Essendon back on track after 35-point win over GWS, whose season is now officially in free fall

ESSENDON’s season is officially back on track after securing its second win in a row over GWS at Spotless Stadium but arguably the bigger story is the Giants’ fall from grace. It is the club’s fourth loss in a row and their season is slipping away.

Devon Smith was excellent against his old side.

ESSENDON has continued its resurgence with runaway 35-point win over the GWS Giants who are now officially in free fall.

The result was as good for the Bombers as it was bad for the Giants. The visitors went into the match with just two wins from their last 20 outings on the road, their season is well and truly back on track.

As impressive as the win was John Worsfold remained pragmatic about the result.

AS IT HAPPENED: SMOKE HAZE CAUSES HAVOC

MATCH CENTRE: GWS v ESSENDON SUPERCOACH SCORES

“They’re just wins,” Worsfold said.

“We’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us if we want to become a great team.”

The defeat was the Giants’ fourth in a row, the first time they have slumped so badly since the 2014 season when they finished 16th with just six wins.

Devon Smith was excellent against his old side.

They have four victories this season but in their current form even the road weary Gold Coast in two weeks is no certainty.

“We have to play the full four quarters,” Giants coach Leon Cameron said.

“From our coaches and our players we have to keep doing that and keep addressing that because it’s the only way out of a form slump and clearly we are in a form slump.”

The Bombers re-ignited their season with last week’s win over Geelong and looked like they were continuing the momentum when Mark Baguley goaled in the opening 13 seconds.

He followed it up with a second minutes later to set up a 17-point first-quarter lead.

GWS grafted its way back into the match to trail by just five points at the last change but with its credibility hanging in the balance its fluffed its lines.

Where to now for GWS? That was the Giants’ fourth loss in a row. Picture: Getty

Adam Tomlinson repeated Jeremy Cameron’s horrible discipline of last week with a 50 metre penalty which gifted his former Giants teammate James Stewart with the vital opening goal.

“Adam will be disappointed but it wasn’t the reason we lost,” Cameron said.

“That moment wasn’t the turning point of the game.”

Successive majors to Shaun McKernan, David Zaharakis and two to Jake Stringer then put the game out of reach.

Stringer finished with three for the night in an excellent performance as did Baguley who had previously managed just six goals in his career.

Zaharakis finished with a massive 33 possessions including contested and was brilliantly supported by his captain Dyson Heppell.

David Zaharakis has 33 disposals in the big win over GWS.

The win was especially sweet for former Giant Devon Smith who produced another outstanding all-round performance with 21 touches, a massive 13 tackles and a goal.

Callan Ward, Heath Shaw and Stephen Coniglio were the best for the Giants, each with 30-plus possessions with Ward racking up 20 contested and Coniglio 18.

Not only did Coniglio produce some outstanding work around the ground he also produced one of the most exotic goal celebrations seen in recent history.

His Italian heritage and Juventus support were on show after his clever second-quarter effort with a ‘Paulo Dybala’ mask of the gladiator salute.

Bizarrely the match was played in a smoke haze created by back burning which was carried out in the Blue Mountains earlier in the day.

While there was nowhere to hide for the players spectators were covering their mouths and noses with scarves to filter the fumes.

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