AFL 2022: Essendon under fire for blowing two-point lead against Collingwood in 45 seconds
Essendon players have reviewed Sunday’s ‘shattering’ loss to Collingwood and vowed to never let the mistakes of the final minute happen again.
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Essendon players have vowed to learn form Sunday’s shattering loss to Collingwood and Kyle Langford knows he needs to “kill the ball” next time he’s the last man standing in the backline after his role in the stunning final moments.
But his Bombers teammate Andrew McGrath said all the players had a hand in their diabolical final play after Langford and defender Jake Kelly both failed to spoil Magpie Jamie Elliott at the MCG last Sunday, which allowed him to mark and kick an after-the-siren goal to record a stunning come-from behind win.
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The Bombers reviewed the frantic final few minutes on Wednesday, having spent Tuesday looking the blistering opening from Collingwood in which they kicked the opening six goals before Essendon got out to, and surrendered, a 20-point last quarter-lead.
McGrath said the Bombers had resolved to never let a “shattering” loss like that that happen again.
“We felt as though we were pretty set for that (Collingwood kick-in), unfortunately a few breakdowns occurred in that play all at the same time and it’s definitely something we’re all feeling,” McGrath said at Tullamarine on Wednesday.
“We all probably had a moment in that play where we weren’t playing our role exactly right, but, again, you want to put yourself in those scenarios against really good teams and we’ll definitely learn from that and be better for it next time.
“Through challenging times you are forced to learn and forced to adapt and turn into a different version of ourselves.”
In the final minute, Langford surged back to be the “seventh” man in what ended up being an empty Essendon backline after a missed shot at goal from teammate Harrison Jones.
Langford said he’d “have a look” at what happened but knew what was needed in the future.
“It all happened very quickly. I was on the last line of defence, as we call it the seventh. Harry had that shot of goal … and it felt like 10 seconds it was all the way up (the other end) and Elliot marked it,” Langford told RSN on Wednesday.
“My memory of it was someone was coming through the corridor, I think it was (Brody) Mihocek, so I had to be a little bit aware of him and obviously Elliott.
“I had Jake Kelly in front helping out a little bit. It was a pretty good kick, 45m out, on the boundary line, to be able to finish that, credit to him.
“But I’ll have a look at that so when I am in that opposition again I can do better and kill the ball.”
McGrath insisted that the team was thinking about how to stop a Collingwood kick-in in the event Jones missed, and they hadn‘t “switched off” thinking Jones was going to kick the goal.
“There was a lot happening in that moment, you expect teams to go down the middle most of the time, but our first priority was to set up the ground, to defend it and lock it in our forward half,” he said.
McGrath said it would be “unfair” to blame the loss on Jones.
“We all had moments in that last quarter, in particular, that we would want to have back,” he said.
McGrath revealed star defender Mason Redman was subbed out on Sunday with internal bruising, had spent a night in hospital after coughing up blood.
And while he has improved, McGrath anticipated he would be a “last-minute call” for their game against North Melbourne on Sunday.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, it continued a dramatic turnaround in form for Essendon.
After starting the year 2-10, they have beaten top-four aspirants Brisbane and Sydney, as well as top-eight hopefuls St Kilda and Gold Coast.
McGrath said an adjustment in dialogue around the game plan has led to Essendon‘s uptick in form, and allowed them to showcase their “natural flair”.
“I think the players‘ comprehension of that has gotten better,” McGrath said.
“We‘ve got a lot more guys on the same page now than we did at the start of the year.”
How Bombers blew it in 79 seconds
– Nick Smart
As a group of Essendon players crept up around Harrison Jones waiting to celebrate what would have been a matchwinning goal over Collingwood, Magpies skipper Scott Pendlebury was plotting.
The experience of the Collingwood games’ record-holder meant he was already planning the attack to sink the Bombers in the dying seconds of Sunday’s epic at the MCG.
“We spoke really quickly, but I just said to Darce (Moore): ‘If he kicks a point here, take off down the middle, but if you see a gap left or right just shoot off’,” Pendlebury said on Triple M.
Compare that to the Bombers, with the likes of Dylan Shiel, Zach Merrett, Sam Draper and Jye Caldwell all standing around near Jones as he came in to take his kick while their skipper Dyson Heppell was stuck on the bench.
“The three prime leaders of the Essendon Football Club were ready to run in, they were creeping in to hug the goal scorer,” North Melbourne great David King said on SEN.
“That’s not leadership, that’s for the first-gamer to run in to do that.
“The club’s a mess.”
Essendon coach Ben Rutten wanted to look at the positives for his side after the heartbreaking loss.
“It was all disappointing,” he said.
“Disappointing he (Jones) hit the post, (that) we couldn’t get set, the ball shouldn’t get down there that quick, we should spoil that ball out of bounds and he kicks a great goal.
“Unfortunately it’s part of the game … but I’m pleased.
“They’ve won nine in a row now and we put ourselves in the position to win the game.”
King took aim at Rutten’s comments.
“I don’t agree with any of that,” King said.
“(Rutten said) ‘I’m pleased we put ourselves in a position to win the game’.
“You just win that game, (and) you don’t have your captain on the bench for starters.
“Close games need leadership, and they had him on the field for 60 minutes in the second half in succession and they had to give him a break at the end because he was spent.
“That’s poor management.”
ANATOMY OF A THRILLER
1:19 remaining – Jeremy Howe stumbles while trying to mop up in defence and is tackled by Harrison Jones, and is pinged for holding the ball. Magpie Nathan Murphy gathers and kicks it a micro second after the whistle is blown. Should it have been a 50m penalty? The umpire gives the benefit of the doubt, most likely owing to the noise of the 70,000-plus screaming fans in the frantic final moments. Former Magpies coach Nathan Buckley said his initial reaction was Jones should have been taken to the goal line. “When I watched the replay, I turned around and said, ‘That’s 50, that’s 50’,” Buckley said on SEN.
48 seconds remaining – With the Bombers up by one point, Jones’ kick from 40m out directly in front to ice the game hits the post. But should he have taken the shot? Melbourne great Garry Lyon questioned it on SEN. “Did he have the chance to pass the ball off to Zach Merrett on his right?” Lyon said. “The heads-up play for me, you pass the ball … if you know there’s 1:20 on the clock and you’ve used your 25 seconds and you can hit Zach Merrett 15m away, I would (coach that). Why wouldn’t you do that?” Buckley disagreed. “I understand it (taking the set shot). It’s not the spirit of the game, it’s the spirit of the intent to play. To win versus to save,” Buckley said.
45 seconds remaining – Pendlebury takes the kick-in and there is hardly a Bomber in sight. They’re not set up at all. He goes short to Darcy Moore, who has a paddock of space and charges off half-back before kicking wide on the wing. “It wasn’t a set play, just common sense … I think there were 24 players standing in the middle of the ground,” Pendlebury said. “Darcy made the decision to go left and it was a really easy kick for me to hit, and then he took off.”
38 seconds remaining – Moore finds teammate Trent Bianco, who also has nothing but space on the members’ wing side of the MCG. He takes off and kicks it long to the down the line to a two-on-one contest.
32 seconds remaining – Jamie Elliott – one of the smallest players on the ground - is the sole Magpies’ target, and is able to take a chest mark in between two Bombers in Jake Kelly and Kyle Langford, who somehow fail to spoil the ball out of bounds.
1 second remaining – The siren sounds as Elliott walks in to take his kick. Elliott would later tell teammates it was so loud he couldn’t even hear the siren sound. From 45m out deep on the boundary line, he kicks truly to win the game and send his teammates and Collingwood supporters into raptures.
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