AFL 2022 Essendon v Sydney Swans: All the latest news, reaction from the round 16 contest
Essendon has show resilience and real grit to take down the finals-bound Sydney Swans, exacting revenge for the Luke Parker taunt and heavy defeat in round 9.
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Ben Rutten said Essendon used its bitter loss at the hands of the Swans earlier in the season to inspire one of the boilovers of 2022.
The Bombers’ insipid display in round 9, in which Sydney co-captain Luke Parker taunted Dylan Shiel for shirking a contest, was the catalyst in Essendon’s rousing nine-point win over the Swans on Saturday afternoon.
The Bombers looked set for a long afternoon after twice falling behind by four goals in the opening two quarters. But for everything the Swans threw at them Essendon had an answer.
A six-goal-to-three last quarter sealed the sweetest of black and red wins.
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“The response in terms of last time we played Sydney was good,” Rutten said.
“We grew into the game and clearly in the first quarter we weren’t up to the level required. But after quarter-time we got to work around the contest and were able to even it up.
“I think Sydney has been the best last quarter team this season, so it was pleasing the way we attacked the last quarter.”
Rutten said his side was determined to win back respect after their last performance against the Swans, something he believed they had achieved.
“Absolutely it (round 9) was mentioned during the week,” he said.
“Part of the build-up is how we played them last time. The guys weren’t pleased with it last time. In some respects, playing them six weeks later was advantageous for us because the guys were keen to leave a different perception with the opposition and I think they got that.”
Shiel helped ignite the Bombers in the second quarter when the game was slipping away from Essendon, winning crucial clearances and getting the Dons going around the ball.
Rutten said the 29-year-old had impressed him not just with his response from the Sydney game, but in the past two months.
“I think his last seven or eight weeks he’s been such a strong role model for us at the footy club, not because he’s playing well every week but because he’s had to work his way through the season and had some challenges,” he said.
“The way he’s been able to find a formula, we’re seeing some real consistency from Dyl.
“The way he’s worked through the year and the performances he’s been putting up, it’s a credit to him.”
Rutten said his side is growing in confidence each week, and that was typified by 18-year-old Ben Hobbs’ last quarter.
Hobbs, who won a late reprieve thanks to Archie Perkins’ calf injury, led all comers on the ground, collecting 11 disposals in the term and ensuring his side got on top around the ball.
“Early in the week he was going to be the sub and with Archie pulling out late in the week Hobbsy grabbed the opportunity,” Rutten said.
“We’ve started to expose him in the middle a little bit more and against some seasoned campaigners in there you can’t train that.
“He’s growing in confidence in there and we believe in Hobbsy as a player. He did that against Hawthorn as well, going into the middle in the fourth quarter and playing a key role for us in the win.”
Bombers rebound from round 9 misery
Essendon has recorded a stirring win over top four-challenging Sydney, exacting revenge for their bitter loss at the hands of the Swans in Round 9.
The Bombers looked gone multiple times in the game as their fancied opponents looked to have done enough, but a late Jake Stringer-led surge saw Essendon home by nine points.
Young gun Ben Hobbs provided more than able support for Stringer when the game was up for grabs, collecting 11 disposals in the last quarter to propel his side forward from the clinches.
The game promised to be a fiery one on the back of the two sides’ clash in round 9 when Swans’ co-captain Luke Parker taunted Dylan Shiel, calling into question his toughness around the ball.
Ben Rutten was animated on the bench throughout the game, riding every bump of his side’s win.
Essendon had openly suggested they would bring the heat in the game against the Swans, but an early Sydney onslaught had the visitors eyeing a percentage boosting win as the ball pinged out of the middle time and again with anything but a fierce Essendon on show.
The Swans kicked five of the first six goals to kick out to a three-goal lead at the first change on the back of Parker and their spread of goalkicking forwards.
It wasn’t until late in the first quarter some spice was added to the contest when Sam Durham unfairly dealt with Parker after he had disposed of the ball that ignited a spark in the Bombers.
After Lance Franklin kicked the Swans out to a four-goal lead early in the second term it was all Essendon as they started to dominate centre clearances.
It was poetic that it was Shiel who got the Bombers going out of the middle, collecting 9 disposals and two centre clearances for the quarter.
Peter Wright was feasting on the ball out of the middle and kicked two goals, while Ben Hobbs brought the house down outpointing Paddy McCartin in a marking contest and kicking a goal from 45m.
The Swans should have blown the game out of the water in the third term with the ball living in their front half, but their charge to the four points was halted by abysmal goalkicking, managing just 2.8 for the term.
Essendon made the most of their rare forays forward, kicking 2.1 from just six inside 50s.
Zach Merrett was one of Essendon’s best and when he kicked his third goal of the game it had the Bombers within striking distance of the lead early in the final quarter.
But quick answers from Chad Warner and Callum Mills pushed the margin out to 16-points and gave the Swans the upper hand.
ENTER JAKE STRINGER
The enigmatic 28-year-old had struggled to kick a clean drop punt earlier in the game, looking more like having a hand in Sydney goals than Essendon goals. But as he has done so many times before he saved his best until when it mattered most, bending a running check side goal through, before kicking a goal after a barnstorming run to have the Bombers just three-points down.
Goals to Mason Redman and Kyle Langford brought the house down as the Bombers kicked out to a nine-point lead, but a 50m penalty conceded by Stringer resulting in a Warner goal handed the Swans a sniff with two-minutes left.
A late Nick Hind goal sealed the memorable Essendon win.
MISFIRING SWANS
Before Isaac Heeney and Will Hayward kicked the last two goals of the third quarter the Swans had kicked away their chance to have the four points sewn up by three-quarter time.
After a promising opening quarter in which Sydney could hardly miss (5.2), the Swans managed just an appalling 2.12 in the two following quarters, until the two late goals.
It hurt them most in the third term as they dominated territory, pumping the ball inside 50 on 19 occasions to just six Bomber entries.
In a season where percentage looks as though it will play a more prominent role in shaping the eight, could this be a game the Swans live to rue?
MAGNIFICENT MILESTONE
As he had done in most of his previous 249 games Luke Parker set the tone early for the Swans.
The lad from Langwarrin led Sydney with 10 disposals in the first quarter to go with four tackles and four clearances, providing his signature grunt and drive out of stoppages.
Not only were eyes on the 2012 premiership player for his 250th game but for his battle with the Bombers after the Swan taunted Dylan Shiel in round 9 for shirking a contest.
But after copping some extra attention late in the first quarter from Sam Durham, Parker let his footy do the talking and finished with 25 touches, six tackles and nine clearances.
D’AM GOOD
Bombers fans haven’t had much to celebrate this season but Massimo D’Ambrosio might prove to be the steal of the mid-season draft if he keeps performing as he did against the Swans.
With Essendon’s defence under extreme Sydney heat in the opening term, it was D’Ambrosio who provided the steady hand for the Bombers.
The 19-year-old, who was selected at pick 3 in the mid-season draft, had a game-high 11 touches at 82 per cent efficiency in the first quarter.
It wasn’t just the impressive numbers D’Ambrosio put together, but his composure under pressure, exemplified by a 40m kick across the face of goal while being tackled that hit its target and set the Bombers away.
SCOREBOARD
BOMBERS 2.2 7.2 9.3 15.5 95
SWANS 5.2 7.6 9.14 12.14 86
MOTTERSHEAD’S BEST
Bombers: Merrett, Hind, Heppell, D’Ambrosio, Hobbs, Redman.
Swans: Warner, Parker, Gulden, Blakey.
GOALS
Bombers: Merrett 3, Wright 2, Stringer 2, Heppell, Durham, Jones, Hobbs, Kelly, Redman, Langford, Hind.
Swans: Warner 3, Franklin 2, Reid 2, Heeney 2, Papley, Hayward, Mills.
UMPIRES
Rosebury, Harris, Gianfagna.
VENUE
43,163 at the MCG
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JAMES MOTTERSHEAD’S VOTES
3 C. Warner (SYD)
2 Z. Merrett (ESS)
1 N. Hind (ESS)
McGrath’s firestarter: Parker episode won’t happen again
Injured Bomber Andrew McGrath has revealed Essendon’s players have vowed to never let a teammate be belittled in the way Dylan Shiel was treated by Sydney’s Luke Parker in Round 9, saying there will be plenty of “heat” in today’s game at the MCG.
Parker, who plays his 250th game today, made a mocking gesture to Shiel in the corresponding earlier this year — without any retaliation from the Bombers players.
McGrath said that lack of response and a commitment to better protect and support teammates had been a significant focus leading into this clash with Sydney.
“We are definitely aware of it, we knew what went on, and all players are aware of what happened with Luke and Dylan, and by no means is it our pure focus, but there is a bit of heat in this one,” McGrath said on 3AW.
“Sydney intimidated us both on the field and physically so we have got a bit of revenge coming, and hopefully we can match their intensity at the contest.
“That was our biggest disappointment the last time we played them, they bullied us and we took it really personally.
“It is rare in football to get an opportunity so soon to make amends and hopefully show what we are about.”
McGrath said the Essendon players had spoken about never letting a situation like what happened with Parker occur again without a response.
“In the moment, I didn’t know that happened, but it was obviously replayed over and over again,” he said.
“You never like to see one of your players subject to an action like that and there is a lot said and done on the field that stays there.
“But to have a teammate viewed that way and to have no one stick up for him didn’t sit right with me and didn’t stick right with our playing group.
“We have made a concerted effort to try and fix that.”
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