An incredible football game.
Where does one start with a contest like this? It seems to always happen, when the Swans and Bombers get together in Melbourne, there is last-minute - last second, after the siren, even - drama that gives the football world something to talk about for the next few days. Last year, it was Adam Goodes missing after the siren. This year, it was the unfortunate Courtenay Dempsey wheeling around to play on as the clock went to 0:00, ending the game and ending, too, a most furious comeback from Essendon. Clearly, these are must-see games, year-in, year-out.
The Swans, thanks to Lewis Jetta, executed the mother of all great escapes tonight. It was all Essendon all the time in the fourth quarter, except when Jetta seemed to have the football on a string and the Bombers clutching vainly at his shoestrings. Down 47 points at half time, even the staunchest of Essendon fans had to think their goose was cooked. Only the most pessimistic Swans supporters were even barely entertaining the thought of anything but a comfortable, statement-making win.
Then, the flood gates opened and Essendon, dead and buried in the third, came roaring back, erasing forty-three of the forty-seven point three quarter time deficit, thanks to brilliant work from another Jetta, from a Watson and from a Hocking, and there seemed a time where the Bombers would make history, recording a famous victory in front of an electric Etihad Stadium crowd, and, in the process, recording the greatest comeback from a three quarter time deficit in history.
It was that close. But Lewis Jetta and Jude Bolton, the only two Swans who made a major mark in the scorer's book in the final, did enough to stem the tide before Dempsey's moment at the death, one that is sure to be spoken about for a long time. It's added to the recent lore between these teams. For both teams. It was penthouse to outhouse, hero to zero - or vice-versa - stuff.
Yet the best team across four quarters undoubtedly won the game tonight. The Swans were ruthless for three quarters, the midfield slicing apart Essendon - the Bombers looked pedestrian at best until the commencement of the final term - thus giving the forwards, led by the remarkably-improved Jetta, wonderful scoring opportunities. What happened to all of that in the last quarter? That, surely, is the question every Swans fan the world over is asking. The separation between being such a lofty position and almost recording a most humiliating defeat was mere seconds, heart-stopping, breathless seconds for fans on both sides of the fence.
Essendon were like a snowball in the final quarter, and it seemed like there would be no stopping them. Credit to the Bombers. They showed an incredible amount of moxie in coming back the way they did. It was as if the Swans had poked the big bear enough to wake them up, and once the Bombers were awake, they were impressive. It was easy to see why Essendon are being spoken about as Flag favourites - at least in the final quarter. Poor kicking and general ineffectiveness killed them early, and set up what was eventually a thrilling, grandstand finish win.
For the Swans, there is work to be done over the bye weekend. Most importantly, they need to work on playing a full game against good teams, not just against the lower-tier teams. Yet, the first three quarters proved that they are capable of matching it with the best in the AFL. Their ability to play coast-to-coast football, cutting through the middle of the park, was impressive. There was forward pressure, fierce tackling, smooth handballs, a great pack mentality down back, where there was a pleasant absence of the helter-skelter defensive work that sometimes appears. It was like watching a well-oiled machine. The entirety of the first three quarters was a thing of beauty, unless you were an Essendon fan. Really, it was an absolute beating. Then the amazing comeback. The siren was a relief tonight like it's rarely been such a relief before.
The bye awaits - just as well, with injury concerns for Hannebery and Nick Smith, both of whom missed the furious final quarter - and then Geelong on a Friday night at the SCG. Given the way this one ended tonight, Swans fans are likely glad of the two-week break. They'll need it to let their heart-rate return to normal!
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