The intra club match consisted of 15-minute quarters with 16-a-side and the new Wizard Cup rules were trialed. And it was a combination of young talent, new recruits and old favourites that were standouts at today's game. James Hird got off to a flying start and had a hand in his sides first two goals. The skipper was rested in the second half.
On his old stamping ground, Justin Murphy dominated through the mid-field. He moved well and showed what a handy addition he will be to the Bombers’ mid-field. Murphy’s penetrating kick was useful in moving the ball forward and he kicked one long goal on the run from 60m out. ""Murphy would know every nook and cranny around this ground. He is a good player and has great ball winning ability. I have often said there are not a lot of stats between him and Blake Caracella over the last four years and Caracella was playing in a fairly good Essendon side and now a very, very good side. Those sorts of players finish off for you,"" Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy said.
Dustin Fletcher and Matthew Lloyd had an interesting tussle in the first half. The All-Australian match-up finished even, but Fletcher did keep the triple Coleman Medallist to one goal in the first half. Lloyd was rested in the second half and Fletcher enjoyed a stint up forward. Mark Bolton and Scott Lucas fought it out for most of the day. Bolton was a strong marking target at centre half forward and got the better of the duel. Bolton finished with two goals for the day and indicated that he has what it takes to hold down the key forward position.
Rookie Andrew Lovett got plenty of the football and his electrifying pace is clearly an strong asset in his game. ""Andrew Lovett looked good – he read the ball well and is a slick kind of a player. He is a very fast player as well,"" Sheedy said.
Other standouts for the game were Adam McPhee at fullback. The 21-year-old was solid all game and rebounded well out of defence. Youngster Tristan Cartledge also impressed in the ruck. He got first hands on the ball and held his own against the more experienced David Hille. ""Cartledge looked good today. He is only 18, but if he can become another David Hille we will be very happy with that,"" Sheedy said.
Matthew Allan missed the match with a minor hamstring injury, as did Aaron Henneman and Joel Reynolds. Mark McVeigh (ankle surgery), Damian Cupido (knee surgery) and Ben Haynes (stress reaction) watched from the sidelines. Mark Alvey was on the other side of the fence today when he was a boundary umpire. The new recruit is close to full training after returning from a knee reconstruction last season. Dean Rioli was the other notable absentee from the match. He missed with a slight buttock strain.
Essendon will play Sydney in an Exhibition match this Saturday at North Sydney oval and then head to Darwin the following week for Round 1 of the Wizard Cup. The Bombers take on Fremantle at Marrara Oval and Sheedy said his side is keen to do well in the pre-season competition. ""We are in a better position than what we have been in the last couple of years. We have had a lot of players coming off operations and we have had a lot of new players come in over the past few years, which makes it hard to do well in the Wizard Cup.
""You are always keen to win it but over the past couple of years we have been in a difficult situation when over 10 players had post season operations. Last year when we went to Canberra we had to pick the kids because that is all we had left,"" Sheedy said.
