Your favourite Essendon vs Hawthorn match (not including finals)

[Dan26]

What has been your favourite Essendon vs Hawthorn match in the Home and away?

I'll go back to 1990, round 2. Fond memories.

Hawthorn had just completed two near unbeatable years (21-3 in 1988 and 21-3 in 1989) and had beaten the Cats in round one of 1990 by 120 points.

So, it felt like 'same again' for Hawthorn. They'd smashed Geelong in the Grand Final re-match and they were going to have another seasn where they only lost 3 or 4 games.

The match was moved from Windy Hill to the MCG, which was big because not many games were transferred back then.

We absolutely smashed them! We won by about 10 goals, which came out of nowhere (even though we were a top side) when you cnsider Hawthorn's form the week before. It was their biggest loss in 5 seasons. Greg Anderson dobbed 5 goals from the wing all of them big raking left footers.

Magic day.

Also enjoyed the match in 1992 at Waverley (NOT the second meeting that year!) where Derek Kickett went berserk and we kicked 9 goals in the second quarter.

[bombers_4_ever]

Would have to say last year at Etihad. No one have us any chance and a lot of Hawthorn peeps were really getting cocky saying that buddy and roughhead would need a good massage from kicking heaps of goals. The place was rocking when the siren went.

[Jonesy1987]

Agree with last year at Etihad, we were sensational that night. Probably the best game we played last year.

[Frothies Mcveigh]

Either of the games last year.

[tha Freak]

Last game, last year. Hawthorn players and supporters Crying and Whinging about 'The Bump' and losing! The spectacle that Brown, the Coach and President put on that day just showed what a pathetic, weak club they are. Priceless!!!!!!!!

Still getting great mileage out of that game from their supporters.

The Bump Lloyd laid that day still shakes them today!

[bombers_4_ever]

^^^^^ Yep have to agree with you. Was an awesome day that day. Pity Lloyd and Lucas aren't still with us.

[TheGodDelusion]

R18, 1986. After an indifferent, injury riddled season, which included earlier losses to both them and the scum, we fronted up at Windy Hill. Although we'd we'd upset Carlton at the 'g a week earlier no one gave us much of a chance. Hawthorn had only lost 3 games for the year and were themselves coming off an upset loss to Fitzroy.

We jumped them at the start but by half time there was little in it. The third quarter was one of the best I've seen us play. 8 goals to 2, Ezard running amok saw a standing ovation at 3/4 time, with the entire ground chanting "Essendon, Essendon". A further 7 goals to nothing in the last saw us squeak home by 87 points.

The noise at the last break still gives me goosebumps. Never seen anything like it since.

[Macca18]

I guess we can all be a little short sighted by automatically looking at the two games from 2009 as favourite Hawthorn games, but there have been so many over the years...

Obviously the 1984 & 1985 premierships rate very highly, but the Semi Finals in both of these years were also high quality games... we lost in a titanic struggle in the Semi Final of 1984 by 8 points only to go on and win the flag two weeks later and in 1985 we trailed at Half Time only to absolutely blitz it in the 3rd quarter on the way to an easy win and another flag...

A previous poster mentioned the first meeting between the clubs in 1990 when the game was shifted to the MCG which resulted in a big win. We also played them later in the year at Princes Park after the Hawks had hit some decent form and we blitzed them to the tune of 75 points in one of Paul Van Der Haar's last stand out games for the Bombers in kicking 5 whilst a young Greg Anderson racked up 40 touches.

Another underrated meeting between the clubs was midway through the special season that was 1993 out at Waverley Park. We had lost our last game against the Hawks by 160 points in humiliating fashion at the end of the previous year so there was a fair bit of 'revenge factor' about this one and the Hawks were sitting pretty in 2nd spot and we had just climbed into the top 6. After a tight first half where at the interval Kevin Sheedy decided to politely approach the umpires as they were walking off to enquire about a lopsided 20-9 free kick advantage to the Hawks, we turned it on for a pretty special second half. Hirdy at twenty years of age had a lazy 26 touches, 9 marks and 4 goals on Ray Jencke and Mark Mercuri chipped in with 25 touches and 3 goals. A sign of very good things to come that year and a real turning point.

Our last ever game at Waverley Park was played against the Hawks in the early part of 1999. The Hawks could only manage one goal in each of the first 3 quarters as Gary Moorcroft & Lloydy put on a clinic kicking 9 between them as we'd go on to win by a lazy 60 points. In a bit of a surprise Barry Young received the 3 Brownlow votes for one of the very rare times in his career.

All roads led to Colonial Stadium in Round 9 of 2001 when the undefeated Hawks met the Bombers who had only lost one game to that point of the season. The Hawks were the surprise packets of the year and were expected to really trouble the injury hit Bombers and favoured by many to even win. These hopes were quickly dashed in the first 9 seconds of the game when Matthew Lloyd dribbled a classy 6 points and the rest was history. Essendon bullied, harrassed, tackled, chased and just generally outclassed the Hawks in all facets of the game as Lloydy would go on to kick 9.0 in a 65 point win. A very satisfying and pleasing result at the time.

The Preliminary Final later that year would be a much closer affair. Matthew Lloyd was suspended for this one and the Bombers really struggled for a majority of the day, especially after Half Time. Conditions were particularly hot and humid for the middle of September and this generally suited the more athletic style of play of the Hawks at the time. Some random memories include Smokin' Joe kicking a great running goal 50m out on the boundary line at the end of the third quarter to really give us back the momentum, Trent Croad hitting the post from 55m out in the final quarter when he could of given the Hawks the lead, Paul Barnard pulling one out of his you-know-what in the final minutes from and bouncing one through from the pocket to give us the break and then Scotty kicking the sealer from 55m out with about a minute left. A lot of relieved people that night.

On a cold and wet night in the middle of May 2003, we played the Hawks on a Friday Night at the MCG. The Bombers had a very topsy-turvy start to 2003 and were coming off an insipid performance against an improving Richmond where they could only manage 5 goals. Woes were compounded when it was announced Lloyd & Hird would miss through injury and then Fletcher was a late withdrawal making way for an 18 year old in his first year by the name of Jason Winderlich. A very young and inexperienced Essendon outfit led by Jason & Mark Johnson, Mark Mercuri & David Hille would make light work of the Hawks in a 53 point rout.

The 2004 'Line In The Sand' game provokes a lot of emotion for differing reasons from both set of supporters. Bottom line is, Hawthorn decided to start the fight and we were forced to finish it... and we did with a lazy 74 point win...

[TheGodDelusion]

Another underrated meeting between the clubs was midway through the special season that was 1993 out at Waverley Park. We had lost our last game against the Hawks by 160 points in humiliating fashion at the end of the previous year so there was a fair bit of 'revenge factor' about this one and the Hawks were sitting pretty in 2nd spot and we had just climbed into the top 6. After a tight first half where at the interval Kevin Sheedy decided to politely approach the umpires as they were walking off to enquire about a lopsided 20-9 free kick advantage to the Hawks, we turned it on for a pretty special second half. Hirdy at twenty years of age had a lazy 26 touches, 9 marks and 4 goals on Ray Jencke and Mark Mercuri chipped in with 25 touches and 3 goals. A sign of very good things to come that year and a real turning point.

Brilliant game.

[Noddy Holder]

2004 - line in the sand

Hawthorn, dirty dogs that they, resort to some underhanded tactics to try and unsettle us. Result?

70 point thumping.:thumbsu:

I hate Hawthorn far more than Collingwood or Carlton.

[Longy413]

All roads led to Colonial Stadium in Round 9 of 2001 when the undefeated Hawks met the Bombers who had only lost one game to that point of the season. The Hawks were the surprise packets of the year and were expected to really trouble the injury hit Bombers and favoured by many to even win. These hopes were quickly dashed in the first 9 seconds of the game when Matthew Lloyd dribbled a classy 6 points and the rest was history. Essendon bullied, harrassed, tackled, chased and just generally outclassed the Hawks in all facets of the game as Lloydy would go on to kick 9.0 in a 65 point win. A very satisfying and pleasing result at the time.



Great post.

This game was the first one I thought of.

Dean Rioli was awesome that night, shame we never saw enough of him at his best, such a sublime footballer.

[windyhill]

R18, 1986. After an indifferent, injury riddled season, which included earlier losses to both them and the scum, we fronted up at Windy Hill. Although we'd we'd upset Carlton at the 'g a week earlier no one gave us much of a chance. Hawthorn had only lost 3 games for the year and were themselves coming off an upset loss to Fitzroy.

We jumped them at the start but by half time there was little in it. The third quarter was one of the best I've seen us play. 8 goals to 2, Ezard running amok saw a standing ovation at 3/4 time, with the entire ground chanting "Essendon, Essendon". A further 7 goals to nothing in the last saw us squeak home by 87 points.

The noise at the last break still gives me goosebumps. Never seen anything like it since.

Yep, great pick, you beat me to it. Yours was a good one as well Dan, fairly sure it was a Sunday, may have been my first visit to the Royal I think !

[Dan26]

Yep, great pick, you beat me to it. Yours was a good one as well Dan, fairly sure it was a Sunday, may have been my first visit to the Royal I think !

Yeah it was a Sunday. We played Melbouren the week after on the easter Monday and were flat as a tack.

I also have a bit of a soft spot for the game in late 1994. We lost badly the week before to Collingwood (the match where there was a big fight before the game started) and our season looked to be over.

A bigger than normal crowd rocked up, because Dunstall only needed two, I think, to get 1000 goals. We were behind by about 4 goals in the second term, then we turned it on and won by about 50. Was probably the best we played all year that season.

Dunstall had recorded a voiceover, where his voice was heard over the MCG loudspeaker all game saying something like, "Please don't enter the arena in the event I kick my 1000th goal" or something like that.

He didn't get it. :thumbsu:

[pacman]

R18, 1986. After an indifferent, injury riddled season, which included earlier losses to both them and the scum, we fronted up at Windy Hill. Although we'd we'd upset Carlton at the 'g a week earlier no one gave us much of a chance. Hawthorn had only lost 3 games for the year and were themselves coming off an upset loss to Fitzroy.

We jumped them at the start but by half time there was little in it. The third quarter was one of the best I've seen us play. 8 goals to 2, Ezard running amok saw a standing ovation at 3/4 time, with the entire ground chanting "Essendon, Essendon". A further 7 goals to nothing in the last saw us squeak home by 87 points.

The noise at the last break still gives me goosebumps. Never seen anything like it since.
Sorry to intervene on your board but I was alone Hawks supporter in the main stand at Windy Hill that day as my best mates step dad was on the committee. I remember waving my flag as the boys ran out but not very often after that. You absolutely smashed us, horrible, horrible day.

[windyhill]

Dunstall had recorded a voiceover, where his voice was heard over the MCG loudspeaker all game saying something like, "Please don't enter the arena in the event I kick my 1000th goal" or something like that.

He didn't get it. :thumbsu:
Now how could I forget that, good memory, how bloody arrogant was it ?

[windyhill]

My personal fav is round 20, 1992.

Hawthorn 32.24 216
Essendon 8.8 56

ouch...

C.Daniher kicked the first goal !
...and we won the flag the next year.

[TheGodDelusion]

Sorry to intervene on your board but I was alone Hawks supporter in the main stand at Windy Hill that day as my best mates step dad was on the committee. I remember waving my flag as the boys ran out but not very often after that. You absolutely smashed us, horrible, horrible day.

No worries about intruding. It's never fun being a lone voice in the opposition camp. Particularly when you're getting smashed.

[Hawkas1988]

There's been so many classic matches between these 2 clubs, but lately most of them have been so one sided

There's just something about essendon hawthorn matches that just gets me real pumped and excited

The genuine hate between the 2 clubs supporters is awesome i reckon because it makes the win so much more satisfying then beating a team like port adelaide or melbourne, but the loss can be so painful lol.

As much as i dislike Essendon, its great to have a team in the AFL that I look forward to playing more then any other and hopefully having a win against :)

Its a great rivalry and i hope theres this much hate between the 2 clubs for another 50 years or so

I hope this week is an absolute cracker and both teams give their all

Good luck bomber boys, but not too much luck!! :thumbsu:

[bacon buster]

all those games are great

i particularly remember the 2001 game. i was there, and i remember the crowd was electric. as soon as lloyd kicked that goal, i couldn't see us losing. but that was us at just about our invincible best.

noone has mentioned the 2002 game at the 'G. pretty average game, and we had plenty out (daniel mcallister and ken hall (!!??) in the same side).

from memory, barnard kicked the sealer with a snap around his body, we won by 7 points.

[Ben the Gooner]

I'm too young to remember a lot of them, or remember them well.

My favourite recent one is Rd 7 last year. Was just a masterclass in coaching from Knights, and I was about to go back to school after breaking my leg, so it gave me a chance to go back with a huge smile on my face.

[Cynic]

Would have to say last year at Etihad. No one have us any chance and a lot of Hawthorn peeps were really getting cocky saying that buddy and roughhead would need a good massage from kicking heaps of goals. The place was rocking when the siren went.

Ahaha. I gave you guys no chance whatsoever :D. Was the most crushing loss of the year :(.

[Air_Chester]

Round 22, 2009.

Not the best game you'll see between the two, in terms of quality of play, but it really was the definition of what AFL is all about. Total flashback to the glory days of footy. A single bump inspired the kind of passion that created a finalist, ended a season, and still has people talking nearly a year later. And in 20 years it'll still be "Line in the Sand II".