AFL round 11: Ed Bourke analyses Essendon and Richmond’s Dreamtime at the ‘G match
The Bombers’ key position stars are dropping like flies, but with the mid-season draft around the corner some much needed reinforcements will arrive. See who could don the red and black.
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With its key position stars dropping like flies, Essendon must contemplate matching a league record mid-season draft haul to sustain its competitive start to the season.
Coach Brad Scott said the Bombers’ list and recruiting team would lock in their plans for Wednesday’s draft in the 48 hours after paying a heavy price for a 23-point win over Richmond on Friday night.
Four list spots are currently available at Essendon, and the Bombers should take a minimum of three selections given the uncertainty over Nik Cox’s playing future and fresh injury fears for Zach Reid (hamstring) and Kyle Langford (quad).
Scott expected Reid to dodge a significant injury but said he would be managed carefully due to his wretched injury history over his first four seasons, but the situation looked more dire for Langford as the pair went for scans on Saturday.
He said there was a “whole host of reasons” the Bombers would take a conservative approach with both players.
Reid has not only been defensively sound, but has quickly become the Bombers’ most trusted distributor out of defence in his breakthrough run of 11 consecutive games.
Essendon’s best movement from defensive 50 to forward 50 in a dismal first half on Friday night came whenever they were able to get the ball into Reid’s hands.
The 202cm talent had taken over the important role from Jordan Ridley, who remains more than a month away with the high grade hamstring injury he suffered against North Melbourne.
If he spends any time on the sidelines, it will place significant pressure on leaders Andrew McGrath and Mason Redman to improve their disposal.
Between the duo and teenager Archie Roberts – who is only 14 games in and finding plenty of the ball – they made 18 turnovers against the Tigers, including at least five botched forward entries.
McGrath sits on the top rung of the game’s lockdown small defenders among the likes of Brandon Starcevich, Blake Hardwick and Nic Newman.
He denied in-form Richmond forward Seth Campbell a single shot at goal on a slippery night where he should have figured prominently – and yet Bombers fans still want more from the former No.1 pick.
It was summed up poetically in a passage midway through the second quarter when McGrath gathered at halfback – saw young ruckman Thomas Sims stood in his way – and backed himself to surge past him, cutting a swath through the middle of the ground on a 70m run only to float a miscued kick straight down the throat of a Tigers backman.
Redman finished the game with ice on his left ankle, but said it was “just a little tweak” towards the end of the game and was adamant he would face the Lions.
Assuming Reid misses at least one week, Ben McKay and Jayden Laverde will need to hold down the key posts with Jaxon Prior and Mason Redman playing taller.
Scott said he would also need to consider shifting his brilliant debutant Angus Clarke, who began the season in defence but was damaging on a wing against the Tigers.
The coach would be equally tempted to throw the 189cm teenager forward in Langford’s place after his impressive display of one-on-one marking and set shot kicking.
Outside of him, other marking options are limited: uncapped talls Kayle Gerreyn and Vigo Visentini – whose VFL form has been particularly promising – or McKay, with a single career goal to his name.
“I’ve held the coaching group back a little bit post-game… there’s going to be challenges, but this is what we’re here for,” Scott said after the game.
“This is a coaching opportunity for us – we need to think differently. We may need to recast some players in different positions, but the key is how we coach that and get them ready for that.
“It’s not just a matter of moving the magnets, it’s about preparing players to play slightly different roles. We like what we’ve seen from some of our draftees and our untried players in the VFL.”
Scott would not be drawn on the club’s draft plans for Wednesday night, but it is clear they will need to select a ruckman and at least one key defender or forward who would both be ready to play senior football over the next month.
The Bombers next five games (without Ridley, Langford and possibly Reid) is their toughest stretch of the season: Brisbane (away), Carlton, Geelong, Fremantle (away) and Gold Coast.
If they could find a way to emerge from that period with two wins, it would leave them 8-7 with the chance to launch a rousing finals run against all odds.
There is a chaotic world where Southport ruckman Brayden Crossley is drafted to the Bombers on Wednesday night and makes his way up the Pacific Highway to complete his AFL comeback 24 hours later.
But Crossley faced the Bombers with the Bulldogs in a February practice match and struggled against Sam Draper and Nick Bryan, not doing enough to convince the Dogs he had the aerobic fitness to play at the top level.
Werribee’s Sam Conway could be another option to provide support to Todd Goldstein, who was fortunate to avoid a bruising clash with Toby Nankervis as he prepares for the Lions off a six-day break.
Of the state league key forwards, Carlton VFL best and fairest Liam McMahon looks the most ready to go, but might not be on the table when the Bombers take their pick.
Scott said he would back his team to bring in the right reinforcements.
“It’s a really important round of footy this weekend (for the draft contenders),” he said.
“We’ll let the baker bake the bread … the recruiters will tell me who the best players are.”
TOP EIGHT, BUT ‘SITTING DUCKS’: THE MYSTERY OF DONS’ 6-4 RECORD
- Ed Bourke and Ronny Lerner
Essendon and the Dreamtime game have waded into unprecedented territory, and not only with the shift to Friday night.
The Bombers just put away a fierce rival to start the weekend inside the top eight, all while the spirit of their supporters copped a battering almost equivalent to the 91-point loss the week before.
What do you say to a team with a 6-4 record who look like sitting ducks among the premiership contenders?
Coach Brad Scott will tell his charges to give themselves a clean slate before they meet the reigning premiers next Thursday, and most of them will gladly erase this error-riddled 23-point win from their memories.
One man who won’t be doing that is Angus Clarke, the 18-year-old debutant from Mount Gambier who was a beacon of light on a night where his teammates looked like they were running an intercept marking workshop for Richmond’s defenders.
Essendon would not have won without the huge boost Clarke gave them when he used his body brilliantly against Hugo Ralphsmith and reeled in a diving mark before he slotted his first goal late in the opening term.
He wasn’t done there, using his 189cm frame to his advantage once again to push Ralphsmith aside and kick the Bombers’ next goal as well midway through the second.
Both set shots from close range he took as straight-on drop punts which he belted through at top-of-post height – Clarke is going to make a lot of football traditionalists very happy.
The debutant showed he could play the end-to-end wingman role that the Bombers had hoped the luckless Nik Cox could play, and looks a draft triumph by Matt Rosa at pick 39.
“While clearly we’ve had some challenges on the availability front, we don’t want to bring players in unless we feel they’re ready to play and we felt Angus was ready,” Scott said.
“Did we think the outcome in terms of the results and three goals and all of that (would happen)? Probably not. But in terms of his effort and intent to execute the role, he did exactly as we thought he would.”
But Clarke might be needed elsewhere in the coming weeks, because Essendon’s key position injury crisis is only getting worse.
Losing Zach Reid (hamstring) for any period of time will badly hurt the Bombers, as he, like the absent Jordan Ridley before him, had become their best kick as well as their primary interceptor.
Ridley remains six weeks away, while Kyle Langford’s quad injury is a huge cause for concern after he never got going following his previous soft tissue setback.
The Bombers could well be forced to take as many as three key position players in the mid-season draft, and those selections must be ready to play immediately.
Should inspiration strike, they are well placed on the ladder to cash in, but becoming a finals-quality side this year looks near impossible with the tall stocks they have remaining.
The Tigers are all too familiar with that pain, and their fight in the wet conditions was stirring without captain Toby Nankervis and their bookends Tom Lynch and Noah Balta.
Adem Yze would be thrilled with the scrap his inexperienced side continues to show, but was left to rue a “diabolical” performance from his midfield.
“We got smashed in inside 50s, time in forward half, clearances were diabolical,” Yze said.
“And that’s OK. We had a really young side in ... a lot of their A-graders played really well.
“(Zach) Merrett, (Nic) Martin, (Andrew) McGrath, they’ve all had over 30 possessions (in) wet conditions, and their talent shone through.
“But they’ve all played 100/150 games. Our front end had (Luke) Trainor, (Sam) Lalor, (Jonty) Faull, (Thomas) Sims, who have played 10 games of footy each.”
Sam Lalor’s hamstring injury will also hurt after he delivered two classy goals.
Playing in front of Indigenous greats including Michael Long, Syd Jackson, Eddie Betts and Shaun Burgoyne, Tigers duo Maurice Rioli Jr and Rhyan Mansell shared a wonderful moment in the third term.
Rioli gathered the ball at full speed and flicked a handball inside to Mansell, who accelerated away from his opponent for a rousing finish from 70m.
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