‘Our players deserved the end result’: Scott backs Bombers’ controversial win

Essendon’s three-point victory stirred the Adelaide crowd into raucous booing after a potential free kick in front of goal was overlooked by umpires in the dying seconds.

The Adelaide crowd was livid, claiming Essendon ruckman Sam Draper should have been pinged for holding the ball. The Bombers big man was laying on the ground, on top of the ball, 20m from Adelaide’s goal.

Had it been awarded against Draper, Taylor Walker was the tackler and would have taken the kick. The Adelaide players were jumping up and down, appealing for the umpire to blow their whistle in their favour. Instead, time was called on the game.

Seven commentator Luke Hodge says it was a free kick. “It looked like he was laying down, going to sleep,” Hodge said.

Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon agreed: “It looked like he fell on it, and dragged it in. He just looks like he had that massive frame cradling that ball and not letting anyone at it.”

“On any part of the field, at any time of the game, that is a free-kick,” Nathan Buckley said.

Seven’s Matthew Richardson was not as convinced. He said the ball was dragged back under Draper by the Crows tackler.

As the Essendon players jumped for joy at the siren, the Adelaide crowd erupted with boos.

Essendon are now 4-2 heading into the Anzac Day game against Collingwood. The Crows have sunk to 1-5, and their season is almost shot.

The Crows react with disappointment.Credit: James Elsby / AFL Photos / Getty Images

Disappointed Crows coach Matthew Nicks.Credit: AFL Photos / AFL Photos

Sam Draper.Credit: Getty Images

Brad Scott: I thought were right on top, in the first half in particular. But we couldn’t really gap them as much as we obviously would have liked to with, with some ascendancy in certain parts of the ground. But on the flip side, they came out after half-time to kick four goals in a row, and put a bit of a gap on us. That momentum can be hard to arrest away from home, when the Crows have got their tails up. I thought it was a really good game of footy. I thought the Crows held up their end of the bargain and so did we, and it went down to the wire and could have gone either way. But I’m pretty comfortable saying that our players deserved the end result.

Question: What did you put your inside 50 dominance down to, and why you couldn’t make more of it?

Scott: Well, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. I mean, we probably had a lot of inside 50s because we weren’t scoring from them. So it was coming back out. But we were pleased we’re able to hold up our system to get the ball back in. But, our forward structure was an area of concern for most of the night. We didn’t nail it in the way that we would have liked. The Crows got numbers back really well. And, you know, we had to adjust things at each break in terms of the way we went inside 50. I think we ended up with 62 inside 50s for the night. Now that’s a pretty good number. That’s going to give you a really good chance of getting a result each week.

Question: What were your thoughts on the Draper call at the end of the game?

Scott: Yeah, I mean, I haven’t looked at a replay. There were masses of numbers around the ball. There were a lot of decisions on holding the ball for and against throughout the night. We will obviously focus on the one in the last couple of seconds. But I can show you a couple of others too if you like.

Question: What did you make of those last few minutes?

Matthew Nicks: Yeah, the last couple of minutes, we managed to get the game on our terms. I thought were really aggressive and assertive towards the end, but it was too late unfortunately. I thought we looked slow and reactive early, which put us on the backfoot, and then we were scrapping right throughout that first half to stay in it. Credit to Essendon, they were sharp early, but we were off, which we’ll look into. So being on the backfoot, you know, scrapping through a half of footy, we thought we could reset at the break, but it wasn’t to be.

Question: What do you put your slow start down to?

Nicks: At the moment, it’s a hard one to put a finger on. Other than our opposition. Give them credit where it’s due, they did look quick and fast. And they were first on the loose ball gets - I think we went minus-15 on the loose ball gets early. We lost the contest, we got out tackled, so it was just a lot of areas that weren’t working. Our backs were to the wall, and we hung in and hung in. But we expect so much more than that. So disappointing.

Question: Explain the inside 50 count, you only had 27 to three-quarter time?

Nicks: We’re just under pressure all night. We didn’t find a way to keep it in our front half or get it in there. So you’re not going to score many points doing that. In saying all that, we talk about the last five or 10 minutes of the game, and all of a sudden we’re in with a chance. With a bit of luck, maybe we fall across the line. But we would still be disappointed about the way we played the game tonight, even if it went our way.

Question: You said a bit of luck. Do you think you should have had a holding the ball decision?

Nicks: Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant there were a number of different opportunities … we had some chances.

Essendon captain Zach Merrett summed up his side’s get-out-of-jail three-point victory by saying “I was holding my breath” when teammate Sam Draper was laying on the ball in the dying seconds while Adelaide players appealed for a free kick.

Draper had fallen to the ground and the ball was dragged back underneath him as Crows forward Taylor Walker fell on him and laid the tackle.

Commentators were split on whether Draper was the one who pulled the football back into his body, or it was Walker.

Had Walker been awarded the free kick he would have kicked for goal after the final siren from 25m dead in front. A goal would have given Adelaide a three-point lead.

Draper told Channel Seven after the game, “I think I got pushed. My legs gave way. Either one, I’m not sure.”

When shown the footage, Draper said: “What else can I do?”

Merrett said the Bombers had learned the hard way last year that games could be snatched away after the final siren when Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston kicked an incredible match-winning goal.

“So, we certainly spend a lot of time and energy working on those moments and to execute it for the most part was very pleasing, but no doubt it was a line ball call.”

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks would not be drawn on the decision in his post-match press conference.

“I am not going to talk about umpiring, that will just add to the night,” Nicks said.

Tenacious Bombers

Only errant finishing prevented Essendon from sewing up Friday night’s thriller against Adelaide with plenty of time to spare.

The Bombers made life tough for themselves but, ultimately, they owed their heart-stopping win to the heat they applied when it mattered.

Essendon’s midfield engine room of skipper Zach Merrett, Sam Durham and Jye Caldwell applied a combined 24 tackles.

Their endeavours were matched by the Bombers’ forward line, which applied pressure from the opening bounce.

Rankine repressed

After his breakout five-star show against Carlton six days ago, Izak Rankine came crashing back to reality against Essendon.

Rankine, predictably, started the match in the centre square, where he was greeted by giant-slaying Sam Durham, but the electric Crow could only muster two first-half disposals.

A frustrated Rankine began the third term by dump-tackling Caldwell - it is a tackle that will be looked at by the MRO. Caldwell’s head hit the ground, but he did have a hand free. It looked eerily similar to Charlie Cameron’s tackle last week on Jake Lever. Maybe Rankine will need to call on the “good bloke” tax to avoid a penalty.

Adelaide’s midfield breach was superbly filled, firstly by captain Jordan Dawson, then by emerging gun Jake Soligo.

Rankine rose out of his rut briefly in the fourth, producing a thrilling four-bounce run along the member’s wing and a magnificent snapped goal.

Frantic Finish

All 36 players were beavering away at the River End as Adelaide forged a series of repeat entries in the dying seconds.

Josh Rachele missed a go-ahead shot with 30 seconds left, moments after Taylor Walker appealed for high contact against Ben McKay.

Reilly O’Brien got the tap at a forward stoppage inside the last 10 seconds where Walker gained possession and tried desperately to free the footy.

A scrap for the footy finished with Sam Draper lunging on top of the pill, just in time for the full-time siren to sound, Walker making a bee-line for umpire Nathan Toner to appeal for a holding-the-ball decision against the big Bomber, to no avail.

The pain of defeat for Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks.Credit: Getty Images

The match finished in high drama as Sam Draper’s body was over the footy. There’s plenty of debate already whether he should have been penalised.

On Fox Footy, commentator Nathan Buckley argued that technically on any part of the field at any time of the game that is a holding the ball infringement.

Buckley says it was clear from the reaction of the Adelaide players that the umpire had made the call that it was a ball up before the siren went.

What do you think? Have your say in the comments.

Essendon’s three-point victory stirred the Adelaide crowd into raucous booing after a potential free kick in front of goal was overlooked by umpires in the dying seconds.

The Adelaide crowd was livid, claiming Essendon ruckman Sam Draper should have been pinged for holding the ball. The Bombers big man was laying on the ground, on top of the ball, 20m from Adelaide’s goal.

Had it been awarded against Draper, Taylor Walker was the tackler and would have taken the kick. The Adelaide players were jumping up and down, appealing for the umpire to blow their whistle in their favour. Instead, time was called on the game.

Seven commentator Luke Hodge says it was a free kick. “It looked like he was laying down, going to sleep,” Hodge said.

Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon agreed: “It looked like he fell on it, and dragged it in. He just looks like he had that massive frame cradling that ball and not letting anyone at it.”

“On any part of the field, at any time of the game, that is a free-kick,” Nathan Buckley said.

Seven’s Matthew Richardson was not as convinced. He said the ball was dragged back under Draper by the Crows tackler.

As the Essendon players jumped for joy at the siren, the Adelaide crowd erupted with boos.

Essendon are now 4-2 heading into the Anzac Day game against Collingwood. The Crows have sunk to 1-5, and their season is almost shot.

A Josh Rachele snap misses the goals. He lands a point. They are three points down. Ten seconds to go

A minute to go. A ball up 15m from Adelaide goal.