This was Essendon’s greatest test since Brad Scott since over a club that was divided, if not broken in key respects.
The Bombers cannot win a final and break that embarrassing 20-year drought until September. But if that benchmark cannot be negotiated for months, if they make the eight – Collingwood on Anzac Day represented another benchmark.
This Bombers outfit could win the home and away game that most closely resembles a final.
This time, they couldn’t quite manage a win and the 93,000 were left with that strange twilight zone of a non-result, in which no one is celebrating on the field or in the stands and the MCG was suddenly rendered almost as hushed as it was for the moment’s silence.
The 29th Anzac game, thus, repeated the result of the first in 1995. As a spectacle, it did not quite rise to the heights of 1995, but it was tense and had all the trappings of a final – and had highlights enough, none more special than Jamie Elliott’s hanger on the back of Ben McKay in the third quarter.
Jamie Elliott holds on to the grab.Credit: AFL Photos
So, there were two major storylines from this contest. One was the deadlock and history made, the other was the great leap forward by the Bombers.
To finish the game level with the 2023 premiers, against a team that had obliterated them in the dismal final game of last season, was a major step for the Essendon Football Club.
Kyle Langford’s opportunity to win Essendon the game, with about two minutes or a tick under left, was one that he would convert half or more of the time – 40 metres out, about a 45-degree angle. Had he nailed the shot, the Dons likely would have got up, albeit Collingwood are harder to put down than Rasputin.
But Langford’s previous goal had been tremendous (handing the Dons a two-goal lead) and his two-grab mark moments earlier in the final quarter had been the prelude to Nic Martin’s stunning snap, as the Bombers came from seven points adrift to wrest back the momentum.
Twice or three times on the verge of succumbing to Collingwood’s premiership-calibre pressure and experience, the Dons showed a capacity to withstand the premiers’ surges and periods of ascendancy. Critically, their back six held up during those onslaughts – Ben McKay is no one’s idea of Stephen Silvagni, but his presence and size has certainly enhanced Essendon’s backline and capacity to defend.
In the second quarter, when Collingwood surged back and dominated field position, the Essendon defence did enough to prevent a complete rout similar to when the Pies trampled on Port Adelaide five days earlier.
The Dons outgunned the Pies in the disputed balls and especially in the clearances for nearly the duration of the match (plus 20 to the Bombers). Overall, they were the team that played with the greater verve and enterprise.
The Pies have to consider whether they are fielding teams without the right balance between experience/composure and energy/vibrancy, Craig McRae having again erred on the side of veterans and proven campaigners. It was notable that youngster Harvey Harrison sparked Collingwood when he came on as substitute in lieu of Tom Mitchell in the final quarter.
The younger Dons had made a ballistic beginning, piling on four goals in quick succession from the opening bounce. Darcy Parish, subdued in recent weeks, snapped one and was on his game. Jake Stringer predictably sank one from 53 metres hemmed up against the boundary in front of the MCC members (and later missed from 15 metres), while Two Metre Peter Wright was troubling Darcy Moore and the Collingwood defence with a pair of goals.
Zach Merrett, no less predictably as Stringer’s ups and downs, was playing with his metronomic productivity and leading his younger teammates – an output that he maintained for the full two hours.
Merrett, deservedly took his first Anzac medal as best afield, shading his vice-captain Andy McGrath, who also stepped up and found a gear and played with intelligence throughout. The Dons had more of the better players on the day. Parish and Martin excelled, as did veteran ex-skipper Dyson Heppell and Langford, whose four goals were paramount.
Both sides can point to moments when an opportunity was fluffed. Elliott, had he held on to a mark in the forward pocket with not many seconds left, might have broken Essendon hearts again, as he had late in 2022 from near the boundary at the other end.
History repeated, but it was the reprise of 1995’s storied draw, not the 2022’s Collingwood snatch. Essendon did not deserve to lose this one and while they gained only two premiership points, they lost nothing in the greater scheme.
