By Jake Niall
Adelaide: Essendon’s midfield didn’t get obliterated by Port Adelaide because of any tactical breakdown. Brad Scott did not believe that the Bombers wanted for effort, either.
“It’s a good wake-up call for our guys, [but] it’s been a strength to our game,” said the Essendon coach after the 69-point loss at Adelaide Oval, harking back to the first three rounds, when the Dons’ midfielders, propelled by the metronomic consistency of their skipper, Zach Merrett, outran the Saints, beat up on the fledgling Hawks and went toe to toe against the Swans for three quarters.
Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee torched the Bombers on Friday night.Credit: AFL Photos
Scott couldn’t say it, but the carnage of Friday night’s midfield massacre was primarily due to Port Adelaide’s vastly superior top end of talent in the midfield.
“Port right now are where we want to be,” said Scott.
To properly review an underwhelming performance, Scott could do worse than invite Essendon’s recruiting department into the room and pose the question of where they might locate players of the calibre of Connor Rozee, Jason Horne-Francis and Zak Butters; Essendon, unfortunately, haven’t recruited anyone with that combination of acceleration and class for a long time.
Despite Merrett’s professional excellence and the extractive talents of Darcy Parish, Port Adelaide’s midfield trio represented a giant step up in class – from midweek welter to group 1 thoroughbreds – compared to St Kilda and Hawthorn.
In fairness, there isn’t a team in the competition with three young mids as formidable as Port’s.
Rozee and Horne-Francis were embarrassingly dominant, Butters merely classy and serviceable. The upshot was that Essendon were smashed 19-6 in centre bounces and Port scored heavily from the lopsided forward entries that ensued.
“Rozee and Horne-Francis were just totally dominant in that part of the game,” said Scott.
“Whatever we threw at them, they were good enough to beat us. That’s a disappointing part of the game, but that is the difference right at the moment between the two sides.”
Six days earlier, Melbourne managed to overcome Port’s edge in the midfield and territorial advantage (66 entries to 45) by dint of outstanding defensive work and superior efficiency, despite the absence of Steven May.
But the Demons have excellent, experienced defenders and also Max Gawn and Christian Petracca, plus Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney.
The Bombers don’t own those weapons, nor that quality of defensive rebound/interception (and Jordan Ridley was missing). Thus, they can only compete with the better teams – and occasionally overcome them – by raising their energy, effort and pressure to a higher pitch.
Essendon’s backline was besieged. Consider the deluxe service and sheer abundance that Jeremy Finlayson and returning Mitch Georgiades received from Port’s mids, compared to Essendon’s Harrison Jones.
Jeremy Finlayson takes a mark under pressure from Essendon’s Nik Cox.Credit: Getty Images
Scott stuck up for his defenders, headed by recruit Ben McKay. “I thought McKay was outstanding. I thought our defence held up under a tidal wave of pressure.”
If anyone is still questioning West Coast’s decision to retain pick No.1 and draft Harley Reid, rather than selling it for multiple lesser picks, they should watch the Port v Essendon match and especially Horne-Francis and Rozee; the value of the prospective midfield superstar was the underlying story of this mismatch.
“They’re obviously super players of our competition and I think every midfield in the comp, on their day, looks scary and can have their moments, but they probably had more than us today,” said Essendon vice captain and half-back Andrew McGrath of the midfield rout.
“Having Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis running sort of out of centre bounces and stoppages it’s a dangerous look against any defence.”
Where had the Bombers broken down?
“It’s hard to put a finger on it right now,” said McGrath. “Like, you think about different things but often when you look back at the vision there’s a whole lot of things that we’re not doing right.”
Insufficient pressure was a likely failing, McGrath suggested. “So it’s probably a lack of pressure from down defence and our midfield. But ideally, we don’t want teams running out the front of stoppages.”
Coaches cannot tell their players that they’ve simply been outclassed. Typically, the storyline from a bad loss will be that they didn’t defend, apply pressure or that ball use wasn’t up to standard this time. Pressure, of course, is something that even the less talented can bring to the fight.
Young Port gun Jason Horne-Francis was superb against Essendon.Credit: AFL Photos
Scott noted that Essendon had 18 more tackles and that their pressure, as it is measured these days, was “probably on the positive side of the ledger”.
To the naked eye, at the ground, Essendon’s pressure did appear to sag in the second quarter, as they buckled. Or was that simply that Rozee and Horne-Francis ran away from them and busted tackles?
Management of expectations after so long without tasting finals victory remains a tricky task for Scott and the Essendon hierarchy. The Bombers have three forthcoming major tests on the big stage – Friday nights against the Bulldogs and the Crows back here in Adelaide, followed by Anzac Day.
On this Friday night, the gap between Essendon’s aspiration and reality is roughly the same as the distance between Rozee, Horne-Francis and Butters and the Bomber mids.
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