Essendon, chemistry and cosmic animations

In the aftermath of Saturday night’s 104 point win over Essendon, Luke Beveridge explained to reporters the necessity to “re-establish what your weapons are all over again, every game.”

Bailey Smith chats with a fan. (@bazlenka)

I feel it’s an interesting prism through which we can view this result for two reasons: the degree and the completeness of the thrashing the Dogs delivered the Dons, and the players who weren’t out on the field.

In 2019, this team has most often scored from stoppage situations; with a midfield of Josh Dunkley, Jack Macrae, Marcus Bontempelli and the deepest rotation in the league, young key position stocks and (until recently) a fairly disorganised forward line, that doesn’t come as a surprise.

That isn’t to say it’s come from dominance in the centre, or even successes from repeat entries. I’ve discussed at length the Dogs’ pivot to using the corridor to gain territory, and looking to score from the defensive half.

On Saturday night, the Bulldogs shovelled 137 points of misery onto the Bombers. Just 18 came from stoppages, despite a +36 contested possession differential, a positive stoppage clearance differential and up until the last few minutes, a positive overall clearance differential.

106 points were scored on turnovers, only 48 of which came from the Dogs’ forward half. It was a victory in movement; watching them surge forward with numbers around the ball carrier was like looking at an animation of the solar system spinning around the Sun as it hurtles through space.

So what were their weapons in this game?

A dominant midfield performance and the grip on territory that comes with it, and using the length and span of the ground to turn possession chains from behind centre into scores. Which is… familiar.

Other pieces fell into place, too. Piling on nine goals from the forward half (seven from turnovers, two from stoppages) is a promising result for a young team that has struggled to create meaningful attacking play from territory dominance. Essendon could manage only one goal from forward half turnovers, too; the back six was brilliant.

The caveat is that Essendon were missing their best tall forward, their best mid-forward, their best ruck, their best tall defender, their best running defender and a handful of other first team players. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a meaningful game in the context of the Dogs’ development, just that the scope of the annihilation has to be assessed in light of their absentees.

Anyway.

The case has been made that the Dogs function better without Caleb Daniel behind the ball, but 73 points from the defensive half tells me the team’s best user still has a role to play there. He’s often also the first defender to come up to the contest and provide some intuition in traffic; when the team is more reliant on stoppage scoring, he’s important in that sense.

There’s also a developing theory that the chemistry in midfield is stronger without Tom Liberatore. He has had an underrated year, clamping down on opposition extractors and creating room for his teammates, but maybe the touch and running power of Patrick Lipinski and Toby McLean (who is also very good defensively around the contest) are more useful applications of those minutes.

Lipinski had 27 disposals, 10 score involvements, six entries and three goal assists. He knows when the time is right to spot up a short target and when to surge, he’s willing to wear hits to ensure the team retains and advances possession and he almost always executes. I really like him.

Josh Dunkley was instrumental in putting the game on the Dogs’ terms, after Essendon won the first two centre clearances. In the first term alone he had 16 disposals, 11 contested possessions, five clearances and two rebounds, but it was his goal late in the quarter that defined the Dogs’ ruthlessness, a theme through the fallout.

Bailey Dale marked a Sam Lloyd entry in a very comfortable position, about 35–40 metres out and close enough to directly in front, but Dunkley ran his guts out down the centre of the ground to get the handball over the top and make a certainty of it.

“It’s a very difficult thing to be, ruthless in any sport,” Beveridge explained to reporters after the game.

“You’re always focusing on method and the core of what you need to do well, trying to steer away from outcomes and just trying to put all the pieces in place… the boys managed to do that for most of the night.

“You could tell by the end they were pretty crook on themselves for letting the last three through.”

I loved the fury of Jack Macrae and Easton Wood in particular. Their desperation even with an 123 point lead was contagious, and gave me confidence there are leaders out on the ground who can help put a stop to a “spike from the opposition” — hopefully before they’ve opened up a big lead, in future.

A couple of other contributions deserve to be highlighted. I lamented his selection over Rhylee West but Will Hayes had a neat game on the wing, collecting 22 disposals and both driving and finishing some handball chains.

Aaron Naughton had as many contested marks as Essendon. A lot of the Dogs’ forward play is channelled through his capacity to get separation and mark on the lead before wheeling around and making a good decision using the space he created.

Lachie Hunter owned the ground game on the wings, Bailey Smith created lots of space because he’s so light on his feet and strong through his upper body, and Hayden Crozier often spurred the ballistic counters, marking and hitting the ground running.

The Dogs are off to Clay Smith Field on Sunday afternoon, where they will have to beat Greater Western Sydney to stay in finals contention.

The Giants were well beaten by Hawthorn in the snow (!!!), partly a consequence of misreading the conditions and trying to hit up short targets, but mostly because they were missing the players — Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio, Josh Kelly, Jacob Hopper — who would have afforded them the luxury of going down the line and grinding out stoppages.

Kelly, Matt de Boer and Jeremy Cameron are all listed as “test” on the Giants website, and Harry Himmelberg is apparently a chance to return. If all four are fit to play, they’ll give Leon Cameron’s team some of the height and maturity they missed last Friday night, and they’ll be competitive.

Do the thing, Dogs.

Talk soon.