Essendon’s fighting win after week of scrutiny; Libba says he’s fine after fall

ESSENDON 15.6 (96) d WESTERN BULLDOGS 9.13 (67)

A Bombers blueprint, a calamity for the Dogs

Essendon can’t have had few more meritorious recent wins. Smashed by Port Adelaide last week, reduced again by injury, under the cosh at times in the first half by a Western Bulldogs side that should be better than they are, the Bombers might easily have excused themselves another defeat here. Instead, they applied themselves doubly, chafed away at the notionally superior Dogs who at length fell apart. Narrow leaders at three-quarter time, the Bombers booted the first five goals of the last quarter to win by a convincing margin. The standard throughout was sloppy, courtesy of a mystifyingly slippery Marvel Stadium surface, and the footy was labour-intensive, but for the Bombers, hard work was its own reward. They have a blueprint. For the Dogs, this was a calamity. Their vaunted midfield was thrashed, Marcus Bontempelli had only five touches after half-time and the Dogs kicked two miserable goals in the second half. It was the sort of defeat that often gives rise to a crisis.

The surface, the reviews

The Marvel Stadium surface was unaccountably slippery. Yes, winter is here, and yes, there’s been plenty of rain, but strong rumour has it that this stadium has a roof and that it was closed. Whatever the cause, it had a deleterious effect on the match, as players regularly lost their feet and with it their timing and their fluency. It’s 2024 and this shouldn’t be an issue. Last week, it was all about score reviews. During the week, there was a review of the reviews. At least, the AFL made known its view about reviews, which is that goal umpires should err on the side of reviewing too often than too little. The outcome? This night, there were only two reviews in the live portion of the match, both completed quickly and affirming the goal umpire’s judgement, before a late, long contemplation of a Sam Darcy toe-poke. The game was negligibly disrupted.

The Naughton question

The Aaron Naughton question remains live. He kicked the Bulldogs’ first goal of the match, but his other was in junk time, and he has six only in five games. He worked far upfield, as per his new brief, but made little impact. Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Darcy looked constantly threatening, though less productive than they might have been, which leaves Naughton … where? Which is where we began.

KEY STATS

Thanks so much for joining us this evening everyone.

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Bye for now.

“C’mon Ronny. You know better than that,” Beveridge responded when asked by former Age reporter Ronny Lerner if there was any consideration in moving Aaron Naughton into defence.

When asked about the partnership between his forwards Naughton, Sam Darcy and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Beveridge said a lot of it came down to supply.

“I think it is OK if we get the supply but unfortunately tonight, it was not just about our keys [key forwards] as I felt like we missed some influence from others down there as well,” Beveridge said.

“Sam is now more ready to play at the level but the objective tonight was to play him for longer periods. That is something that was different for us and we knew it would be a challenge for our boys against their ruck combination tonight. There are things that will continue to improve. We have scored, on average, more than 100 points a game before this one. That was encouraging and we need to remember that.”

Beveridge added that his club was looking to give some younger players opportunities this season but it wasn’t for the future, it was because they think those younger players can help them win games later in the season.

ESSENDON 15.6 (96) d WESTERN BULLDOGS 9.13 (67)

A Bombers blueprint, a calamity for the Dogs

Essendon can’t have had few more meritorious recent wins. Smashed by Port Adelaide last week, reduced again by injury, under the cosh at times in the first half by a Western Bulldogs side that should be better than they are, the Bombers might easily have excused themselves another defeat here. Instead, they applied themselves doubly, chafed away at the notionally superior Dogs who at length fell apart. Narrow leaders at three-quarter time, the Bombers booted the first five goals of the last quarter to win by a convincing margin. The standard throughout was sloppy, courtesy of a mystifyingly slippery Marvel Stadium surface, and the footy was labour-intensive, but for the Bombers, hard work was its own reward. They have a blueprint. For the Dogs, this was a calamity. Their vaunted midfield was thrashed, Marcus Bontempelli had only five touches after half-time and the Dogs kicked two miserable goals in the second half. It was the sort of defeat that often gives rise to a crisis.

The surface, the reviews

The Marvel Stadium surface was unaccountably slippery. Yes, winter is here, and yes, there’s been plenty of rain, but strong rumour has it that this stadium has a roof and that it was closed. Whatever the cause, it had a deleterious effect on the match, as players regularly lost their feet and with it their timing and their fluency. It’s 2024 and this shouldn’t be an issue. Last week, it was all about score reviews. During the week, there was a review of the reviews. At least, the AFL made known its view about reviews, which is that goal umpires should err on the side of reviewing too often than too little. The outcome? This night, there were only two reviews in the live portion of the match, both completed quickly and affirming the goal umpire’s judgement, before a late, long contemplation of a Sam Darcy toe-poke. The game was negligibly disrupted.

The Naughton question

The Aaron Naughton question remains live. He kicked the Bulldogs’ first goal of the match, but his other was in junk time, and he has six only in five games. He worked far upfield, as per his new brief, but made little impact. Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Darcy looked constantly threatening, though less productive than they might have been, which leaves Naughton … where? Which is where we began.

KEY STATS

The Bombers have scored a memorable win and raised some serious questions about the prospects of the Western Bulldogs this season after a 29-point win.

Sam Durham, Zach Merrett and Xaiver Duursma were among many winners for the Dons who score the win in front of the first 50,000 strong crowd between the two clubs since 2013.