Essendon vs Geelong – Round 10 match recap

Essendon – 11.4 (70)

Geelong – 20.14 (134)

Geelong have taught a flat Essendon side a tough lesson on Sunday afternoon. In a first quarter reminiscent of the St Kilda clash a couple of weeks ago, Essendon got first blood through Jay Neagle in the first minute but it was all Geelong after that with the Cats kicking 6.4 to 1.1 in the first quarter. The Cats continued to pressure the Bombers and by three quarter time had kicked a further 11.9 to just 4.2 from the Dons. Such was the Geelong lead that they were able to take the foot off the pedal half way through the third, and didn’t really put it back on. Essendon won the last quarter 6.1 to 3.1 but they never looked like winning with the Cats victorious by 64 points.

Turning points of the match

There wasn’t really a turning point. The Cats dominated all day, but when they lifted the foot off the pedal a little bit it gave the Dons some room and they moved the ball well in the last quarter to bring the margin down to 64.

Key Players for Essendon

Paddy Ryder – Continued his good season in the absence of David Hille. Collected 24 hit outs, 18 possessions, 13 of those contested, and 6 tackles.

Heath Hocking – Started the game on Stevie J, gave him too much space, and was consequently moved off him. Managed to collect 23 disposals, 10 contested, with 4 marks and kicked Essendon’s only 2 goals in the third quarter in an important effort.

Jay Neagle – The Bombers leading goal scorer with 3.1 from 7 grabs. Worked pretty hard all day and presented as an option up the ground when Essendon was struggling to get the ball out of their defensive 50. I was really impressed with his game.

Key Players for Geelong

Joel Selwood – Dominated all day with 37 possessions, 11 contested, 7 marks and kicked 2 straight goals.

Gary Ablett – No surprise here really. He was always in the right place for the handball receive or one-two play. But as if to show he doesn’t wait for the ball to come to him he gathered a game high 14 contested possessions on his way to a total of 30. He also chipped in with 2.2.

Steve Johnson – 21 disposals, 11 marks and 6.2 in a fantastic display.

Musings from the match

· It wasn’t the best game of footy to watch skills wise. Both teams weren’t as slick as we have seen them be, but somehow Geelong still made skill errors look good.

· Essendon had an disposal efficiency of 68%, Geelong had 76%.

· Geelong only had one more clearance than Essendon.

· Geelong had 59 inside 50’s to Essendon’s 37.

· Essendon scored over half their score in the last quarter when the game was over.

· The umpires were as inconsistent as I have seen this season, even the Geelong supporters around me were not happy.

· Mark Mcveigh looked underdone.

· Injuries included Tom Bellchambers, Tom Harley, Harry Taylor, Matthew Lloyd, Max Rooke, and Gary Ablett (limped off in the last quarter with an ankle problem). The first two didn’t return to the field, the second two didn’t look serious, with Rooke getting knocked out but returning in the last quarter.

Supercoach news

Gary Ablett – Another 150 score. That’s all I am going to say.

In fact, Geelong had 9 players score over 100 points with Shannon Byrnes, Joel Selwood, Steve Johnson, Gary Ablett, Cameron Mooney, and Corey Enright all scoring 120 or more.

For the Don’s only two players reached triple figures in Paddy Ryder and Heath Hocking with 101 and 115 respectively.

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