This was published 11 months ago
That’s all we have for your live blog tonight.
We will be back with a special AFL Sunday blog tomorrow afternoon as we go through the last three games of Gather Round, including the blockbuster clash under lights between Hawthorn and Port Adelaide.
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Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says he is the man to lead the Demons to a turnaround in form, and he’s confident that turnaround isn’t too far away.
Goodwin said his side wasn’t good enough for long enough at present, but he took confidence from the third quarter where his side scored five goals to three against the Bombers, despite now being able to complete their comeback with a win.
When asked if he was the man to lead the Demons moving forward, Goodwin was certain in his response.
Bombers coach Brad Scott fears ruckman Nick Bryan has injured his ACL, but says the young big man will need scans to confirm the damage.
“[It’s] unfortunately a suspected ACL at this stage,” Scott admitted in the post-match.
Bryan left the ground in the first half of the win over Melbourne and finished the match on crutches with his knee in a sleeve.
Bombers coach Brad Scott has paid tribute to his side’s last line of defence following their win over Melbourne tonight.
Scott said the work of Zach Reid, Jordan Ridley and Ben McKay was crucial to the win, especially when the Demons were dominating at centre bounces.
“Tonight we were on for most of the game, Melbourne challenged us in the third quarter, but we showed good character to go back again,” Scott said.
“It was led by our back six or seven, especially our three last-line defenders – McKay, Reid and Ridley. They’ve only played a handful of games together.
“We were convincingly beaten at centre bounce, and that can put your defence under significant pressure, but they only scored one point from centre bounces and that was largely due to our last-line defenders.”
Melbourne skipper Max Gawn says his club is “off”, “flat” and “not where they want to be” as they hit a 0-5 start to 2025.
“The game has changed a tiny bit, but I still think dominating clearance matters,” Gawn told Fox Footy.
“In games we have lost clearance, we have lost and games we have won clearances, we have won.
“All the talk this week was about tiding up our inside 50s.
Dons ruckman Sam Draper won’t put a ceiling on what his young side can do.
The young Bombers will continue to chase wins and Draper won’t have any talk about rebuilding or developing, he wants wins now.
“We feel like we can cause some damage as a team,” Draper told Fox Footy.
“We are really young but we are really exciting and there is no ceiling on what we can do.”
Draper also said his manager would begin contract talks with the Dons.
“It’s in progress now and my manager will speak to the club in a few weeks and we will see what happens from that but I’m really happy with this win,” Draper told Fox Footy.
Both Jye Menzie and Zach Merrett praised Essendon’s focus on team play as a key factor in their win over Melbourne tonight.
Menzie kicked a career-best four goals but said they all came from the work of his teammates.
“It felt good. It’s based off the team, they got me a lot of the goals. We did a lot of work as a team and it paid off in front of goals,” Menzie told Fox Footy.
“Tackle, pressure, run my patterns and play a typical half-forward role.”
Merrett, who had 37 disposals, said team defence remained a big area to improve for his side.
“All the boys are trying to buy in and get better at team defence and the last two weeks have been a good example of that,” Merrett told Fox Footy.
Essendon were too fast, too alert and too potent as they condemned Melbourne to another loss and scored a memorable win in front of more than 45,000 fans at Adelaide Oval.
The Dons are still a work in progress. but they made the Demons look a team of the past by using the ball smartly, running hard for each other, and backing young guns like Jye Menzie, Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako in to play their games.
Menzie kicked his fourth goal on the siren just to make sure of the win.
Melbourne have started a season 0-5 for the first time since 2012 and 2021 premiership coach Simon Goodwin’s tenure as Melbourne coach has to be under pressure, despite being contracted until 2026. The team have managed just under 10 goals again, and their top score for the season is just 74.