Roos Bound To Win As Essendon Bombs Out

The Sunday Age

Sunday July 3, 2005

By DAN OAKES AT TELSTRA DOME

A WIN over St Kilda in the previous round and the whispers started. "Maybe the Bombers aren't that ordinary. Maybe they're a chance for some finals action." Then along came the Kangaroos, consummate party poopers and just the side to show up a pretender such as Kevin Sheedy's Essendon.

The 42-point victory, in which the Roos were never behind on the scoreboard, leaves Dean Laidley's men firmly ensconced in the top five and with four wins from five games. The Bombers, now without a win over the Kangaroos in four years, can start planning their September holidays.

As is often the case with Laidley's side, the performance wasn't pretty, but it was pretty effective. The win was built on an irrepressible and hard-working midfield and an utterly dominant forward line of Sav Rocca and Nathan Thompson.

But the Kangaroos can also thank a sloppy, lazy and impotent Essendon that was beaten all over the ground. Players of the stature of Glenn Archer, Brent Harvey, Shannon Grant and Adam Simpson don't need help from their opposition to look good, but the Bombers gave freely anyway.

Just to cap it off for Sheedy, Dean Solomon, Jason Laycock and David Hille may have to face the tribunal after a series of ugly incidents, including one that left blood pouring from the face of Kangaroo David Hale after a ruck contest with Hille.

Rocca showed again that, despite rumours to the contrary, he is very much a man refusing to go quietly into the night.

It was the twin towers of Rocca and Thompson who laid the foundations for the Kangaroos' win, kicking seven between them. Rocca started on the bench, with Dustin Fletcher predictably going to Thompson, but when big Sav took the stage 15 minutes into the match, things started to go awry.

Fletcher went to Rocca and left Nathan Lovett-Murray to mind Thompson, to whom he concedes eight centimetres and 16 kilograms. Thompson kicked two first-term goals, as did an effervescent Leigh Harding, and the Kangaroos never looked back.

Sheedy eventually pushed Solomon on to Thompson and it was symptomatic of the Essendon man's night that 30 seconds into the second quarter, he dragged the Kangaroos spearhead to the ground after a marking contest and conceded a 50-metre penalty and a goal.

Although it was Thompson who kicked five, giving him 20 goals in his past five games, Rocca's performance was notable for its selflessness. For somebody whose place in the side seems permanently under threat, he dished off an awful lot of balls to his teammates. In the dying minutes of the final quarter, he passed to Thompson, then Jones, within range, and both missed easy shots. When Rocca goaled from 60 metres out in the 14th minute of the final term, it seemed like justice.

Brady Rawlings had gone straight to James Hird at the opening bounce and kept him quiet all night. When Hird popped up in the forward 50 to set up a goal for Mark Johnson at the end of the first half, it was almost a reminder that the Essendon skipper was actually out there, so effective was Rawlings' effort.

The frustration showed early in the third quarter when the golden-haired boy knocked his tagger to the ground behind the ball, and the niggling carried on right to the final siren as Hird's fellow Bombers tried to nullify Rawlings.

Hale was superb in the ruck against Laycock and Hille and chipped in with three goals before he was helped from the field. Skipper Simpson was unruffled and hard at the ball as usual, Harvey was leading possession-getter on the ground with 26 and Archer directed traffic with ease and poise.

Sheedy has not shied away in the past from dropping players as a motivational tool. If he did that on the basis of last night's effort, the entire Bendigo side should prepare for a call-up next week.

KANGAROOS

7.3 11.6 14.13 19.14 (128)

d ESSENDON

2.3 7.5 8.6 13.8 (86)

KANGAROOS

GOALS

Thompson 5, Harding 4, Hale 3, Rocca 2, Grant 2, Wells, Brown, Corey Jones.

BEST

Hale, Harvey, Thompson, Harding, Rocca, Simpson.

INJURIES

Sinclair (corked thigh) replaced in selected side by Rocca. Motlop (hamstring), Hale (cheekbone).

ESSENDON

GOALS

M Johnson 3, Lloyd 2, Lucas 2, Monfries, Cupido, J Johnson, McPhee, Lovett, Lovett-Murray.

BEST

M Johnson, J Johnson, Welsh.

INJURIES

Slattery (calf soreness) replaced in selected side by Watson.

UMPIRES

Woodcock, McInerney, Pannell

CROWD

48,696 at Telstra Dome

THE COACHES

Sometimes when you play three talls, and there's not too many times we have this year, if you're not catching it the other team run it out pretty quickly. Tonight, to their credit, they worked the space pretty well.

DEAN LAIDLEY, Kangaroos

I thought we were definitely shown a clean vision in where good, strong tackling is going to put an enormous amount of pressure on opposition disposal skills.

KEVIN SHEEDY, Essendon

© 2005 The Sunday Age

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