Insipid Essendon finds no answer to overcome Richmond Warwick Green
From: Herald Sun
August 25, 2012 ESSENDON coach James Hird put it bluntly after last week's 96-point loss to Carlton: ''The way these boys respond to a disappointing day is what's important to me,'' he said.
Within a few minutes against Richmond he had his answer.
Essendon lacked run, lacked urgency, lacked enthusiasm and lacked imagination.
It looked like a team of players desperate for the season to end and the beer to be cried in.
The theory is that the Bombers have been overcooked in their physical training, and accordingly are playing the flat football that comes with heavy legs.
You would hope that is the case, because the alternative is unfathomable: that their insipid efforts were the result of not having a crack.
Even so, concrete boots may have explained why Essendon was not running with the ball, and was not prepared to work hard without it, but it did not explain some of the other failings in the first half.
Like why Essendon was so feeble in its tackling attempts, often hanging out a token loose arm.
Why it persistently kicked in from full back to a contest between the ruckmen, even though the tactic was patently offering no return.
Why most of the team couldn't muster the enthusiasm to congratulate first-gamer Nick O'Brien when he kicked the first Essendon goal of the game with his first kick in AFL football, just five minutes into the match.
The signs were ominous from the outset.
By midway through the opening quarter, Richmond led the inside-50 count 12-3 and could easily have skipped away to a five-goal lead.
Only some poor kicking by the Tigers inside their forward 50 allowed Essendon to stay in touch.
In contrast, Richmond's strengths were its workrate and its energy, even though it largely lacked the polish to convert its dominance into a deserved 15-goal win.
And the man who epitomised the Tigers' workmanlike victory was Shane Tuck.
He contributed solidly in each of the four quarters, and favoured a no-nonsense approach, bombing the ball long into the forward line.
He managed a game-high 12 inside 50s.
Equally industrious was ruckman Ivan Maric, who just bullocked his way into every contest that came his way and brought the Tigers smaller men into the contest.
Bachar Houli was an important link man across half back, and Brett Deledio continued his evolution from rebounding defender to wide-roaming playmaker.
Apart from Hird's query about the Bombers' character, the other question that begged an answer last night was who would shine more brightly of Brownlow fancies Jobe Watson and Trent Cotchin.
Watson looked like a man fatigued by shouldering a team for weeks on end.
He scrapped his way through the match to earn a pass mark, but it was his quietest game of the year.
His 20 disposals were easily his lowest return of the year.
Cotchin, picked up by Dons stopper Heath Hocking, managed just two touches in the first term, but the longer the match wore on the more influential he became.
It was not one of his typically slashing displays, but his class and work-rate could not be contained.
One passage of play involving Cotchin in the third quarter was instructive.
After lunging to make a desperate tackle he jumped to his feet, ran on to receive a handball and then drilled a perfect 50-metre pass onto the chest of Jack Riewoldt.
Had he managed three goals instead of five behinds, the bookies would be locking in another three Brownlow votes.
The Dons discovered some run and urgency for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but once they drew to within three goals Richmond inevitably pulled away.
The final quarter could well have been abandoned under the mercy rule, with the teams managing a goal apiece.
For Richmond the match should have been evidence that it is an improving team about to match it with the teams in the top half.
Yet it was as unconvincing a 45-point win as you could hope to see.
The Tigers will again frustratingly just miss out on the finals, end the season strongly and go into the summer with hope.
But they need to become more ruthless.
Essendon has now lost seven of its past eight games, and heads back to the drawing board.
Assistant coach Mark Thompson said before the match that the past two seasons had reinforced his belief that Hird hated losing more than anyone he had encountered in football.
Considering Thompson has been involved in five premierships with Essendon and Geelong, that's a big statement.
Unfortunately it was the only emphatic statement made by the Bombers at the MCG last night.
FOUR POINTS with Glenn McFarlane1. RICHMOND'S first seven goals came as a result of Essendon turnovers, exclusive stats on Live HQ revealed the extent to which the Bombers butchered the ball early. And the first-half inside 50 stats told the ugly tale as the Tigers had an advantage of 42 to 23, setting up a 29-point half-time lead.
2. ESSENDON teenager Nick O'Brien joined a select club when he booted a goal with his first kick in AFL football just five minutes into last night's game. It gave the Bombers their first goal and saved Leroy Jetta a bit of embarrassment after his mis-kick in the goal-square.
3. JAKE King revealed pre-game on Triple M that his body will have an overhaul before the start of next season. After recently having two pins put in his foot and two more in his thumb, the injured Tiger hardman also said he was going to have a reconstruction of his PCL, an adductor release and a groin clean-up. But he insisted he would be back running by the start of December.
4. ESSENDON'S sorry list of soft-tissue injury victims just got longer, with Alwyn Davey being subbed out of last night's game with a hamstring injury. The Essendon forward's night ended at the two-minute-mark of the second term, forcing Jake Melksham into the action. The Tigers also had to sub Matt White out of the game 10 minutes later.
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