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Essendon vs Adelaide

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 20   Venue: Docklands   Date: Sat, 15-08-2015 1:45 pm   Crowd: 25,914  
Essendon 4.3.274.6.306.10.468.11.59 C:  James Hird
Adelaide 3.3.219.6.6016.8.10427.9.171 C:  Scott Camporeale
  ESS by 6ADEL by 30ADEL by 58ADEL by 112  
Weather
min temp  10.0°C      max temp  14.9°C
rainfall  0.4mm    humidity  73%    air pressure  1030.0mb
wind speed 11km/h      wind direction  SSW
Brownlow Medal 3 Patrick Dangerfield (ADEL)2 Eddie Betts (ADEL)1 Sam Jacobs (ADEL)

Match Report

With some matches, it's difficult to know whether the result tells us more about the winner or the loser. In the case of Adelaide's 112-point win over Essendon at Docklands on Saturday - as good as the Crows were - the outcome is an indication that the Bombers are currently at their lowest ebb in a long, long time. The Dons were actually a goal ahead of Adelaide at quarter time in this match but their efforts in the last three terms, in which they were outscored 24 goals to four, betrays a group that has lost its way completely on the football field in the wake of the ongoing supplements saga.

Notwithstanding Essendon's troubles, Adelaide's last five weeks have been quite outstanding. The Crows were thrashed by West Coast in their first match after the death of they're coach Phil Walsh but have since won four out of five games. Their performance against Sydney was below par, but the other four wins have demonstrated that their best is capable of taking them some way into September. 

Saturday's first quarter was by far the Bombers' best. After Taylor Walker opened Adelaide's account with a goal of at the two-minute mark, the Dons scored four of the next six goals - two to Cale Hooker - to lead by an even goal at the first break. But Essendon's fall away in the second term was dramatic, as the Crows took control as soon as it began. A goal to Rory Sloane at the two-minute mark was followed by another to Jarryd Lyons three minutes later and the Crows would go on to add another four majors for the quarter, restricting Essendon to just three behinds. Adelaide's lead at the long break was 30 points. 

An impending and sadly increasingly familiar sense of doom would have enveloped Bomber fans when the second half began. Within the first 15 minutes the Crows had added five goals to nil, through Eddie Betts (two), Charlie Cameron, Josh Jenkins and Patrick Dangerfield, to skip out to a 10-goal lead. The Dons fought back in the latter part of the third term, kicking two of the last four majors, but the margin was still a massive 58 points at the final end-change. 

The last quarter became a proverbial procession. The Bombers split the points with the Crows in the first 10 minutes, each side scoring two goals. But for the last 20 minutes of the match, Crows players simply lined up for their turn to kick a goal. They added nine moire without Essendon scoring so much as a point, to win by 112 points and take Geelong's place in the top eight.

Dangerfield (27 touches, three goals) and Tom Lynch (two goals, 26 disposals) were among Adelaide's many good players, while Cale Hooker (19 possessions, two goals) flew the flag for the Bombers. 

The Crows will look to hold their place in the eight with a home win over Brisbane next Saturday night, while Essendon will hope to put up a better performance against Gold Coast at Carrara on the same day. The Dons will do so without coach James Hird after it was agreed that he and the club would part ways on the Tuesday after the match.

GOALS
Essendon: Hooker 2; Dempsey, Laverde, Hibberd, Edwards, Zaharakis, Melsham
Adelaide: Betts 5; Dangerfield, Walker, Jenkins 3; Sloane, Cameron, Lynch 2; Lyons, Van Berlo, Atkins, Knight, Crouch, Smith, Jacobs

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Essendon: Hooker, Edwards, Myers, Goddard
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Betts, Lynch, Sloane, Laird, Crouch, Jacobs

BEST - THE SUNDAY AGE
Essendon: Hooker, Myers, Baguley, Laverde
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Lynch, Betts, Jacobs, Sloane, Crouch, Laird

INJURIES
Essendon: Myers (back), Giles (ankle)
Adelaide: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Jake Melksham replaced Kyle Langford in the third quarter.
Adelaide: David Mackay replaced Jake Lever at three-quarter time.

UMPIRES: Fisher, O'Gorman, Nicholls

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Hamish McLachlan, Tim Watson, Andrew Welsh

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.

Match stats

Essendon Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
12 Baguley, Mark 6 4 8 14 0 0 0 1 2 1 28y 86d 69 2
22 Carlisle, Jake 7 7 11 18 0 0 0 2 1 0 23y 318d 82 54
6 Daniher, Joe 4 4 4 8 0 0 6 2 1 0 21y 164d 45 65
15 Dempsey, Courtenay 13 7 1 14 1 0 0 1 1 0 27y 352d 117 28
19 Edwards, Shaun 10 2 3 13 1 1 0 2 2 0 21y 245d 19 10
27 Giles, Jonathan 5 1 3 8 0 1 20 3 4 2 27y 219d 54 40
35 Gleeson, Martin 6 4 11 17 0 0 0 1 1 0 20y 355d 28 4
9 Goddard, Brendon 13 7 21 34 0 1 1 5 1 0 30y 87d 266 148
21 Heppell, Dyson 20 7 10 30 0 1 1 7 0 1 23y 93d 103 30
1 Hibberd, Michael 11 6 12 23 1 0 0 2 0 1 25y 224d 82 11
39 Hocking, Heath 9 1 6 15 0 0 0 6 2 1 27y 231d 121 40
26 Hooker, Cale 11 6 8 19 2 2 2 3 2 2 26y 306d 130 20
40 Howlett, Ben 8 3 5 13 0 0 0 5 1 3 26y 298d 114 56
30 Langford, Kyle 4 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 18y 257d 7 3
33 Laverde, Jayden 9 8 11 20 1 0 0 4 1 2 19y 125d 6 4
17 Melksham, Jake 7 3 2 9 1 0 0 0 0 2 23y 351d 111 56
20 Merrett, Jackson 11 9 10 21 0 1 1 2 0 0 22y 169d 40 18
23 Myers, David 14 5 8 22 0 0 0 0 0 1 26y 46d 85 26
16 Pears, Tayte 7 5 11 18 0 0 0 1 0 1 25y 144d 69 3
5 Stanton, Brent 21 7 9 30 0 0 0 4 0 0 29y 106d 245 153
25 Steinberg, Ariel 6 2 4 10 0 0 0 1 1 0 22y 354d 10 0
11 Zaharakis, David 13 4 9 22 1 0 0 5 0 1 25y 175d 123 95
  Rushed   4  
  Totals 215 104 169 384 8 11 31 57 20 19 24y 296d 1926 866
Adelaide Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
21 Atkins, Rory 14 5 4 18 1 0 0 0 0 1 21y 34d 4 1
18 Betts, Eddie 10 6 4 14 5 0 0 2 1 2 28y 262d 224 390
16 Brown, Luke 12 4 7 19 0 0 0 2 0 0 22y 327d 64 3
23 Cameron, Charlie 9 5 5 14 2 0 0 5 1 0 21y 41d 24 33
44 Crouch, Matt 11 6 15 26 0 0 0 1 1 2 20y 116d 20 4
32 Dangerfield, Patrick 13 4 14 27 3 1 0 6 2 2 25y 132d 149 160
15 Hartigan, Kyle 4 3 4 8 0 0 1 0 1 1 23y 281d 23 0
45 Henderson, Ricky 10 6 4 14 0 0 0 1 0 0 26y 338d 76 41
24 Jacobs, Sam 10 9 8 18 1 0 38 1 2 3 27y 127d 122 28
4 Jenkins, Josh 11 6 2 13 3 3 10 1 1 1 26y 188d 64 109
39 Knight, Riley 8 3 5 13 1 0 0 2 0 1 20y 141d 6 5
29 Laird, Rory 21 9 10 31 0 0 0 3 1 0 21y 229d 52 5
6 Lever, Jake 8 2 3 11 0 0 0 1 3 1 19y 163d 10 0
27 Lynch, Tom 18 10 8 26 2 1 0 0 1 1 24y 334d 55 76
31 Lyons, Jarryd 9 1 9 18 1 0 0 2 1 2 23y 24d 31 15
14 Mackay, David 4 1 4 8 1 0 0 1 0 0 27y 21d 142 44
9 Sloane, Rory 12 7 12 24 2 0 0 11 2 1 25y 151d 113 69
33 Smith, Brodie 14 5 6 20 1 0 0 0 1 0 23y 213d 92 27
12 Talia, Daniel 7 5 4 11 0 0 0 2 1 0 23y 317d 93 5
5 Thompson, Scott 6 5 15 21 0 0 0 3 0 1 32y 154d 280 156
7 Van Berlo, Nathan 11 4 6 17 1 0 0 4 0 0 29y 70d 197 68
13 Walker, Taylor 11 9 4 15 3 1 0 1 0 1 25y 112d 102 241
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 233 115 153 386 27 9 49 49 19 20 24y 204d 1943 1480

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.