Bombers fail under pressure of English test
On Friday night Tim English decided enough was enough so he did a Brodie Grundy on Essendon.
It takes a while to cast aside first impressions in AFL football.
For Tim English the early stages of his career have been forever linked with All Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy.
The Magpies star has torched English every time they’ve crossed paths and the beatings have stuck.
On Friday night English decided enough was enough so he did a Grundy on Essendon.
He brushed aside journeyman Andrew Phillips and then started picking off any Bomber who got in his way as he led the Bulldogs to an emphatic 42-point victory.
The 22-year-old, playing his 36th game, was unstoppable collecting a career-high 22 disposals, which included 17 contested possessions, four tackles, six clearances, 17 hit-outs and a goal.
His tap behind his head at a centre bounce in the opening quarter to a running Marcus Bontempelli that ended with a Matt Suckling goal was simply a thing of beauty.
Channel 7’s Brian Taylor summed up his performance brilliantly by saying: “The Essendon ruckmen are failing the English exam at the moment.”
Dylan Shiel was always going to leave a big hole in the Essendon midfield but no one expected it to be on the Grand Canyon scale.
Without their prime mover courtesy of a two-week suspension, the Bombers were overwhelmed by the intensity of the Dogs who were a completely different outfit to the one that was flogged by Carlton five days ago.
Young guns Andrew McGrath and Darcy Parish, who have enjoyed a fruitful month, were quiet while Devon Smith caught the eye more for giving away free-kicks than getting kicks.
The rebound from half-back that is the Bombers trademark was missing and they allowed the Dogs to pile on seven unanswered goals from late in the second quarter to midway through the final term.
It was left to full-back Cale Hooker to stop the slide when he went forward and snapped truly 12 minutes into the last quarter.
Every kid dreams of their first touch in AFL footy. Cody Weightman certainly lived up to his with a memorable moment to start his Western Bulldogs career.
At the 22-minute mark of the first quarter, the small forward took an impressive contested mark on the boundary line.
He then went back and kicked an extraordinary banana from 35 metres out to announce his arrival in the big time.
Last year’s No 15 pick in the national draft produced a couple of other flashes of brilliance including a clever snap in the opening 20 seconds of the last quarter.
Herald Sun
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