By Justin Chadwick
Essendon forward Peter Wright kicked six goals, but ruckman Sam Draper suffered a suspected season-ending achilles injury as the Bombers came from 29 points down to post a thrilling two-point win over West Coast at Optus Stadium on Good Friday.
The Bombers trailed 37-8 early in the second quarter and still trailed by 25 points midway through the third term.
Reuben Ginbey of the Eagles is tackled during the 2025 AFL Round 06 match between the West Coast Eagles and the Essendon Bombers at Optus Stadium.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Two goals in the space of a minute from Archie Perkins and Wright’s ongoing dominance gave Essendon a 12-point buffer late in the match.
In a thrilling finish, Eagles forward Jack Williams kicked a goal to reduce the margin to two points with 28 seconds remaining.
Essendon kicked the ball out wide from the next centre bounce to chew up vital seconds, with an ensuing intercept mark sealing the 11.11 (77) to 11.9 (75) win in front of 46,080 fans.
West Coast tallied an AFL record-low 77 contested possessions against Carlton last week, but they produced 35 alone in the opening quarter against Essendon.
Key forward Jake Waterman kicked four goals – all in the first quarter – while Jeremy McGovern (23 disposals) was a rock in defence.
Tim Kelly collected 22 disposals and three clearances in his first match back from being dropped to the WAFL, and Elijah Hewett (22 disposals, five clearances, two goals) played his best match of the season.
Harley Reid was restricted to 17 disposals and three clearances, and his heavy first-quarter bump on Archie Roberts could come under scrutiny.
“It was clearly a much improved performance,” West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said.
“Really disappointing not to get a win.
“I thought we put ourselves in a really winnable position ... and even being able to dominate the last quarter, but we just weren’t able to score throughout that last quarter.”
Captain Oscar Allen was rested from Friday’s match – a move that raised eyebrows, given it was only round six and it was a winnable game for the struggling Eagles.
McQualter defended the move to rest him.
“It’s three games in 13 days. Every team in the competition will have players that can’t play all those three games,” McQualter said.
“So Oscar, we made a decision for the longevity of this season that he has a rest this week, and he’ll be fine next week.”
All eyes will be on Allen this week as West Coast gear up to play Hawthorn – the team whose coach wants to recruit him.
Hawthorn are keen to recruit Allen at the end of the season, and the star forward is also being heavily chased by Brisbane.
AAP
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