In what can only be described as comeuppance, the West Coast Eagles trampled all over Essendon on Sunday afternoon under...erm...in the...dome. They went into the Dons home with mud on their shoes, slept on the couch, left empty takeaway containers on the lounge, played some indoor hockey, broke the TV and put toast in the VCR (yes, the Bomber's home is from the 90s).
They had a grand old time. And this all happened in the context of a week all about Essendon. Eddie McGuire, this is true, was egging the Bombers fans on at the start of the game: "What do you think of Hird!" he shouted to Dons fans near the fence, to which the delusional devotees of the cult of Saint James replied with delirious cheers of approval. It was strange. But this is the same man who last night said he now knows what it's like to suffer the disadvantage of being an indigenous Australian. True story. So he implies that Goodes is an ape, people call him on it and he cries foul over 'media persecution'. Turn it up.
But back to the good stuff. The Eagles kicked the first 2 goals to raise our collective hopes that we had come to play. The Dons then responded with 3 of their own. Pretty much from that point it was goal for goal (ish) throughout the first half. It was truly an ugly game. Every Eagles turnover (and there were plenty) were matched by the ineptitude (a word that quite appropriately looks like 'peptide') of the Bombers kicking. But although our execution was lacking, our effort and intensity was not. The tackling in particular was, especially the context of this season, unusually fierce, embodied by a bone-rattling tackle (sorry to go all NHL here) from Chris Masten.
At half time it was even and I had the sense we had wasted good play. Our entries into the 50 were particularly ill-conceived. But then the second half began and BOOM! Only one side came out to play and that was the side that wasn't pepped up. Our efficiency increased, our link play and run was stunning. Though, to be honest, I wasn't convinced we were home until we got over 5 goals up. Then, it was glorious. The ball went flying through the goals as often as weak and beaten Bombers fans flew out of the ground. And although the booing of Mr AOD was audible throughout, it became especially so when the red and black hordes had fled in disappointment.
The chant of EEEEEEAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLESSSSSSSSSSSS then spread around the lid-less dome, capping off a great afternoon for the club.
There were plenty of great performances by individuals. The entire backline deserves our appreciation for completely nullifying Essendon's attack. Their disposal may have been poor at times (Smith, I'm looking at you) but more often than not they got the job done.
Lecras was awesome. I did sort of slam him on twitter for missing a sitter in the first quarter, and upon reflection, that may have been the inspiration behind his stellar second half. Seriously though, he suffered some rib issue in the second and he got smashed in the head by a reckless Dons defender, but he fought it out. 5 goals, all in the second half. Hopefully, the old Lecras can become the new Lecras. Wellingham again showed his class with 2 vital goals in the 3rd. He's really coming into his own now. Another recruit, Jamie Cripps, has turned into a really effective role player this season. He's tough and demonstrated an uncanny ability to get a good goal. There was also the usual suspects with Cox demolishing the Ryder-Bellchambers duo and Priddis starring in midfield. Dalziell has also shone this season. He kicked another couple of goals today and has to be applauded for his solidity whilst all around him have melted away via injury.
Overall, it was a great result. The performance wasn't perfect and Essendon look spent, but it was an emotion-charged clash in hostile territory and we were triumphant. In the grand scheme of things...meh. There are too many questions that make speculating on finals pointless right now. But this we do know: Barring a meltdown by Port (highly unlikely) we won't make 8th. So it then comes to Essendon being stripped of points. If they are, then 9th becomes 8th. We are no guarantee to even finish 9th. We'd need to probably win at least 2 of our last 3.
But let's forget that. It was great day for the club. Cats next, they'll be favourites but it should be a good game if we can maintain our intensity.
#StillStandingOnHird
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