Essendon chalked up its third successive victory this afternoon, scoring a nail-biting four-point win over Fremantle at Subiaco Oval. The win follows victories over Carlton and West Coast and leaves the Bombers two games outside the final eight.
 
This was a game that was always going to have plenty of feeling given the Dockers are coached by former Essendon champion Mark Harvey. It was also Mark Johnson’s 200th game – 194 of which were played in the red and black.

The Bombers looked home when they opened up a 24-point lead midway through the final quarter but the Dockers kept coming in a gripping final 10 minutes.

Aaron Sandilands was a colossus for Fremantle, particularly in the second half, and in combination with Matthew Pavlich looked like taking the game away from Essendon in the final quarter.
 
However the Bombers withstood the final Fremantle surge to score a deserved win.

Mark McVeigh and Jobe Watson collected 36 possessions to be among the stars for the winners but it was arguably Leroy Jetta that was the difference between the two sides. Jetta’s brilliance across half-forward created numerous goals for his side.

“I would like to get him fit enough to push him up to a wing but Leroy was a real contributor for us across half forward and set some goals up,” Essendon coach Matthew Knights said after the game.

“I thought Jobe got his hands on the footy. Jobe is a great character and a lot of young players look up to him. He is a part of our leadership group and today he showed us why.”

Knights acknowledged the influence of Sandilands and the difficulties created by losing Fletcher late in the second quarter.

“All we asked David (Hille) to do was give us a contest and try and give us a bit more around the ground and I thought he did that,” Knights said.

“We were committed to playing Fletcher on Pavlich all day but Ryder was the obvious choice when we lost Fletcher. Paddy is light framed and we have probably asked a bit too much of him at times this season. He is a prodigious talent and we have a lot of faith in him.”

The first quarter was evenly contested with damp conditions underfoot making it difficult for players of both sides. It was the Bombers who broke the deadlock courtesy of a McVeigh snap but Chris Mayne replied shortly afterwards.

Jetta was lively across forward and he set up the Bombers second goal when he got the football to Adam Ramanuskas. Jetta again was instrumental when he kicked long to the top of the goal square shortly afterwards where Matthew Lloyd marked and goaled.

Fremantle came out of the blocks flying in the second quarter and soon opened up a 20-point lead. Essendon looked rattled and was making life difficult for itself by continually giving away soft free kicks.

But the Bombers worked themselves back into the contest in the final 10 minutes of the quarter with three quick. Two of them came from the in-form Hille – one courtesy of a snap shot out of a ruck contest. The other a set shot from 50m.

Fremantle hade injury problems but Essendon did as well and at half-time were left to find a match up for Pavlich after Fletcher left the ground with a broken hand.

Essendon kicked an early goal in the third quarter but the match soon became an arm wrestle. With both sides looking for a spark it was Jetta that stood up. Jetta was superb in the final five minutes of the third quarter. The Bombers kicked three quick goals and Jetta was involved in all of them. Essendon had an 18-point break going into the final quarter.

The final quarter was an epic. Essendon stretched their lead to 24 points and looked to be full of running. However the home side refused to lie down and Pavlich was proving a handful for Ryder.

A goal to Chris Tarrant – who had largely been well held by Nathan Lovett-Murray – drew Fremantle to within four points with one minute to play. But the Bombers held firm in the desperate final seconds to score a confidence-building win.