Australian Football

Match Report

Essendon has ground out a win against a gritty GWS in a lacklustre affair at the Sydney Showground on Saturday night. The Bombers held sway for most of the evening but had withstand a spirited last-quarter charge from GWS, one which saw the Giants within a point halfway through that final term.

A mid-air kick from Cory Dell'Olio, playing his first game for 2014, sneaked through the big sticks to get the Bombers off to the best possible start at the one-minute mark of the term but goals would be hard to come by for much of the remainder of the match. Rory Lobb, in his first AFL match, answered for the Giants at the five-minute mark but the next major would not come until the 18-minute mark of the term when Ben Howlett marked and goaled for the Bombers. Jed Lamb responded for GWS two minutes later but Joe Daniher kicked the last of the quarter to give Essendon the first-quarter honours.

The second and third terms saw Essendon hold sway by a small margin against their younger opponents, the Bombers booting 2.5 to 2.3 in the second quarter, and 3.3 to 1.5 in the third.

With the Giants trailing by 20 points when the final quarter began, the match appeared to be meandering towards an uninspiring win to the Bombers. That impression was not altered in the first eight minutes of the quarter, with the net scoreboard result two behinds to GWS and one to Essendon in that period. But at the eight-minute mark, Adam Treload sparked the Giants into action, marking and goalling from 45 metres out. Teammate Rhys Palmer followed up with another major a minute later, bring the margin back to just seven points and the small crowd to life.

When Adam Tomlinson kicked the Giants' third for the quarter at the 12-minute mark, the margin was suddenly just one point and a major upset was on the cards. The Bombers were stung into action, Daniher marked and goaled from 40 out at the 15-miunute mark and Heath Hocking followed up with a running major two minutes later. At the 25-minute mark Brenton Stanton made a near certainty of the result with a running goal that took Essendon's lead out to 19 points. Treloar kicked one final goal for GWS at the 29-minute mark but it was too little, too late as the Dons sneaked home by 15 points.

Treloar (27 disposals, three goals) and Heath Shaw (31 possessions) played fine games for the home side, while the winners' best included David Zaharakis (34 touches and two goals) and Jobe Watson (27 disposals, three tackles). The game ended on a sour note for Watson as he limped off with a hip injury that was later diagnosed as a muscle-tear that would keep him on the sidelines for 10 weeks.

The win keeps Essendon's finals hopes alive. The Bombers are ninth on the ladder, one game behind the Gold Coast Suns. They will take on Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday. GWS has slipped to the bottom rung of the ladder, with just two wins from its 11 games. The Giants will travel to Brisbane to take on the Lions at the Gabba next Saturday night.

GOALS
GWS: Treloar 3; Palmer 2; Lobb, Lamb, Smith, Tomlinson
Essendon: Daniher 3; Dell’Olio, Zaharakis 2; Howlett, Ryder, Hocking, Stanton

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
GWS: Shaw, Treloar, Smith, Mumford, Ward, Shiel
Essendon: Zaharakis, Heppell, Daniher, Watson, Goddard, Stanton

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
GWS: Shaw, Mumford, Treloar, Ward, Shiel, Smith
Essendon: Zaharakis, Watson, Heppell, Stanton, Goddard, Daniher

COACHES' COMMENTS
Leon Cameron (GWS): We all want to win games but as I said to the players after the game, I'd prefer to have effort than composure at this stage. In the last quarter when we were going inside 50 and threatening we needed to make some better decisions. But our effort was first class, I thought.

Mark Thompson (Ess): I thought it was a workmanlike victory. It wasn't our best game but it wasn't certainly our worst. We won enough of the ball at times; we kicked goals at times; we defended the goals at times. It wasn't a complete match but I never felt at any stage we were going to lose the game. I come away fairly happy, really.

INJURIES
GWS: Hampton (shoulder)
Essendon: Watson (quad), Jason Winderlich (ill) replaced by Cory Dell'Olio

SUBSTITUTES
GWS: Stephen Coniglio replaced Curtly Hampton in the third quarter.
Essendon: David Myers replaced Dustin Fletcher in the third quarter.

REPORTS: David Myers reported in the third quarter for striking Devon Smith.

UMPIRES: Farmer, Burgess, Armstrong

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Brian Taylor, Luke Darcy, Matthew Richardson, Cameron Ling