Round 7 Recap: Eagles Beat Themselves; Bombers Claim Points

Is this what it sounds like when Eagles cry?

Maybe. Fans who watched the game will have a fair idea if that is indeed the sound. It's 4 hours since the game ended and the pain and anger is beginning to subside. The pain because my antipathy towards the Bombers runs deep, the anger because we beat our selves.

We dominated most of the first half, but only found ourselves up by 2 goals. I could go through the perpetrators of the poor kicking, but it would take too long.
Predictably, Essendon played well in the 3rd quarter but actually put the score on the board.

We should have won, yet we didn't.

I can see people pointing to a fade out in the 3rd quarter, but the reality is if we had have kicked straight earlier we would have been able to hold on for the victory.

So yes, no due credit to the Bombers, for all they are due is a good royal bollocking when they come to Perth. That sounds wrong, but you get the point.

I should pay tribute to the performance early in the game by Daniel Kerr. He literally played as if somebody had threatened to kill him if he didn't get 100 disposals. Unsurprisingly, Essendon were able to clamp down on him pretty well in the second half. It was still a pleasure to see him return (albeit temporarily) to the form he displayed prior to brain snaps/injuries.
I thought Naitanui was fairly good, whereas Cox seemed to go missing through much of the game. The forwards were fairly decent, though the kicking nullifies any due praise.
Embley was either awful, or he played underneath an invisibility cloak most of the game. Debutant Weedon came on late and was unable to effect the game.

Previously on the blog I have questioned our ability to run out games. I don't know if I blame that so much here. Sure Essendon dominated the 3rd quarter. But they are a decent team. They were always going to be on top in some periods of the game. The problem was when we were dominant we did not score enough.
Whether this is a rectifiable problem remains to be seen. I generally think we have some good set shot kickers in our team.

The problem I have is we are now 3-3. I don't think it represents how well we have played. But all that really matters is the Win-Loss ratio.

We play the anchorless freaks next week. They also kicked themselves out of their game against Richmond. They have won the last 176 derbies, so we should be due.

Until next time
Mis. Eagle.