In the excitement of Essendon’s nine-goal final term on Saturday, James Polkinghorne urged his younger teammates to soak up the pulsating atmosphere.
As the ‘We Are Essendon’ chant reverberated around North Port Oval, Polkinghorne rushed to the likes of first year players Mason Redman and Aaron Francis.
“The crowd was unreal,” Polkinghorne said.
“It’s always really good coming to Port Melbourne and play in finals, it’s a sensational atmosphere.
“I made an effort to say to Mason and ‘Franga’ in the last quarter to really enjoy this moment because they don’t come around too often playing this style of footy.
“In front of crowds and atmospheres like this you can really become a good player.”
Polkinghorne finished with four goals, 22 disposals, five tackles, five inside 50’s and one rebound 50.
The 27 year-old said he was just able to finish off the work of his teammates further up the ground.
“I can’t take the credit away from the boys up the field doing all the hard work getting it down to me,” he said.
“It was a super effort from the guys. When Geelong had a run on, they were looking real strong but we gritted our teeth and kept fighting and it really paid off.
“Over the last month we have been working as a team building that unity and now we have got some real belief on the end of that.”
In what seemed a flashback to last year’s finals series, Polkinghorne’s move forward in the second half paid dividends with two goals in each of the third and fourth quarters.
“The message was just go forward, be dangerous and work with the other forwards and we did that,” he said.
“We were blocking for each other and were sharp with our ball movement and got some goals on the board.
“There were a few sloppy things going on that were costing us, but we knew if we cleaned them up we’d be alright.”
Geelong’s lead grew to 22 points early in the final term and, not for the first time this season, the Bombers came charging home to snatch the win.
“There is a never say die attitude in this team,” Polkinghorne said.
“We kept fighting, got closer and closer until we got some real ascendency and won the match.”
The Bombers will return to North Port Oval this Sunday to take on Footscray from 2.40pm. The match will be broadcast on Channel 7.
