. What can we read into all this? Richmond is well and truly capable of beating Essendon but are they in good enough form to do just that. All will be revealed on Sunday.
Richmond has players who can dominate games. Greg Stafford and Brad Ottens can do that in the ruck and make life difficult when they push forward. Matthew Richardson is nigh on unstoppable up forward when he is in form – his kicking is often the key to whether he has an impact. At ground level Andrew Krakouer (who kicked five against Essendon last time) and David Rodan can do a job.
The Tiger midfield relies heavily on Greg Tivendale, Kane Johnson and Mark Coughlan. Coughlan in particular has been sensational this season and would be favorite to win Richmond’s best and fairest. He is a star in the making. Tivendale hurts opposition sides when he gets the football and he kicks goals.
The return of Dean Rioli is a bonus for Essendon – he adds significantly to the midfield and is a genuine goal kicker when he goes forward. His creativity will also be important, as there would seem little doubt Richmond will try to close this game up and make it a tight contest. Rioli can make things happen in close.
Importantly, Essendon’s marquee players have been in good form in recent weeks and much will depend on what they can produce in the next month and hopefully beyond. James Hird, Dustin Fletcher and Matthew Lloyd have really stood tall and led the way along with Scott Lucas who has been sensational at centre half back.
This will be a tough in and under game – the sort of football that the likes of Mark Johnson, Jason Johnson and Dean Solomon thrive on. The Bombers will look to this trio along with Marc Bullen and Damien Peverill to set the tone early as they did last week. Essendon still has to make the final eight and most supporters would be taking little notice of the “sleeping giant awakens” talk. The Bombers have worked too hard to get into the situation where its destiny is in it own hands to start getting head of itself.
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