AFL 2021 Essendon v Western Bulldogs: All the news in the lead up to the elimination final
Four years after Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge drove Jake Stringer out of Whitten Oval, the rejuvenated Bomber is plotting his former club’s finals downfall.
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Jake Stringer has credited coach Ben Rutten for rebuilding his eroded self-belief and granting him the freedom that has seen the match winner transform into Essendon’s version of Dustin Martin.
Stringer is the No.1 rated player in the AFL since round 14 and will enter Sunday’s elimination final against his old Western Bulldogs teammates as the Bombers’ X-factor weapon.
The Dons are plotting to win their first final since 2004 and will fly to Tasmania with nothing to lose after storming into the top eight long before most members suspected they would be ready.
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They are set to enjoy the majority of support from the crowd, which will be capped at 10,000.
“All we needed was a ticket to the party and we’ve got that and we’ll see how far we can go,” Stringer declared.
Now the Bendigo boy will look to dominate the finals dancefloor on the back of a career-best season where he penned a bumper new three-year contract.
Stringer is the AFL’s No.1 centre-bounce player and, with Martin watching on this finals series, it is the bursting Bomber who could explode as a must-watch September wildcard.
Stringer’s 5.1 (31) outscored Gold Coast’s 4.6 (30) in round 22 and, perhaps more ominously, he produced the best performance of his 156-game career in Launceston, where Sunday’s final will be played.
Stringer torched Hawthorn with 29 disposals and 4.1 in round 14.
The Bombers improved their percentage by a whopping 30 points in Rutten’s first season at the helm as the complex gameplan the players started to learn in 2020 slowly pieced together as this year evolved.
While Geelong coach Chris Scott empowers Patrick Dangerfield to help decide his forward-midfield split each week, Stringer said he played where he was told.
“To be honest, I just literally rock up and (midfield and attacking coach) Blake Caracella goes, ‘You are playing here or you are playing there,” Stringer said.
“It’s never driven by me.”
Four years after Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge drove Stringer out of Whitten Oval, the Bombers have extracted his perfect blend of explosiveness in the middle and goalsense in attack.
The Dogs were slow to negotiate a trade with Essendon for their unwanted star and ended up having to accept picks 25 and 30 for a player who had earned All-Australian honours and won a premiership by the age of 23.
Stringer missed eight games with an ankle injury last year, but he got to work during the holidays to lay the foundations for a monster season some six years after he burst on to the scene with 56 goals as a 21-year-old.
“I’ve got a lot of trust in my body,” Stringer said.
“I had a really good pre-season and then I had a little bleed in my Achilles, which sort of set me back through the start of pre-season when we came back to the club.
“But I knew I’d done a power of work before getting there, so I knew I was going to be in good stead for the second half of the year.
“It seems to all be paying off now.
“This year the belief and the drive in the group has gone to another level and that’s obviously led from Ben Rutten.”
Next Pies coach ‘can’t succeed’ with board chaos
Collingwood will have a better chance of turning around its fortunes next year once the club remedies its protracted off-field instability, according to caretaker coach Robert Harvey.
Season 2021 has been tumultuous to say the least for the Magpies, who ended up in 17th spot on the ladder — their worst ever finish — with a change of president, a change of football manager, a senior coaching departure and an unresolved board challenge all occurring.
“Any club is better when all the positions are in place and that’s still yet to take shape everywhere, really,” Harvey said after the Magpies lost their final game of the year to Essendon.
“So in the end that’ll happen no doubt and everyone’s better for that. There’s been a lot of change in the football department this year within the season so in the end when that settles down you’re going to be better for it, that’s for sure.”
Harvey praised his players for continuing to front up each week under those circumstances.
“This is a tough year ... so for the players and the leaders in particular to be able to fight through that, to be able to direct the young guys to keep fighting on and to instill the right values in those young players, I’m really appreciative of the players and their effort for that,” Harvey said.
Harvey filled the breach left by Nathan Buckley, who parted ways with Collingwood after Round 13, and finished his caretaker stint with two wins from nine matches.
The former St Kilda champion admitted the experience whetted his appetite to become a full-time coach at some stage, but said he hadn’t yet spoken to the club about replacing Buckley permanently beyond 2021.
“I’ll let the dust settle and talk to ‘Wrighty’ (Collingwood football boss Graham Wright) and the powers that be tomorrow, so in the end I’m not sure where it sits, just processing at the moment,” he said.
“I’ve enjoyed the role, I’ve definitely enjoyed what I’ve done, I like what I do ... whatever the future holds we’ll see.
“Really appreciative of the opportunity that ‘Wrighty’ and the board gave me to be interim coach of a great footy club.”
Brad Scott, Don Pyke, Michael Voss, Craig McRae, Adam Kingsley and Jaymie Graham have all been touted as potential candidates to be Collingwood’s next coach.
Bombers bringing their best when it counts
Ben Rutten says Essendon is peaking at the right time as it chases a first finals win for 17 years against Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
Under Rutten the Bombers have emerged from one of the darkest periods in the club’s history this year to book an elimination final after toppling Collingwood by 38 points at the MCG on Sunday.
And Rutten faces several tough selection calls this week with Kyle Langford, Jye Caldwell and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti in the mix as the Bombers try to upset the Bulldogs for the second time in three weeks.
Gun forward McDonald-Tipungwuti played a full game in the VFL on Sunday but must regain conditioning as he works through some personal issues.
Rutten said while the club had beaten only one top-eight side this year — the Bulldogs by 13 points a fortnight ago — their game plan was designed to stand up in September.
“We want to be a club which prepares itself to be able to perform in winning finals,” Rutten said.
“That is what we started out to do, that is the way we have designed our footy program. That is the way we want to play.
“For us to get to the point where we are now has been really positive but it is not the end of our journey.
“We are here to keep performing and I think we have put ourselves in a good position to keep doing that.”
Rutten said the Bombers ignored St Kilda’s win against Fremantle earlier on Sunday, which effectively turned their “unique” match against the Magpies into a dead rubber in front of empty stands.
But the intensity will increase several notches on Sunday when Essendon chases a fourth-straight victory after overcoming injuries to some star midfielders mid-season.
“The last month has been a really important month for us,” Rutten said.
“It has certainly been the most consistent month we have played all season and the guys have taken a lot of belief and confidence out of that.”
The Bombers haven’t won a final since the 2004 elimination final win over Melbourne, which was 6196 days ago.
But Rutten said the club was proud of its history.
“That (drought) is just something that comes with our footy club, but we have also won 16 premierships,” Rutten said.
“That is part of what our players have really embraced throughout the course of this season — our history and really connecting there and bringing a lot of that with us.
“But they are also really clear this next chapter of our history hasn’t been written yet. We are on a journey.”
jay.clark@news.com.au
Dons roll out the Wright stuff to bring undone Doggies
Peter Wright has given the Western Bulldogs a timely reminder of the huge task that awaits them when they face Essendon in the first elimination final next week.
Just a fortnight after tearing the Dogs’ backline to shreds with a spectacular seven-goal performance, Wright produced a similar display on Sunday, as he dominated the bottom-three Magpies with four first-half goals, to help lead the Bombers to a comfortable 38-point victory at the MCG.
Wright’s big pack marking and accurate goalkicking proved a lethal combination once more, and with two of his three biggest bags of his career coming in the past three games, the former Sun is heading into the finals in top nick.
Of course Alex Keath, and potentially Ryan Gardner, will be back for the Dogs this time around, but either player will have their hands full.
The heat was taken out of this contest for Essendon before the first bounce, with victory not necessary as they already qualified for the finals thanks to St Kilda beating Fremantle in the early game on Sunday.
But far from resting on their laurels, they produced a clinical performance ahead of their return to the finals, to give the Bulldogs something to think about, especially considering the Bombers defeated them two weeks ago, kickstarting the rot they find themselves in.
In what was a pretty “bruise-free” affair, befitting a final-round game with nothing really riding on it, the Bombers’ superior pressure and goalkicking accuracy ultimately proved the difference in retiring Magpie Chris Mayne’s 248th and final game.
Collingwood undid its good work from the first quarter with a raft of costly turnovers, particularly in the second term, and the Bombers made the Pies pay dearly, kicking five consecutive majors before heading to the halftime break with a commanding 34-point lead to end the contest early.
SMITH HITS HIS STRAPS
Like Wright, Devon Smith has recaptured his best form at the right time of the year, setting up the victory with a brilliant first half, and finishing the game with 23 disposals, seven marks and two goals.
The most pleasing aspect of Smith’s performance was his unselfishness, which has been a source of criticism of the former Giant.
He registered 10 score involvements, including four goal assists, and probably played his best game since his best-and-fairest year of 2018.
SIDEBOTTOM’S COSTLY ERROR
Perhaps the most glaring Collingwood turnover came six minutes into the second term when Steele Sidebottom attempted an ambitious long kick across goal, but missed his target. Waterman collected the loose ball and dished it off to Sam Durham who combined with Smith to get it to Stringer and the ex-Bulldog easily finished the job unattended in the goalsquare to put Essendon up by 17 points.
YOUNG PIE BLANKETS PARISH
Playing in just his fifth game, Collingwood youngster Jay Rantall was given the huge task of tagging All-Australian contender Darcy Parish for most of the game.
And while the Collingwood youngster only had eight disposals, he restricted Parish to just 21 touches and three clearances, well down on his 2021 averages of 31 and eight respectively. Food for thought for the Bulldogs.
NOT-SO-SMART ALEC
In the shadows of quarter-time, Essendon forward Alec Waterman had a couple of moments he would rather forget as he gave away a pair of 50m penalties by exactly the same method. In the first instance he encroached the protected zone to bring Jeremy Howe from the backline to the centre square.
Howe then chipped it to Jordan De Goey who was infringed by Waterman yet again as the Essendon forward tried to make amends.
De Goey was then brought inside 50 and converted the set shot from directly in front. Luckily for Waterman, he more than made up for that minute of madness with four goals to be an influential performer in attack.
SCOREBOARD
BOMBERS 5.2 11.2 13.5 16.6 (102)
MAGPIES 4.2 5.4 7.8 9.10 (64)
LERNER’S BEST
Bombers: Smith, Wright, Merrett, Waterman, Cutler, Stringer, Redman.
Magpies: Elliott, Adams, De Goey, Mayne, Rantall.
GOALS
Bombers: Wright 4, Waterman 4, Smith 2, Stringer 2, Redman 2, Perkins, Snelling.
Magpies: Elliott 4, Cameron, Daicos, De Goey, Thomas, Hoskin-Elliott.
INJURIES
Bombers: Nil.
Magpies: Henry (right shoulder).
UMPIRES
Rosebury, Howorth, Findlay
VENUE
MCG
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3 D.Smith (Ess)
2 P.Wright (Ess)
1 Z.Merrett (Ess)
Revealed: Why Pendlebury’s not ruling out rival offers
— Jay Clark
Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury says he would consider a player-coaching deal from rival club, but expects to re-sign with the Magpies.
The champion onballer has ambitions to coach after he retires and says he would prefer to get a fresh perspective on the game at another club, rather than stay at the Magpies for his entire football career like Nathan Buckley did.
Fremantle, which has close ties with Pendlebury through senior coach Justin Longmuir, has previously made inquiries in the champion midfielder and could lose star ballwinner Adam Cerra to either Carlton or Richmond in the trade period.
Pendlebury, 33, is out of contract at the end of the season and has received only a one-year contract offer from Collingwood last week.
While the five-time best and fairest winner and six-time All-Australian was adamant his preference was to finish his playing days in black and white, he left the door slightly ajar on a move.
“I do have ambitions to coach,” Pendlebury said on Triple M.
“And I would like to step away from this football club and just get some experience elsewhere, because all I have known since I was 17 is this football club
“But I definitely, and I’m on the record as saying, I really want to be a one-club player.
“So hopefully we nut something out soon but — and it was even you that said it that clubs should be trying to put (player-coach) packages together for me.
“If they want to offer me future coaching gigs for in a couple of years’ time I’ll have a look at it.”
Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge made a shock move from Waverley to Brisbane where he helped the young team into September in 2019.
Pendlebury, one of the Magpies’ greatest-ever players and their games-record holder on 334 matches, is recovering from a hairline fracture in his leg which ended his season.
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