Kangaroos fend off Bombers

Kangaroos 14.12 (96) def. Essendon 13.11 (89)

The Kangaroos made it back-to-back wins, and continued Essendon’s march to an unwanted record losing sequence, with a scrappy seven-point victory at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne tonight.

The Kangaroos, following the courageous 19-point comeback win last Friday night against Carlton, went into this match as firm favourites against fellow strugglers Essendon, who have been hit hard with injuries since the season opener.

While veteran fullback Dustin Fletcher returned, the Bombers were still missing several name players. Forward spearhead and skipper Matthew Lloyd, Jason Laycock, Dean Rioli and Jason Winderlich were the most notable absentees. In contrast, the Kangaroos went into the game injury free.

The Kangaroos got off to a superb start through Nathan Thompson and Daniel Wells. Essendon played keepings off early in a desperate bid to frustrate their opponents.

The Bombers finally got on the board mid-way through the term from a dubious 50-metre penalty to James Hird, who appeared to have played on but was tackled in the process of disposing the ball to a team-mate.

As the clock ticked into time-on, Daniel Wells found Shannon Grant, celebrating game 250, with a perfectly timed stab kick. Grant conversion on goal put the Kangaroos up by 15 points.

While Nathan Lovett-Murray hooked his set shot from the fifty, Dean Solomon snapped truly, a few minutes later against the tide, which saw Essendon trail by only seven points. However, the Kangaroos had one last shot, through Corey Jones, and took a 13-point lead into the first change.

Essendon dominated the opening term, despite trailing on the scoreboard. Jobe Watson stood out with five of his eight possessions contested, while Brent Stanton had 11 disposals.

Best for the Kangaroos in the first term were, Thompson and Grant.

A scintillating burst of speed from youngster Ben Schwarze opened the scoring in the second quarter for the Kangaroos. It was the first and only goal the men from Arden Street would get in the term as four shots that followed all missed.

At the other end, the Bombers turned a 20-point deficit, after seven minutes, into a five-point lead at the half time break. Scott Lucas made the difficult seem easy as he slotted through the first of four unanswered goals for Essendon from the forward pocket.

Loose checking by the Kangaroos allowed Essendon to grab a second major, Lovett-Murray on his own in the goal square received a handball from Chris Heffernan. That sparked wild scenes of celebrations from the Bombers’ faithful, though their team was still eight-points in arrears.

With acting captain David Hille dominating the ruck hit-outs, his Bomber’ team-mates were doing likewise around the ground. Heffernan’s stab kick, in the 21st minute, found Mark Bolton on a strong lead. Bolton took the mark 45-metres out and calmly converted to lock the scores at 5.7 (37) each.

Lovett-Murray put Essendon in front moments before the half time siren after he received a wayward punt into the Bombers forward line.

Stanton led the disposals at the main interval with 17, three ahead of Watson and Adam Simpson, who both had 14. Hille had 15 hit outs to David Hale’s six.

The third quarter had barely begun and Thompson was amongst the action. He flew over the gathered pack for a strong mark then slotted through his second major, which put the Kangaroos ahead again by one-point.

A further six goals, in the third term, followed for the Kangaroos, who turned an 11-point deficit after 12 minutes into a fairly comfortable 19-point lead at the last change.

Joel Reynolds was in the thick of the action early and put through Essendon’s seventh goal, in the eighth minute, after great lead-up play by Stanton and Hird.

Lucas put Essendon up by 12 with a free kick directly in front of goal after Glenn Archer infringed. Makepeace then unloaded from the edge of the centre square and found the middle of the goals despite the Bombers claiming it was touched on the line.

Scott Camporeale restored an 11-point lead only for Jess Sinclair and Saverio Rocca to spiral the ball from outside 50 and give the Kangaroos a slender one-point lead early in time-on.

Rocca slotted his second major from outside 50 in the shadows of three-quarter time, and following goals from David Hale and Thompson, the Kangaroos went into the last change leading by 19 points.

The nine-point rule, used during the pre-season might be a topic of discussion in the next seven days following the feat of three of the four consecutive Kangaroo goals during the third term came from long range.

While Stanton (28) led the disposal count again at the last change, Harvey (22) was closing in.

From another dubious 50-metre penalty, Adam McPhee gave Essendon some hope. However, any hope Essendon had was over in the fifth minute when Thompson slotted his fourth goal.

The Kangaroos fended off all challenges thrown at them in the final 20 minutes, ahead comfortably by an average of 16 points right to the final siren. Bombers’ rookie Andrew Lee kicked his first major after the siren.

Best for the Kangaroos were, Brent Harvey (32 disposals, 11 marks and four inside and rebound 50s), Adam Simpson (22 touches, seven contested) and Grant (21 disposals).

Essendon’s best were Brent Stanton (35 disposals, 14 marks, six inside 50’s), Jason Johnson (26 touches) and Watson (24 disposals, nine contested).

Next week, Fremantle hosts Essendon at Subiaco Oval on Friday night, while the Kangaroos travel down the road to the MCG for a clash with the Western Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.

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