Australian Football

Match Report

A surprise for Essendon

It would be absurd to say that anyone with even a casual knowledge of football should be surprised at Collingwood beating Essendon. Yet on Saturday the forecast with the majority was, " Essendon are fast, and will play an open game; Collingwood are slower, and will lose by the abolition of the ruck. Therefore Essendon will win." To make the forecast the fact one has only to reverse the clubs. Collingwood played the fast game instead of crowding on to the ball as on the previous Saturday. Their system was immensely the better of the two, for while Essendon men were going up in groups and spoiling each other,

Strickland always picked the man who was to go for the mark, and his men obeyed him instantly; while Geo. Stuckey shouted instructions to Essendon until he was hoarse, and then couldn't make his men keep their places. The greatest Essendon fault was, however, that when they got the ball they seemed to linger over it, while Collingwood's action in such a case was quick and decisive.

These points of difference would alone have accounted for results, but the main cause of Collingwood's ascendancy was their remarkable goal-kicking in the first half with six tries, six goals, 36 points. Four of the goals were remarkably good ones, and no team could stand against such luck.

In the second half it was a ding-dong battle, with little advantage either way, for Essendon had improved considerably in their form. The scores show its evenness - Essendon, 3-1; Collingwood 2-2. Although Essendon were fairly beaten in a fast game, and freely admitted it, they must not be put aside as of no account this year. Playing a bad game as they did on Saturday, they had the ball over Collingwood's goal-line in the first half just as often as Collingwood was over theirs. The later stages of the game were a bit rough on both sides.

The Collingwood captain, Strickland, was a leader in a double sense, for no one in the team surpassed him for vigorous, fast football. They had a very good group of backs in Williams, Dow, O'Brien, and Monahan. Williams invariably carried his strong rushes through effectively, while Monahan was valuable in the later stages, through Collins beat him repeatedly in going for the high marks. Condon and Forbes both spoiled their own football repeatedly through over anxiety to spoil each other. They are too good, however, to be nonentities in any game. Pannam and Sime shone out at intervals on the wing; and Smith, Tulloch, and Tame were first-rate forwards, the last-named getting to the front with greater frequency than on the cycling track.

Tulloch got three goals for the side and Smith two, but McDonald, forward, also played a cool and effective game, showing some of the prettiest football of the day. Gregory also got two goals but was at his best as rover.

Essendon's luck was entirely out, for their famous back, Officer injured both his ankles early in the game, but with dauntless pluck played right through, when the pain of running was almost too great to bear. Just after Croft had marked a ball in goal Proudfoot accidentally fell over him, and he also had to be put in bandages by Dr. Kent Hughes, who must have been grieved to see his old colours so badly mauled.

Anderson was as good a man back as was Collins forward, the first-named finishing a losing game with the same vigour as he commenced it. Groves repeated his dashing Geelong game on the wing, and promises to be one of the brightest wing men of the season. Other first-raters on the side were- Wright, Stuckey, Waugh, Salkeld, and Cleghorn- the latter a Richmond junior, whom the local team had vainly sought to secure.