Australian Football

Match Report

Essendon remains undefeated after four rounds of the 2013 season after it comfortably defeated St Kilda at Docklands stadium in Saturday's twilight match. The match had added interest to the general public as it was Bomber Brendon Goddard's first match against his old side. Goddard had taken advantage of the AFL's new free-trade rules when he accepted a contract offer from Essendon that St Kilda could have matched, but chose not to.

As it turned out it was Goddard who kicked the match's first goal when he took a strong mark directly in front and converted for a goal. Alwyn Davey followed with another and took the Bombers out to an 11-point lead. But Beau Maister (formerly Beau Wilkes) then chimed in with two goals from a free kick and a mark to give St Kilda a one-point lead. Essendon then went about establishing a dominance that would last for the rest of the evening. Goals to Courtenay Dempsey, Jackson Merrett, Jobe Watson and Tom Bellchambers enable the Bombers to jump to a four goal lead, although a last-minute major to David Armitage cut that back to 18 points at the first break.

Over the remaining three quarters, Essendon continued to assert themselves. They outscored the Saints by 13 points, 4 points and 2 points in the last three terms to record a convincing 37-point victory. Reigning Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson continued his outstanding form for the Bombers, gathering 37 touches and kicking two goals, while late inclusion Scott Gumbleton was also excellent, kicking four goals. For the Saints, Armitage and Clint Jones were among their best, and Nick Riewoldt chipped in with three goals.

In a post-match interview, Goddard struggled to hold back tears as he told of the high regard in which he still held his ex-teammates.

For both sides, ANZAC Day fixtures now beckon, with top-of-the-ladder Essendon taking on seventh-placed Collingwood at the MCG before a sell-out crowd, while St Kilda (10th, 1 win) will travel to Wellington in New Zealand to take on Sydney (5th, 3 wins) in the first-ever match for premiership points to be be played outside Australia.

GOALS
St Kilda: Riewoldt 3; Maister, Saad, Dennis-Lane 2; Gilbert, Milne, Armitage, Steven
Essendon: Gumbleton 4; Hurley 3; Davey, Stanton, Watson, Bellchambers 2; Dempsey, Goddard, Howlett, Merrett

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
St Kilda: Jones, Armitage, Montagna, Steven, Roberton, Hayes
Essendon: Watson, Heppell, Goddard, Hurley, Hibberd, Gumbleton

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Armitage, Fisher, Roberton, Jones
Essendon: Watson, Heppell, Gumbleton, Hurley, Goddard, Hibberd, Stanton, Myers, Zaharakis

COACHES' COMMEMTS
Scott Watters (StK): We got a lesson around the contest. I thought in the contest ball work they looked bigger. They played with some real surety around the contest. They were able to strip the ball back off us but we couldn't get the ball back off them. They were very clean.

James Hird (Ess): The boys played well for the majority of the game. They probably scored than we would have like them to score but for 20-25 minutes of most quarters we were very good defensively. Individually I think our defenders played very well.

INJURIES
St Kilda: Maister (wrist)
Essendon: Hurley (ankle); Stewart Crameri (knee) replaced in selected side by Scott Gumbleton

SUBSTITUTES
St Kilda: Sebastian Ross replaced Terry Milera in the third quarter
Essendon: Jason Winderlich replaced Michael Hurley (ankle) in the third quarter

REPORTS
Stephen Milne (StK) reported for misconduct. (He accepted a one-match suspension.)

UMPIRES: Dalgleish, Chamberlain, Ryan