Finally A Match that lived up to its expectations

[dons_r_tops]

Essendon V Carlton
What A Game.

Can i Breathe Now?

 

[Dan26]

Great win !!

Nearly 92,000 people. The 4th biggest Home and Away crowd in history. It was an amazing atmosphere. I've been to 8 Grand Finals, and most of them didn't have the same atmosphere as tonight's game.

The place was rocking.

Great to ruin Carlton's weekend. The Carlton arrogance was out in abundance tonight. I had these idiots sitting behind me who actually had the nerve to say : "OK Blue-boys....let's seal the game. Put it beyond doubt"

That was halfway through the third term, and they were 10 points up. The frustrating thing for me, with listening to these idiots, is that believe Carlton os the only club in the AFL. How can they not acknowledge Essendon, who had won 19 straight games ? I mean, to actually state that your team is going to "seal the game" against an unbeaten foe is arrogance at it's worst.

Well, they all started leaving in the last term, so I hope they had a bad night.

Kouta got injured as well, and Bradley did his hamstring. I definately don't want to see champion players get injured, but if they are not playing against your team, it is always a bonus. Both are champions, and I acknowledge that.

Kouta is a great player and by all reports a nice guy, but it was kind of fun to see the Carlton fans so devastated at his absence. "Where's Kouta?", they's be saying. I just responded by saying : "Uh-Oh.....the million dollar man's gone down"

I was just shattered that John Elliot missed the party at the "G" tonight.

Anyway, great win Bombers. Room for improvement though. Alessio did nothing (similar to the preliminary final). Lloyd had a bad night, kicking only one goal, and the team struglled for rhythm and system in the first three quarters.

Carlton probably played at their best, and the Bombers played at their "averag-ist", for the first three quarters. Despite this, the score were level at the three-quarter time (only a couple of points the diff), which was a good sign for Essendon. I don't really count the last quarter, because that is where Carltons injury toll started to take effect and we ran over the top of them.

I love beating that mob. Carlscum filth. Aaron Hamill had a shocker too, which sends a very important message - what goes around comes around. He should not have been playing....he should have been suspended. He may as well have been suspended since he made little impact and made some glaring mistakes.

What a pity.

 

[chev1977]

Fantastic game I enjoyed every minute of it !

can someone tell me what was wrong with Kouta's knee ? how long will he be out for ?

One thing is for sure weather it is Essendon, Carlton or both at least one of these two teams will be in the Grand Final !!

Mark my Words......

 

[Guest]

Finally a game that was all thay said it would be and more!!!!

Let's hope like hell we can get a grand final that's every bit as good as that game!

AFL, greatest game in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shinboners]

Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

Carlton. They could take heart from the fact that they kept up with Essendon for so long without Kouta, Bradley, and Allan, but the early news seems to be that Kouta will be out for at least 4 weeks and Bradley out for at least 2. Kouta is their matchwinner, but sadly without him, I doubt that we'll be seeing Carlton on Grand Final day. I have to admit that pre-game, I wanted Essendon to win, but with the Blues injuries, I switched allegiences. However, it was Carlton's old guard in Silvagni, Ratten, McKay, Rice, and Campereoale that led the way, and as Dan24 pointed out, where was Aaron Hamill? If Hamill even managed to take a few marks in the forward line and take the pressure off Whitnall, then Carlton may have won.

Essendon. Unlike Dan24, I don't think it was Essendon playing an average game, rather it was Carlton putting on the pressure and forcing Essendon to make mistakes. But Essendon withstood the pressure, and ran away with the game in the last quarter. It was the type of game the Dons needed though....a pressure situation and I think they will come out of the game with an even stroger feeling of invincibility. The Essendon backline was phenomenal with the amount of work they did to cover for the loss of Fletcher. Rioli was brilliant (some of the things he did were McLeod-like), but he gave away a few silly free kicks. Hird seemed frustrated by the close checking and Lloyd was a victim of his "reputation for diving" by missing out on at least four clear free kicks. But the most impressive thing about Essendon is the way their players back each other up. They always had numbers at the contest or teammates running in support. It's almost as if they're using a type of "mobile zone"....a grid of 6 to 9 players around the play that allows them to get numbers where the ball is, or support runners when needed.

If anyone is going to beat Essendon for the Premiership, they are going to have to play a near perfect game.

 

[sainter]

Originally posted by chev1977:
One thing is for sure weather it is Essendon, Carlton or both at least one of these two teams will be in the Grand Final !!

Mark my Words......

Either Carlton or Essendon will make the Grand Final? What a big call that is!

I was at the game last night in a working capacity and I agree with the above comments that it was good to see a game live up to its expectations.

Dan, one would not be excused for thinking that you were slightly hypocritical in your opinion that Carlton supporters are arrogant. In your last message anyway.

Like Shinboners said, I think Carlton were very admirable last night considering the injuries to Carlton's star players early on.

And sometimes I wish I could gag Spider Everitt. He came out yesterday saying that the bombers would not make the Grand Final. Oh well!

 

[Ronny34]

"I just responded by saying : "Uh-Oh.....the million dollar man's gone down""

Dan24, thanks for confirming my thoughts about Essendon supporters. I thought James Young put it quite aptly today when he said he used to detest Essendon players (such as Duckworth, Bewick, Calthorpe & Merritt(when there)etc. etc) - but now respects them for their undoubted talents.

It's now their moronic supporters that makes them one of the most hated teams.

 

[Dave]

Dan,

harsh call on Kouta, sounds like you were pleased to see him go down. As for the blues fans and their "seal it comment", c'mon, haven't you ever heard of barracking? Geez, lighten up!

Great game, good win with a number of players down on form, though Carlton were hit hard by the loss of Kouta and Bradley. All the carlton supporters around us were talking about how they'd roll us next time with all their injured players back. They obviously have short memories taking it for granted that the two teams will meet again. There's no guarantee that'll happen.

And Shinboners, love the "no calthorpe no north" line! The scribes may have decided It'll be an Ess v Car GF but I haven't written the Roos off yet.

Go Bombers!

 

[The Dutchman!]

Don't think anyone (including Dan) wants a great player like Kouta to be out of the game for any period of time... apart from it being bad for the player and the supporters and football it also takes away from the sense of achievement - ie: you want to beat the best at all times.. not teams weakened by injury or suspension (AKA Nth v Lions PF99 - sound familiar Shinny?).

There can be no doubt that Carlton were very brave yesterday - all credit to them.

But, I think that the key to Essendon exploiting their tall forwards all year has been drive off the HBF - they get it from Mark Johnson, Wellman & especially Fletcher - he was a bit loss yesterday more for that reason than for standing a forward and it goes a long way to explaining why Lucas was quiet. As Shinner pointed out, Lloyd wasn't quiet (ie: out of the play) he was just ripped off for frees...

Dutch

 

[James2]

Agree with Dutch. Essendon certainly missed Fletcher last night.

Fletcher usually marks the opposition's no. 1 foward, thus allowing Wellman to player on a "weaker" player whom he can run off and create attacking oppurtunities, as Wellman was forced to play on Whitnall, he was unable to do this as often as he usually does. In addition to this, Fletcher also creates many attacking options himself- he leads the league in rebounds. Due to this, the rebounding football that so often results in goals was not as fluent, allowing the Carlton defenders to flood the foward line. This was also symptomatic of the pressure applied by the Blues- credit where credit's due.

Consequently, delivery into the foward line was haphazard, indirect and not to the advantage of the fowards. I would disagree that it was a reason for Lucas's ineffectiveness- I think he was outplayed by Silvagni, who stood right next to him rather then zoning of on Lloyd, denying him the chance to run into space on his own.

In all a great game. Carlton performed admirably considering they were depleted by injury, whilst Essendon was able to absorb enormous pressure and win, despite the absence of Fletcher and below-par performances from a few players.

 

[Dan26]

Ronny34,

I hope you are jealous, buddy. Certainly sounds like that. All these Carlton fans that are love with Kouta (who is having his first truly consistent year, despute being 27 years old) were devastated. I was unhappy for Kouta, but I was thrilled at the unhappy Carlton fans. I don't hate the players...... just the fans. Your mob put up a good fight, but what pisses me off is these Carlton scum who won't even give any credit to Essendon. First they blame the umpires (even though it was 23 frees to 13 at one stage in Carltons favour). Then they blame the injuries. Fair enough, but we were without Fletcher, and who's to say that Carlton would have won anyway. the final margin was 26 points. It was a comforatable win in the end.

I've been putting up with arrogant Carlscum since I was 10 years old. You know the type. Idiotic Carlton supporters who only support the team due to their past success, and who would jump off at the first opportunity. They type of filth that rubs it in, because they know the "jumped aboard" a successful team.

A pathetic crowd of 16,000 agaisnt Port Adelaide at Optus in round 6 after the Blues were coming off three consecutive losses shows the "bandwagon" nature of Carlscum supporters. The only want to support a winning team. They are so used to success, and for "most" of them, that was the reason they started barracking for Carlton in the first place. So, when the rots set in (as the pathetic round 6 crowd proves), they are quick to jump off. When Essendon finished 14th in 1997,we still led the league in attendances.

Yep, Carlton supporters are filth. I'm generalising ov course. You're probably a nice guy.

If you dont like Essendon supporters, it's because you are on the receiving end for once. You are probably finding out what's it like for the rest of the league putting up with Carlton supporters.

Dave,

I don't really want to see any players injured........ I thought I made that clear in my first post on this topic.

But from an "Essendon" point of view, it always helps if the opposition doesn't have their best team avaiable. Tell me you won't be happy if Carey pulls his hamstring making him unavailable to play in the Grand Final (for example)

I'd love to see Kouta play every game for the season, except when they play Essendon.

There is still a lot of improvement left in us. As Sheedy said after the game, Carlton play a style which often makes the opposition forget about their own game and concentrate on stopping Carlton. I think we fell for that a bit. We need to let them worry about us, and play our natural game. They won't beat us if we do that. We've won 6 of the last 7 agaisnt the Blues, and the only loss was when we had 9 more scoring shots, so really, we've "out-played" them the last 7 times.

 

[chev1977]

MARK MY WORDS DOWN TWICE OR WHAT THE HELL THREE TIMES !!!

 

[Shinboners]

Dutchman

Does that mean that our '77 flag is less glorious because Collingwood didn't have the suspended fabulous Phil Carman?

Hum. I guess in principle, you do want to beat the best at all times. But in practice, when it comes to finals time (well, any match really), I do hope that our opposition are missing a few of their better players (which is why I'm not all that fussed about the '99 PF vs. the Lions). There have been enough times when Carey has been under an injury crowd and opposition fans either cheer or moan if he's out/in of the team when the side is announced at the ground. And if North and Essendon were to meet in the finals, I don't think you'd be thinking any less of your team's achievement if you played a North team missing three or four of our best.

There's also the flipside. There is nothing better for a fan than to see their injury/suspension ravaged side win against the odds. A Geelong mate of mine still goes all dewy eyed over Geelong's win in the finals against Carlton in '93 (or '94?) when the Cats had three or four of their best six players out and still won. Or the Melbourne team in '94 with their best six out and beating the Eagles on their own turf. There was a North team in '93 missing Schimma, Greig, and (I think Dench?) that thrashed a full strength Carlton by over 100 points, and let's not forget the 15 man Essendon that beat the Doggies in (I think) '98. And I wonder how proud the Richmond fans must be of their sides performances this year considering their horror run with injuries.

I agree with you that you do want to see your team beat the best at all times. But in practice, I reckon most people prefer an easier run.

 

[Arch]

wooo hooo !!!! yes yes yes

great win- i think its all been said above me.

One thing though was how pleased I was for the Bombers to show a bit of muscle and prove they could physically match it with Carlton (who alot of people have been saying are a "tougher" side than us). Notwithstanding a few unfortunate (for them) injuries, I bet there would be a few sore and sorry blues on saturday morning, who felt the full force of the essendon players. Hardwick, MJ & JJ, even Blumfeild and Rioli were great in the way they dished it out, both physically and verbally (shins- I was thinking of you when Jimmy gave Beaumont a big serve !!)lol.

& Ramanauskas will become a living legend I reckon. What a star !!!!!!!

lloyd unsurprisingly was invisible to the umps, and manton and silvagni were also allowed to get away with their usual scragging tactics. And parkins big cry at half time seemed bizarre considering they were getting the good end of it.
But who cares.........
Bring on the finals.

------------------
BOMBERS REIGN SUPREME.

 

[Bernie]

Wow ! Melbourne at it's best ! NOWHERE else in the world could put on such a show... NOWHERE ( what do you reckon, Dutchman ? ). DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THE MCG !!!!

Docklands ... yeah, lovely night out with no rain etc BUT...... 90,000 + well intentioned citizens all focused on the cauldron of excitement. Amazingly, everyone had left after about 1/2 hour and no violence etc.

Thanks, guys and girls for doing it AGAIN. This is waht I love about this city.

The Blues - loved Ratten's game. Just ran out of bench players. But the lesson is - trust the young guys and play only FIT blokes. SOS is also a legend.

The Bombers - their young guys were excellent and their skills were superb. Love watching these players develop is always great. Well done to the club for carefully promoting them.

With the other results this weekend - the Swans , Lions , Cats , Demons and Tigers were great - it's just not a cakewalk for the Bombers.

 

[servo]

As a nuetral suporter I really enjoyed this game. Very dissappointed to see Kouta & Bradley go down but then I would have liked Fletcher to be in there as well.

My opinion. Put down your glasses now unless you are a fan of these two clubs. No-one else will get close.

Wouldn't it be great to see these two at full strength on GF day. I hope we see it now that the Crows are out of it.

Other than 4 or 5 Loyd blunders the umpireing added to the spectacle to.

Dan24 I am convinced you still do not grasp the definition of arrogant. Look it up in the dictionary.

ARROGANT:- (adj)(eg: dan24)

 

[dees01]

I agree. It was a great match. The best I have been to all year.