Essendon’s finals hopes in jeopardy after shock loss to Crows
Could it really happen again to the Bombers? With five games left this season, finals looks no certainty, but they remain bullish that they are a better side than the one that capitulated in 2023.
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Essendon forward Kyle Langford has declared his team will have five weeks to prove whether it has grown up or not over the past year as the Bombers stare down another deflating late-season fade out.
In a seesawing shootout on Friday night, Essendon clawed back from a 36-point deficit to hold a 16-point lead in the final term, only for an injury-ravaged Adelaide side to run over the top and steal a win.
It was the third disappointing fade out in the past month for the Bombers, having been overrun by Geelong in round 17 and out-muscled by Melbourne last week.
The Crows loss left Essendon with a 2-5 record since round 12 and a potential top-four spot has crumbled.
Given Essendon’s terrible percentage of 98.7 – of teams in the finals hunt only Hawthorn (95.4) fares worse – the Bombers will need to win at least three of their last five matches, and potentially four of five, to make finals.
Essendon faces St Kilda (Marvel Stadium) next week before a tough final month against Fremantle (MCG), Gold Coast (Marvel Stadium), Sydney (Marvel Stadium) and the Brisbane Lions (Gabba).
Important midfielder Jye Caldwell was cleared of concussion on Friday and should face the Saints next weekend and veteran Dyson Heppell could come back in.
The Bombers will again debate whether to play ruck Todd Goldstein or forward Peter Wright – Goldstein had just five handballs, no kicks and 19 hitouts when sharing ruck duties with Sam Draper against the Crows.
Essendon sat in fifth spot on the ladder after round 16 last year and an awful 2-5 finish to the year dashed any finals chances in Brad Scott’s first year as coach.
Scott said after the Adelaide loss that his side was “infinitely better” than in 2023 and Langford agreed.
But amid a gloomy rooms on Friday night, the Bombers players knew they have plenty to prove on the run home.
“We still have five more games to at least qualify for finals,” Langford said.
“We have so much footy ahead and still our best footy to come, I guess it is exciting.
“We were in a similar point last year and I guess we will see what we have learnt and whether we have matured or not.
“It is about continuously believing in what we are doing. We are a better side than what we were last year and I think fundamentally our game is really good. It’s just leaking the easy goals or the transition from forward 50 to defensive 50 that has hurt us multiple times this year. The more we can stop that and keep it in our half the better we will be.”
Multiple times on Friday night, Adelaide cut the ball straight through Essendon and went end-to-end for goals, as the Crows piled up 30 scoring shots from just 53 inside-50s.
The Crows booted on eight goals in a row in a blistering second quarter to set up the 36-point lead.
In the past seven matches the Bombers have conceded an average of 94.7 points per game, a mark that would put them ahead of only West Coast, North Melbourne and Richmond across the entire season.
Langford said stopping opposition runs was a lingering issue.
“We are obviously frustrated and disappointed in the result,” he said.
“That second quarter they kicked eight goals straight and that really killed us and it’s something we are working on, stopping momentum and the big impacts.”
ANALYSIS: SCOTT SEARCHES FOR ANSWERS AFTER BOMBERS CAPITULATION
What happened in that second quarter?
And what happened in the fourth?
If the world’s internet is properly rebooted on Saturday morning, Brad Scott will be waking up searching for the replay to understand how his side let it slip.
In a contender for the game of the season, the Crows pinched one back from the Bombers and left Essendon’s finals hopes in the lurch.
Josh Rachele’s stunning left foot snap in the final quarter claimed one back for a stunningly undermanned Adelaide.
With just three minutes to go and the Bombers up by two goals, Scott appeared to do what IT boffins around the world couldn’t on Friday and found the reboot button.
Having lost connection in a disastrous second quarter, Essendon went into half-time with a sour taste and it was that term that cost them dearly in the end.
The Dons let through eight goals in a row to Adelaide in the second term and fell into a 36-point sinkhole.
Scott couldn’t press Alt-Ctrl-Delete quick enough.
The Crows, embattled for so long this year, couldn’t comprehend their luck in that second term.
Ben Keays strolled into three easy goals directly from backline Bomber blunders, from Ben McKay, Mason Redman and then McKay again.
In the 17 minutes of madness, the Crows slammed through eight goals and turned an 11-point deficit to a 36-point lead.
The Crows kicked 9.1 (55) in that quarter, their best effort in a single term since round 6, 2021.
How could that happen for an Essendon side that had wiltered under the heat of Melbourne six days earlier, and folded in the second half against Geelong a fortnight before that?
When the Bombers pushed themselves back into the lead in the second half, Crows players fell like flies.
Nick Murray (knee) kept the bench to three for much of the first term before he was subbed out, Jordon Butts (ankle) sat for much of the third term before eventually succumbing and skipper Jordan Dawson was battered and bruised all night.
The Bombers lost Jye Caldwell to a dangerous Keays tackle, but that just allowed them to sub Archie Perkins in.
Who could forget the way things ended between these two sides earlier in the year, when Sam Draper sat on the ball in Adelaide’s forward line and got away with it, mimicking his action later that night to derision from the footy world.
This time, Draper was left on his bum on the final siren, perhaps floored by the karma bus.
In a dark season, it was a clear, bright highlight for Matthew Nicks.
If they snatched the points, Essendon would have sat second on the ladder on Friday night.
But their negative percentage all year has shown the Bombers aren’t in the top-tier of sides and good sides simply don’t have persistent lapses like that.
It will be left to Scott to find the tape in the morning, reboot his laptop and try to find a solution.
It seemed to take an eternity for the computer nerds across the globe on Friday but Essendon doesn’t have as much time to find a groove before the top eight is decided.
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Originally published as Essendon’s finals hopes in jeopardy after shock loss to Crows
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