‘Freo had time for a coffee’: Damning vision exposes ‘dawdling’ Dons

An Essendon star has been slammed by AFL greats Garry Lyon and Nick Riewoldt after being exposed by damning vision.

Damning vision has shown just how lacklustre Essendon were against Fremantle.

Damning vision has emerged from Essendon’s disastrous loss to Fremantle, where players simply walked or stood still while the Dockers ran the ball out of defence.

Fremantle were able to blow the game apart in the third term, and kicked 10 goals to three to finish the match.

Fox Footy’s Mark Robinson believes Essendon’s season is now over, after a fourth loss in five games to start 2022.

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As vision showed a lack of run and chase from the club’s midfielders and half forwards, Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon said the players’ actions were “extraordinary” in the loss on Sunday.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be hit over the head with a baseball. That is embarrassing that vision there,” he said.

Lyon singled out midfielder Darcy Parish and his reluctance to work hard when Fremantle had the footy.

Vision showed Parish allow Docker Travis Colyer to simply run past him and send the ball inside forward 50 with ease.

“When you see these sorts of efforts, then you know you’re having an issue,” he said On The Couch.

“Standing and walking is not what you need from a midfielder.

“That’s not what you want from the bloke who’s going to set a standard for you in the middle of the ground.”

Damning vision has shown just how lacklustre Essendon were against Fremantle.

A second clip showed Parish fail to chase, and start walking when opponent Caleb Serong got involved at a stoppage and fed the ball out for another inside 50.

“You can’t walk when the ball’s three metres from you in a congested heated area,” Lyon said.

“This is not a cheap shot. This is a bloke last year that we spent last year lauding.”

Nick Riewoldt was stunned watching the vision and said Parish needed to be held accountable.

“This is the issue, he was lauded winning the football and having high possession games so you get seduced by that as a player. And then that becomes the way you measure yourself,” he said.

“You look to the accountability internally – who is holding him accountable to those standards? Is he getting it from the coach? Are they showing that in a review on Monday morning? Are teammates looking at that saying ‘C’mon Darcy, you’ve got to play two ways’.”

Lyon said it was a “challenge” for all players to find ways to repeat good form year on year, and labelled the Bombers start to 2022 as a “substantial fall from grace”.

Damning vision has shown just how lacklustre Essendon were against Fremantle.

Jonathan Brown said the lack of forward line pressure meant Fremantle had time to assess their options and hit targets inside 50.

“The defensive profile is not stacking up,” he said.

“Look at the amount of time Fremantle has to go to feed back – they’ve had time to have coffee!

“Essendon half forwards are dawdling in, it felt like as if the Fremantle midfielders the whole third quarter from centre bounce had all day!”

Another clip showed the Dockers simply run the ball straight out of defence.

“This is a stoppage in your forward 50 – look at the lack of effort and the walking getting done by your Essendon midfielders and half forwards,” he said.

“The game is still on there!

“No wonder Ben Rutten is questioning them when you see vision like that. That third quarter is littered with it.”

Essendon currently sit in 15th with just one win for the season, after losses to Geelong, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle. Their one win came by four points over Adelaide in Round 4.

Originally published as ‘Freo had time for a coffee’: Damning vision exposes ‘dawdling’ Dons