VelvetSledge
Moderator
- May 24, 2007
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- #1
ESSENDON BOMBERS
The Dons were flying high, even though results hadn't swung their way. A huge win against the underwhelming Saints, and what should have been a win against the Swans in Sydney.
In their third interstate game in five weeks, the young Bombers were taught a harsh lesson in adapting to the conditions.
The Bombers were belted from pillar to post in torrential Queensland rain, falling to their fourth loss in five games.
We all knew that this year was going to be a development year, so it's not fully unexpected, but the margin at the end of the game didn't really tell the whole story.
The Dons weren't overly bad; they simply came up against a brilliant team that clicked into gear at just the wrong time for the Bombers.
[REDACTED] turned it on for a career-high disposal game and popped up with three goals, which really just rubbed salt in the wounds. Judas campaigner.
Whilst it didn't seem like there were many highlights for the Bombers, the game of #9 draft pick, Archie Perkins, would put smiles on the faces of all Essendon fans. He was dynamic and adapted to the horrible conditions much better than his teammates, and looks just about ready to take the AFL world by storm.
The Dons continued their stellar run of playing out of form guns back into form, with Lachie Neale let off the leash and destroying us from the get go. Whilst the aforementioned Archie was put onto Neale in the second half, and didn't do a lot to quell his influence, the experience of watching one of the best would be invaluable.
3 goalkickers in one game isn't a great look, but...
Cale Hooker is in career best form. 32 years old, barely able to break into a sprint, and slotting goals every week. 4 against the Lions, and he's equal fifth in the Coleman.
In perhaps the worst news of the game, however, reigning Crichton Medalist Jordan Ridley was concussed from an errant elbow delivered from
BRISBANE LIONS 15.12 102
def.
ESSENDON BOMBERS 6.9 45
GOALS: Hooker 4, Stringer, McDonald-Tipungwuti
BEST: McGrath, Parish, Merrett, Hooker
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COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES
The Pies are once again finding themselves ruing the existence of Dom Sheed, after the West Coast mid slotted three goals in a minute and a half to end any hope they had of making another famous win over in WA.
The season from hell continued for Collingwood with star forward Jordan De Goey and star defender Jeremy Howe both missing this week. De Goey with a huge hit to the face and Howe with a hamstring. Brody Mihocek also spent time on the bench in the final quarter icing his shoulder.
Salt was rubbed into the wounds when cameras in the changerooms showed both De Goey and Howe on their phones whilst the game was still playing, a strict violation of rules. The Pies were fined $20,000, and De Goey and Howe were both sent for IQ tests, both of which returned negative.
In a strange move, Buckley moved Darcy Moore, who is in supposed career best form in defence, down to attack, where he scored three goals, all the while putting on the best cosplay of Keira Knightley in "Bend It Like Beckham" that I've ever seen.
Pendlebury is a jet.
WEST COAST EAGLES 16.7 103
def.
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES 11.10 76
GOALS: Moore 3, Grundy, McCreery, Mihocek 2, Brown, Cameron
BEST: Crisp, Pendlebury, Maynard, Grundy, Moore, Mihocek
ESSENDON INS: Andrew Phillips, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher
ESSENDON OUTS: Alec Waterman (omit), Zach Reid (illness), Jordan Ridley (Concussion)
COLLINGWOOD INS: Will Hoskin-Elliott, Will Kelly, Nathan Murphy, Jay Rantall, Trey Ruscoe
COLLINGWOOD OUTS: Brayden Sier (Omitted), Mark Keane (Suspension), Jordan de Goey, Levi Greenwood, Jeremy Howe, Chris Mayne (All injured)
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Subs announced approx. one hour before bounce.
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DEBUT:
COLLINGWOOD - #1 - JAY RANTALL
Only the necessary changes seen this week for Essendon, with a dedicated physical ruckman finally getting into the side to combat the dominant Brodie Grundy. In this fixture last year, Andrew Phillips really held his own on debut for the club, and will be looking to follow on from that performance today. The Bombers have also recalled Brandon Zerk-Thatcher as a key defence replacement for the concussed Jordan Ridley, whilst Alec Waterman has found himself omitted and played yesterday in the VFL. Zach Reid hasn't trained all week with illness, but hopefully he will be back in the side soon enough.
The Magpies have been smashed with a wealth of injuries to key players this week, and as such, the named side is going in with a pretty decent lack of experience. Whilst they do gain Will Hoskin-Elliott back, they lose names such as Jordan De Goey, Levi Greenwood, Jeremy Howe and Chris Mayne through injury, while Mark Keane has been suspended for tripping/kicking Josh Kennedy. Brayden Sier has also been dropped for being a weird campaigner. The names of De Goey and Howe missing through injury really turns the tide on how this game may go; whilst I still think De Goey is overrated, he does some ridiculous s**t on the field and any game where he doesn't play will help us. Howe, on the other hand, is a gun intercept defender with a huge leap, and his loss will be sorely missed considering some of the errant inside 50 entries we seem to deliver.
The Pies have brought in Will Kelly, Nathan Murphy, Trey Ruscoe, and Jay Rantall will debut on the biggest home and away fixture of the year.
Whilst this isn't a new rant, I feel as though the special occasion of ANZAC Day needs to be remembered for what it was, and what those young men went through all those years ago. Here's a piece I penned back in 2019, and I feel as though it's worth revisiting.
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The ANZAC story is well documented, and the importance of it in relevance to our great game is utmost; the bravery and vigor shown by our troops is one that still makes the efforts shown on the field, no matter how selfless they are, seem like nothing. This year marks 106 years since that fateful day on the shores of Gallipoli, and the story still sends shivers up the spine.
In 1914, the British, French, and Russian Alliance was teetering towards a full-scale war against the ever-strengthening German Empire. Strained relations and an overwhelming sense of dominance emanating from the Germans pushed the British alliance to declare war on Germany; a move that changed the face of the world forever. News traveled to Australia, who was enjoying a Bank Holiday Monday at the time. When the country returned to work the following day, however, the news was bleak. Joseph Cook, the Australian Prime Minister at the time, said in relation to Britain’s declaration of war, “If the Old Country is at war, so are we”. The timing was advantageous to the Australian politicians – we were in the middle of an election campaign – and those who sat in the capital used the war to push their respective parties to appeal to the Brits. Andrew Fisher, the opposition leader at the time, declared that we would send Great Britain “our last man and our last shilling”, whilst Cook responded with, “Our duty is quite clear – to gird up our loins and remember that we are Britons”.
The mood of young men in Australia was not what you would expect – many were jubilant, ecstatic that they would be home by Christmas and that the adventure and excitement, paid for by the government, would be absolutely worth any danger. Surely it couldn’t be that dangerous, how ruthless could the German empire actually be?
Australia pledged 20,000 men to go and fight over the world. Canada, as the largest Commonwealth nation outside of Europe, pledged 30,000, while New Zealand already had compulsory military training. For the war in Europe, Australia went the extra mile to appease the British Alliance, forming the AIF – the Australian Imperial Force. Recruiting began within days of the announcement of the war.
Those who were too young to conscript faked their ages, simply to experience the adventure. A little over a month later, they marched the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, trying to convince others to join them in the fight. These new recruits were known as “six bob a day tourists”, as the pay was relatively high for the time, and most thought of the war as more of a holiday than a tour of duty. This convoy of Australian troops merged with the New Zealand equivalent in late October of 1914 on the way to the Suez Canal, and formed the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps – The ANZACs. They disembarked in Egypt, dug themselves in near the Great Pyramids of Egypt, and began the war with Turkey, who had joined the German cause.
The Russians were fighting on the Eastern Front and needed the British and French to tackle Turkey, taking pressure off of the Russian border. As such, the British forces commanded the ANZACs to land on the beach at Gallipoli. They didn’t expect much resistance – 40,000 Turks if anything – and anticipated that the shore would be open to landing on easy terms. What followed was the most iconic story of Australian resilience and endurance. The maps and location of the ANZACs had been misread and skewed, and the ANZACs were far, far away from where they had intended to land.
On the 25th of April, 1915, the ANZAC troops approached the hard cliff face of Gallipoli after receiving open fire from the trees from the Turkish troops. They landed at a difficult and desolate spot on the peninsula, with the Turks completely ready for them. The ANZACs made minuscule headway under the rocky outcrops and thorn-laden scrub. The losses for the ANZACs were immense, and their forces were wasting away to nothing with casualties and sickness. The Turks knew the land and were able to reinforce their front line whilst continuing to wipe the ANZAC troops out. One such soldier who was caught in the crossfire was Herb Hunter.
Hunter was a quality dentist who studied at Melbourne Grammar, and was graduated in 1904. Prior to his graduation, he was a supreme athlete, dominating all comers in the track events, but also playing for our beloved Essendon Football Club. Hunter played 3 games in the 1900 season, before beginning his service in the Australian military. He debuted, perhaps somewhat meaningfully, against today’s opponents in Collingwood. The game had been delayed from the previous week to be played on a Wednesday – a public holiday to celebrate the Relief of the Siege of Mafeking. He played two more matches in wet weather which he didn’t play well in – against St Kilda and Carlton – before heading back to play at Melbourne Grammar. Hunter was part of the landing at Gallipoli and was marked Killed in Action some two weeks later during the Assault of Krithia, on the 8th of May 1915. He was wounded in the trenches of Walker’s Ridge, and while he was being stretchered to the hospital encampment down the hill, he and his two handlers were struck by a Turkish shell, killing all three men instantly.
Some months later, in August, another assault was thrown at the coast of Gallipoli, but it was another comprehensive failure. Heavy casualties meant that the entire campaign was an utter debacle, and due to military censorship, the story of how the Brits threw the ANZACs like a sacrificial lamb to the Turks was in danger of disappearing forever. That was, until a young journalist known as Keith Murdoch (yes, those Murdoch’s) caught wind of the story of the Dardanelles and ran with it to the Australian Prime Minister. He forwarded the story to the British Prime Minister, who was no fan of the British Military establishment. The captain who ordered the ANZAC Assault, Sir Ian Hamilton, was immediately dismissed, and never held a leadership role again.
The British government issued an immediate evacuation of the ANZACs. By day, it appeared as though more ANZAC troops were landing whilst the troops that had already landed were continuing to fight. By nightfall, the troops were rapidly evacuated from the battlefield under almost complete silence, save for sporadic rifle and gunfire. By the 20th of December 1915, the evacuation was entirely complete, and the Turks unknowingly continued to bomb the empty trenches. On 9 January 1916, the Turks carried out their last offensive on Gallipoli, revealing only that the entire force had withdrawn without casualty. The evacuation was the Allies' most successful operation in Gallipoli.
The Anzacs went on to serve with distinction in Palestine and on the western front in France.
Australia had a population of five million - 330,000 served in the war, 59,000 were killed.
New Zealand, with a population of one million, lost 18,000 men out of 110,000 and had 55,000 wounded. These New Zealand figures (62%) represent the highest percentage of all units from the Anglo-Saxon world.
The horrors of war and its ripple effect continue to this day. While there are no more remaining veterans from the assault on Gallipoli, their memory and sacrifice continues throughout the entire country on this day.
A day of respect, solace, and remembrance – one that continues to mean more than most other days to all Australians. Whether you were born in this country or came from shores abroad, we all should acknowledge today for what it is.
The marking of a day that will live forever in the memory of this country. The making of an alliance between countries, that stays bulletproof to this day.
Football is not the important subject of this day. Sure, we will probably forget the ANZAC side of things once the siren blows and our two teams do their thing for the following few hours. We will cheer, rant, rave, and celebrate, even with the incredibly solemn subject on which this day was founded.
The result today will be forgotten. It’s a game of football.
What happened to young men, 104 years ago today, will not. Their sacrifice will live on through our great country forever.
They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will Remember them.
Lest We Forget.
ROUND 5, 2020
MCG
3/7/2020
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES 7.6 48
def. by
ESSENDON BOMBERS 10.3 63
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ESSENDON GOALS: Stringer 3, McDonald-Tipungwuti 2, Zaharakis, McKernan, Shiel, Townsend, Parish
COLLINGWOOD GOALS: Stephenson 3, Varcoe, Daicos, Brown, Mihocek
ESSENDON BEST: Shiel, Stringer, Ridley, Phillips, Ham
COLLINGWOOD BEST: Treloar, Grundy, Maynard, Adams, Stephenson
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CHANGES SINCE THEN
ESSENDON OUTS: Shiel, Saad, Ridley, Hurley, Gleeson, Hibberd, Fantasia, Townsend, McKernan, Zaharakis
ESSENDON INS: Guelfi, Zerk-Thatcher, Francis, Hind, Heppell, Perkins, Cox, Merrett, Wright, Jones
COLLINGWOOD OUTS: Treloar, De Goey, Phillips, Mayne, Wills, Scharenberg, Stephenson, Elliott, T. Brown, Varcoe, Cox
COLLINGWOOD INS: Kelly, Quaynor, Noble, Murphy, Cameron, McCreery, Thomas, Ruscoe, Rantall, Macrae, Madgen
Both teams are missing key personnel, but the outs for Collingwood for this week loom large. Essendon has played better footy of the two teams so far in 2021, and if the conditions hold out, the Bombers should start to square up the ledger of ANZAC Day wins.
Essendon by 21.
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