That’s all we have for your live blog tonight.
We will be back with a special AFL Sunday blog tomorrow afternoon as we go through the last three games of Gather Round, including the blockbuster clash under lights between Hawthorn and Port Adelaide.
So please join us in the afternoon.
Thanks for joining us and bye for now.
Steven May was fuming after his defensive mark wasn’t paid, resulting directly in a Bombers goal.Credit: AFL Photos
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says he is the man to lead the Demons to a turnaround in form, and he’s confident that turnaround isn’t too far away.
Goodwin said his side wasn’t good enough for long enough at present, but he took confidence from the third quarter where his side scored five goals to three against the Bombers, despite now being able to complete their comeback with a win.
When asked if he was the man to lead the Demons moving forward, Goodwin was certain in his response.
“I’m incredibly confident – it’s not about me,” Goodwin said.
“It’s about the club, the team and about these players.
“We’ve had a lot of challenges during my time at the footy club, and I feel pretty well-credentialed to do that. We are in a pretty challenging spot right now, we acknowledge that, and my focus is doing my job to the best of my ability.
“I believe I’ve got the credentials to do it, we’ve got the team to move forward, and we are going to go about doing it.”
Goodwin said his side had to start taking their chances up forward, among other things.
“We need to get our most senior players playing their best footy and that will give us the best chance to see a clear identity,” Goodwin said.
“You saw that for a quarter tonight, we need to make sure you are seeing it more than you are right now.
“It can turn pretty quickly - people say that all the time, it’s never as bad as you think and it’s never as good as you think.
“It will turn and we will be away.”
Max Gawn does battle with Nick Bryan.Credit: AFL Photos
Bombers coach Brad Scott fears ruckman Nick Bryan has injured his ACL, but says the young big man will need scans to confirm the damage.
“[It’s] unfortunately a suspected ACL at this stage,” Scott admitted in the post-match.
Bryan left the ground in the first half of the win over Melbourne and finished the match on crutches with his knee in a sleeve.
Jordan Ridley of the Bombers handballs.Credit: Getty Images
Bombers coach Brad Scott has paid tribute to his side’s last line of defence following their win over Melbourne tonight.
Scott said the work of Zach Reid, Jordan Ridley and Ben McKay was crucial to the win, especially when the Demons were dominating at centre bounces.
“Tonight we were on for most of the game, Melbourne challenged us in the third quarter, but we showed good character to go back again,” Scott said.
“It was led by our back six or seven, especially our three last-line defenders – McKay, Reid and Ridley. They’ve only played a handful of games together.
“We were convincingly beaten at centre bounce, and that can put your defence under significant pressure, but they only scored one point from centre bounces and that was largely due to our last-line defenders.”
Max Gawn leads the Demons off the ground after their loss to the Bombers.Credit: Getty Images
Melbourne skipper Max Gawn says his club is “off”, “flat” and “not where they want to be” as they hit a 0-5 start to 2025.
“The game has changed a tiny bit, but I still think dominating clearance matters,” Gawn told Fox Footy.
“In games we have lost clearance, we have lost and games we have won clearances, we have won.
“All the talk this week was about tiding up our inside 50s.
“But you are not going to win games of footy when you roll out a first quarter like tonight. We are going to get thrown all the stats in the world about our inside-50 count this week, but if we give a side 20 points and lay six tackles in the first quarter, in a game where we are 0-4 and playing in prime time, we are not going to catch that up.
“We are all pretty flat. 0-5 is not where we want to be, but there is still a whole lot of season ahead. We are going to stay connected, roll on to Fremantle at the MCG and, hopefully, clean up a few things during the week.”
Gawn added the side had to take their opportunities to score as they continue to create them.
“We are just off at the moment,” Gawn said.
“Other sides have gone to work on us too many times now. With adversity comes a challenge, and I’ve said that the last few times – we have shown glimpses. I’m really keen to get back to work this week.
“We have a lot of opportunity, all we can do is keep training our skills, our calmness and our leading patterns but, to be honest, we were off in our cleanness [with the footy] today. Essendon were clean with the ball and we weren’t.”
Dons ruckman Sam Draper won’t put a ceiling on what his young side can do.
The young Bombers will continue to chase wins and Draper won’t have any talk about rebuilding or developing, he wants wins now.
Max Gawn of the Demons and Sam Draper of the Bombers compete.Credit: Getty Images
“We feel like we can cause some damage as a team,” Draper told Fox Footy.
“We are really young but we are really exciting and there is no ceiling on what we can do.”
Draper also said his manager would begin contract talks with the Dons.
“It’s in progress now and my manager will speak to the club in a few weeks and we will see what happens from that but I’m really happy with this win,” Draper told Fox Footy.
Both Jye Menzie and Zach Merrett praised Essendon’s focus on team play as a key factor in their win over Melbourne tonight.
Menzie kicked a career-best four goals but said they all came from the work of his teammates.
Zach Merrett of the Bombers kicks the ball.Credit: Getty Images
“It felt good. It’s based off the team, they got me a lot of the goals. We did a lot of work as a team and it paid off in front of goals,” Menzie told Fox Footy.
“Tackle, pressure, run my patterns and play a typical half-forward role.”
Merrett, who had 37 disposals, said team defence remained a big area to improve for his side.
“All the boys are trying to buy in and get better at team defence and the last two weeks have been a good example of that,” Merrett told Fox Footy.
Nate Caddy attempts a high mark over Sam Draper and Max Gawn.Credit: AFL Photos
Essendon were too fast, too alert and too potent as they condemned Melbourne to another loss and scored a memorable win in front of more than 45,000 fans at Adelaide Oval.
The Dons are still a work in progress. but they made the Demons look a team of the past by using the ball smartly, running hard for each other, and backing young guns like Jye Menzie, Nate Caddy and Isaac Kako in to play their games.
Menzie kicked his fourth goal on the siren just to make sure of the win.
Melbourne have started a season 0-5 for the first time since 2012 and 2021 premiership coach Simon Goodwin’s tenure as Melbourne coach has to be under pressure, despite being contracted until 2026. The team have managed just under 10 goals again, and their top score for the season is just 74.