A 12-goal second half sees Fremantle dismantle Essendon in hot conditions in Perth

A 12-GOAL second half sees Fremantle Dockers dismantle Essendon in very hot conditions at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

ESSENDON is used to coping with heat in Perth, but it was heat of a different kind the Bombers succumbed to at a sweltering Patersons Stadium yesterday.

With the temperature still hovering around 32C at bounce-down and facing an opponent which had two more days to prepare, Essendon wilted to crash back to earth with the 53-point defeat.

The Bombers had recorded memorable wins in their two trips to Perth last season, both times after flying west as the blow torch over the club’s supplements scandal was white hot.

This time Essendon needed to make a statement of the football kind as they sought their fourth consecutive win in Perth, but came up well short on an occasion when emotion didn’t matter and stamina did.

The Bombers’ possession-heavy game might suit under the roof, however it was no recipe for success in such trying conditions in a contest that pitted two undermanned teams.

Stars Brendon Goddard and David Mundy were both substituted out of the match before the Dons capitulated in the second half.

Essendon’s already depleted forward line suffered a further blow when Goddard had to be substituted out of the game early in the second quarter with an apparent groin problem.

Brendon Goddard looks dejected after being subbed out with injury. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

Goddard seemed to be bothered before the match and appeared to aggravate the injury when kicking in the opening term.

Fremantle stopper Ryan Crowley went to Bombers champion Jobe Watson in the pivotal midfield duel, with the pair each making statements in the opening stanza.

Crowley kicked the game’s opening major after a minute, before Watson answered with a stunning banana goal from deep in the forward pocket to open the visitors’ account in time-on of the first quarter.

Danyle Pearce collects the ball ahead of Brent Stanton.

Booed mercilessly by West Coast fans on his last visit to the ground, there was silence from the purple army as the Brownlow medallist slotted this one.

The Bombers led by five points when Jason Winderlich snapped truly 11 minutes into the second stanza, but they would not lead again.

The home side assumed control with three consecutive goals leading into the main break, with skipper Matthew Pavlich’s monster 55m set shot bomb a dagger for the Dons.

Joe Daniher takes on Aaron Sandilands in the ruck. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

When Pavlich kicked his second, another 55m effort this time on the run midway through the third quarter, the Dockers had made it seven consecutive goals and were home.

The run eventually ended at 10 unanswered goals when substitute Leroy Jetta kicked Essendon’s fifth goal just before three-quarter time.

Stand-in ruckman Jake Carlisle was predictably monstered by Aaron Sandilands in the hit-outs, but Sandilands failed to have a strong influence around the ground a week after the “overrated’ sledge from Leigh Matthews.

Nonetheless this was a massive statement from Fremantle in a powerful response to last weekend’s MCG mauling at the hands of Hawthorn.

Ryan Crowley kicks the opening goal of the game in Perth. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

The Dockers were at their best in the third term when they added seven goals to one, doing it without their three premier on-ballers in Mundy, Nat Fyfe and Michael Barlow.

The margin reached 72 points early in the final term before some late goals in junk time added some respectability to the scoreboard.

Essendon trio Dustin Fletcher, Paul Chapman and David Myers were replaced in the selected team by emergencies Dylan Van Unen, who made his debut, Travis Colyer and Jetta.

BEST

DOCKERS: McPharlin, Pavlich, Hill, Johnson, D. Pearce, Sandilands, de Boer.

BOMBERS: Heppell, Watson, Stanton, Gleeson, Hibberd, Hooker.

VOTES

3- McPharlin

2- Pavlich

1- Heppell