Essendon held the Bulldogs goalless for a quarter. Was it reason for hope?
There was a rare glimmer of light for Essendon in the positive hour at Marvel Stadium on Sunday in what looked like another miserable night.
Brad Scott’s winless Bombers managed a solitary goal in two quarters in a disastrous opening two quarters and trailed the unbeaten Western Bulldogs by 54 points. They appeared to be heading for a triple-digit hiding after losing by 91 and 93 points against the same opponent last year.
Instead Essendon put up a belated fightback to avoid some embarrassment. But there were some unknowns, even confusion, on both sides about what they saw in a game of wildly contrasting halves.
“It’s obviously disappointing to start the way we did and you wish we could do as well in the first half as we did in the second half,” Bombers captain Andy McGrath told this imprint.
“But when you’re in those situations, you look at the character of the guys and see how they react. “I was really proud of the group and how they responded in the second half. [because] “It would have been easy to cave in to the pressure from the Bulldogs and let them play the way they wanted.”
Essendon attacked through the middle on the restart and Kyle Langford set up Tom Edwards, playing his first AFL game since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament rupture a year ago, for a goal in the first minute of the second half.
That moment set the tone for a much better quarter. They continued to keep the high-octane Dogs goalless this term (seven from behind) and set up four majors of their own.
While the Bombers’ intent appeared to be different – former captain Zach Merrett went from zero tackles at half-time to finish with a match-high seven – they did a much better job of denying the Bulldogs ball movement and even mounted some flickering counter-attacks along the lane.
The Dogs helped Essendon’s cause with desultory kicks, but the lead was back to a more respectable 35 at three quarters and 34 at the final siren.
You read that right: the Bombers won both of the last two quarters, but still suffered a club-record 17th consecutive defeat.
Scott said of the streak: “It’s an indisputable fact. Nobody puts an asterisk next to the number and says, ‘You can’t really field a team in 90 percent of these games.'”
“Nobody cares about that, and neither do I. It’s just one of those realities that you have to deal with, and it can be potentially demoralizing, but we’re fighting against it, and that’s the challenge we all face.”
It remains to be seen whether Essendon’s mini-revolt in the second half – against the only team yet to lose this season – made any sense, or whether it owed more to sloppy and possibly complacent action on the part of the Bulldogs.
The Bombers’ cheering squad looked genuinely optimistic and found their voice in the third quarter and much of the second half, clearly showing how resilient they were.
The once mighty club has been struggling for far too long and the injury-ravaged roster still looks far from being a competitive team, even if all its good players are healthy.
But there was a positive development in Edwards’ comeback game. There are reasons to be optimistic about key forward Archer May, who emerged in last year’s midseason draft. Isaac Kako had opportunities to jump from extra center at the end of the half and showed some glimpses.
Top 10 draft pick Jacob Farrow made 21 disposals in his second game at 90 per cent efficiency, while Archie Roberts (37 disposals) continues to look like a building block for the future.
Next up is a resurgent Melbourne; followed by a trip to the Gold Coast to face the Suns; Anzac Day showdown with Collingwood; a home game against back-to-back winners Brisbane; a trip to Sydney to face the Giants; and an MCG date with a furious Fremantle.
The Bombers will be underdogs in all of these matchups before facing Richmond on May 22; tonight may offer them their best chance of avoiding going a year without a victory.
The aptly named “Dreamtime at the ‘G” match against the Tigers, who are also winless this season, could take on more meaning for Scott and Essendon, whose last win was against Richmond in the corresponding encounter on May 23, 2025.
The Tigers avenged that result less than two months later in a sloppy and forgettable game that looked more like a high-scoring NFL game (46-37) than an AFL.
Another nine months later and Essendon are facing a difficult season and this has already been effectively overcome. But Scott refuses to think that way as he prepares to welcome back the likes of Jordan Ridley, Brayden Fiorini, Nate Caddy and young gun Dyson Sharp from injury.
“We’re 0-4. When you look at history you can see a lot of sides have started this way or worse and gone on to finals,” Scott said.
“We’re nowhere near starting [say]’Finals can’t be reached’ or something like that – but we’re not focused on those things anyway. We are focused on the continuous development of our players.
“What will look like a successful season is if we continue to build a playing group that can play a consistent, four-quarter style of football. [we want to play].”
