This was at a time where every player in the AFL was slipping over due to the poor surface of Etihad…except rioli.
I reckon that was Rioli’s best game for the club and when he bent over late in the game to pick up the ball I knew straight away he did his hammy.
It’s remarkable how many ■■■■■■■ times we lost to Carlton from 2001-2007. They were so bad, current day North levels of bad, but every year they would beat us in some cripple fight.
After the 99 Prelim they had us spooked for a long time. Even in 2000, although we beat them 3 times, we were tentative in our approach, and the margins were below our average that year.
| Essendon | 4.4.28 | 6.4.40 | 11.8.74 | 14.10.94 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Lions | 3.2.20 | 7.6.48 | 10.10.70 | 12.14.86 |
Essendon were 6 points outside the 8 after losing 2 of their last 3 matches.
Brisbane were 3rd on the ladder but were in underwhelming form despite winning 2 of their last 3.
Essendon broke a 5-match losing streak against the Lions to keep their finals chase alive.
Late in the 1st quarter, Lion Alistair Lynch pulled Dustin Fletcher to ground in a marking contest deep inside Brisbane’s forward 50. The ball spilled free to James Hird to collect and kick long. Danny Jacobs read the ball better than his opponent, Darryl White, taking the mark above his head in the centre of the ground, before handballing off to Adam Ramanauskas. Rama’s kick couldn’t have been delivered any better to the leading Matthew Lloyd. Lloyd converted for the best passage of play of the quarter.
Midway through the 2nd quarter, Mark Bolton kicked in Hille’s direction from just outside 50. The crowd groaned as the kick tumbled uglily off the side of the boot, but Hille pursued the ball and used his body cleverly against the smaller Tim Notting to take the mark right on the boundary line. Hille took a step inside and kicked an unlikely goal for a big man from the pocket. The Lions still managed to edge the first half, going into HT 8 points up.
Essendon made their move early in the 3rd quarter, taking advantage of an unusually loose Lions defense. Andrew Welsh was left in acres of space while running off half back, who ran with the ball inside 50 before kicking the goal.
Hird was Essendon’s primary playmaker, often kicking from just behind the play. His kick to Scott Lucas early in the 3rd quarter opened the ground up in an instant, as Lucas played on inside the centre circle before hitting up Bolton, who played on and kicked an easy goal.
After Brisbane hit back with a goal of their own, a Hird handpass from the resulting centre clearance bounced into the path of Jason Johnson, who sprinted unopposed inside Brisbane’s 50 before unleashing a trademark bomb through for a 3rd Essendon goal of the quarter.
A minute later, Damian Cupido roved his own opponent’s dropped mark before giving a no-look handpass to Joe Misiti. Misiti kicked a tidy checkside from 25m to kick a 4th goal for the Dons. Mark Johnson kicked a set shot from just outside 50, barely a minute later, to give the Bombers their 5th.
Again the Lions fought their way back into the lead after Luke Power kicked the first goal of the 4th quarter. Soon Dean Rioli was centering the ball towards the top of the goalsquare. Mal Michael had this name written all over the ball, but Matthew Lloyd jumped early from the side to knock Michael side and take the mark on his chest. Lloyd kicked the goal to put Essendon back in front.
With just over 6 minutes of play on the clock, the Lions attempted to rebound from defensive 50 with a clearing kick to the wing. Hird ran back with the flight to brilliantly spoil Brad Scott. Ramanauskas mopped up the crumb and found Cupido in the centre square, who turned and put on the afterburners before kicking beautifully to Mark Bolton, who juggled the easy mark. Bolton was far more assured on the set shot, nailing the goal to give the Bombers a 14-point lead. Hird had been involved in every goal in the 4th quarter.
Lynch kicked his 4th for the night to make for a nervy finish. The Lions surged forward late, but the Bombers defense refused to concede again. Lynch grabbed the ball out fo the ruck and kicked goalwards. Jonathan Brown took possession on the bounce but was immediately tackled by Lucas. Brown threw the ball out but wasn’t penalised. Simon Black then handballed to Michael Voss who was crunched beautifully by Mark Johnson. The crowd demanded holding the ball but the whistle had been put away. The siren soon sounded and brought great relief to the Bombers fans who had waited so long for revenge against the Lions.
Despite almost losing from a 29-point lead against Melbourne the following week, the Bombers played their most consistent football of 2003 over the next 2 months. Their only loss before the finals was to eventual Grand Finalist, Collingwood, by only 16 points. The Bombers handily defeated finals first-timers, Fremantle, at Subiaco before being dumped out of contention by Port Adelaide at Football park for the 2nd year running.
Brisbane’s form continued to waver but they still managed 3rd place despite only winning 14 from 22 matches. The Lions recovered from a Qualifying Final loss to Collingwood to convincingly win all remaining finals and complete their threepeat.
Click here to go to best win #5.
Nice pick this one.
I completely forgot about it.
I do remember the bump on Chad Cornes and when I was at the ground, you could hear the contact. I’m surprised watching the replay that Cornes actually got up.
This is a game I hadn’t even considered in the 50, let alone in the 10. I wouldn’t have it this high and certainly not ahead of a few others recently listed, but it’s good that you caught a dominant Lloyd game. He had one against the Bulldogs (it was a rivalry round game) and another against Melbourne, but is the most deserving one to go into a top 50.
I mis-remembered this game the Cornes bump game too. I thought we may have won this game by more and had the game sown up earlier, but on the re-watch, Port were still pretty close halfway through the last quarter.
It’s actually a decent quality game too.
One thing I’ve begun noticing is that I naturally like the games Cupido shows up in. It’s a pity he couldn’t show his best for longer as he’s the one guy that when you hear the sound of his kick, it’s like hitting a golf ball perfectly. It just sounds like a perfect strike and he had heaps of power behind his kicks too.
It is starting to get back to my distaste of players that triggers of that era. Guys like Alvey and Ben Haynes are too noticeable for me and seeing other ‘mediocre at best’ players like Matthew Allen, Mark Bolton, NLM (I was not a fan of his), Murphy, Peverill (I loved his effort, but damn he was never going to be any better than his first few years) and Richards (he was more valuable elsewhere than us) is annoying. Two years after playing in a grand final and we’re sending that out on the field?
Still, regardless, it was a decent game to re-watch.
Some of the goals he kicked in that 2003 season are so satisfying to watch. If you only saw the highlights, you’d wonder how he didn’t have a better career. Frustrating that he didn’t continue some of the form like we saw on ANZAC Day because that part of the ground was a pretty gaping hole for us.
Yep, it’s a bit strange to look back at some of these games and see players who wouldn’t even get a game in our weak sides today, but were somehow carried to minor success by a good core of players. I also didn’t really rate NLM, but he keeps bobbing up in these highlights. I recall him being a bright spark in his early days before tapering off a bit. I went out of my way to exclude mention of Murphy whenever he showed up.
Excellent game this one.
The roof had to be opened at half time to let out smoke which had built up from a nearby building fire.
| Essendon | 1.5.11 | 6.6.42 | 9.13.67 | 13.15.93 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood | 4.2.26 | 6.6.42 | 8.10.58 | 12.16.88 |
Essendon began 2009 with scratchy form and a 2-2 record. Their last outing against North Melbourne had been disappointing, with the Bombers kicking themselves out of the game and succumbing by 12 points at Docklands.
Collingwood were also 2-2 but had generally looked better than the Dons in their opening 4 matches.
AKA “The Zaharakis against Collingwood game”.
Essendon overcame the injury of David Hille early in the game to win an absolute classic ANZAC Day clash. Hille ruptured his ACL in the opening minutes and went on to miss the rest of the season. Enter, Paddy Ryder. The young ruck prospect had only played a small part in Essendon’s ruck duties in his first 3 years of footy, but the youngster played one of the matches of his career and was the day’s ANZAC Medalist.
Collingwood kicked the first 3 goals of the match and led by 15 points at QT, but the Bombers hit back to tie the contest by HT.
Bomber Sam Lonergan took a fantastic diving mark before kicking the set shot goal from just inside 50 to give the Bombers momentum early in the 2nd quarter.
Ricky Dyson goaled with an impressive hurried kick from 50m to briefly put the Bombers in front
The Bombers got out to a 17-point lead during the 3rd quarter after goals to Brent Stanton, Alwyn Davey and Andrew Lovett, among a number of behinds. The Bombers would soon rue these misses as momentum swung the Pies’ direction. Collingwood kicked the next 3 goals to take the lead early in the 4th quarter.
As if Ryder hadn’t been influential enough already, he flew past Leroy Jetta to receive a handpass just outside 50 before finishing with ease on the run to give the Bombers back the lead.
The Pies looked like winners after earning themselves a 14-point lead with less than 5 minutes of play remaining. The Bombers had barely looked like kicking a goal, but Collingwood were soon the side to rue missed chances. In circumstances, the Dons found another gear once the forecasted rain finally arrived. A stoppage at halfback spilled out to Brent Stanton, who released Lovett for a trademark run. After 4 bounces, his kick bounced into the arms of Leroy Jetta. Jetta squeezed a bouncing snap through for a goal to give the Bombers a glimmer of hope.
Jobe Watson won the next centre clearance. He found Stanton who bombed inside 50. Jetta caught Pie Alan Toovey in a tackle 25m out, straight in front. The ball was dropped, but no whistle was blown. Eventually Leon Davis cleared for Collingwood, but his kick landed out of bounds on the full. Ricky Dyson collected the football and kicked the most important goal of his career from the free kick, splitting the middle with the wet ball to make the margin only 2 points.
The Bombers attacked again through the middle of the ground off half back. Lovett kicked a well-weighted chip to Angus Monfries, who took a skidding mark. The crowd was cheering every successful possession. Monfries handballed to Dyson immediately, whose long kick left Leroy Jetta in a race against himself to pick up the loose ball and kick an open goal. Poor Jetta fumbled at the crucial moment to allow the Pies defense to get back and rush a behind.
It looked like the moment may have passed for Essendon, but the resulting kick-in was collected by Jason Winderlich 70m out from goal. He handballed short to Heath Hocking, who fed out quickly to Nathan Lovett-Murray, who used brilliant vision to spot up 4th-gamer, David Zaharakis, all on his own on the 50m arc. Zaharakis turned, took one look at the goals before getting his kick away just in time to send a glorious wobbling kick straight through the middle in the pouring rain. The broadcast commentary for this moment was one of Stephen Quartermain’s best. The Triple M commentary is also special in its own way.
After another Ryder hitout and 5 seconds of scrappy play, the Bombers had won one of the best ANZAC Day games of all.
Click here for the Essendon goals/highlights (Essendon only, lower quality).
Click here for the AFL’s mini-match highlights (Both teams, higher quality).
Essendon lost by 43 points to Brisbane at the Gabba the following week, but then rebounded with a strong 44-point win over reigning premiers Hawthorn. It was impossible to predict Matthew Knights’s Bombers. They stuttered their way to 8th on the ladder before being demolished by Adelaide at Football Park.
Collingwood were solid, as they tended to be under Mick Malthouse, earning a top 4 spot and winning the infamous “right in front of me” Semi-Final against Adelaide. Geelong blew them away in the Preliminary Final.
Click here to go to best win #4.
I saw highlights of the game vs FARK CARLTON a few weeks prior the other night, and commentators were waxing lyrical about Ryder lacking ability to influence games as a ruck.
Fast forward two weeks and he produces one of, if not the, most influential games by a ruck for Essendon since 2000.
Just a personal view, but I don’t get quite as hyped about these post-2000 Premiership wins as most others. In isolation, they bring back fond memories but there’s something about knowing they ultimately came to nothing that makes it all a bit deflating.
You must be fun at parties.
Also the game where “30,000 people left early but apparently they’ve all been taken by aliens because you will never ever meet them”
I know a pies mate left early to beat the traffic and the rain “eh, we’ve won this one”
I made comment to my cousin who is a bandwagon pies fan “the best thing about this win is that you finally had to stay to the end to watch it”
Our family was on way home from a party and listening in the car. Arrived home and turned on the telly with about 2 minutes to go. All of us jumping around the lounge room like crazy people. One of the few truly happy memories my kids have in their life of following Essendon.
Also, the way our boys pinched this at the end when everything seemed lost, is what gives up hope every next time we are four goals down in the fourth…
That’s one of my favorite Essendon goals ever. Just so smooth and the roar of the crowd. He played a great game that day,
I understand that. I feel a tad the same about wins that didn’t at least lead to a finals spot. But when you’ve never witnessed a premiership live, these kinds of wins are all you’ve ever known. They’re as good as it’s gotten.
Also how exciting was it when we had 6 indigenous players selected in our team!
At least I’m invited to parties.
tragic where we are now in that area.
As I think a number of posters have said previously this may not be our “best” ANZAC Day win but it was certainly the most memorable.
I recall literally dozens of our supporters filling the empty seats around me in those dying minutes, clearly out of breath from sprinting back from the car park or train station, when they’d realised the game had turned.
I’m glad this game got included. I haven’t watched it for a while, but I do recall a great game against the Lions that we won. I was thinking that maybe this didn’t make it into the list.
I’m glad it’s in the top 10 and whilst I prefer watching other games lower on the list, this definitely warrants a high ranking.
I hated the Lions back then. More than Collingwood and Carlton. The hate for Hawthorn hadn’t heightened yet because they’d gone a decade of being poor but they were building. The 2001 GF still burned. And I hated their arrogance at the time. They basically played the same way as we did through our period of dominance, but were able to manage their list without having to break the team up greatly and were able to maximise their time.. And I also think Matthews was the perfect coach for them and it made sense for them to move him on once the team was finished even if it meant that other voice was a pretty poor coach who wasn’t ready. It’s actually amazing to realise that they only had two other coaches between Matthews and Fagan. And they held through them for 8 seasons.
A few of my tidbits…
For some weird reason, I thought this was a game where Bolton kicked 4+ goals. I was a tad surprised that he only kicked 2. Was even more surprised that his best career goals in a game was 3 which I was adamant he kicked 4+ goals somewhere.
The ultimate mis-remembering was I thought this game was when Pev told the Brisbane doctor to sit down. But it wasn’t. I went looking for info on when it happened and it seemed it was in 2004.
I don’t think I need to watch this again to know where it sits. It was the best game I’ve ever been to and every I re-watch it, the same feelings flood back. I didn’t think we’d win even after the Ricky Dyson goal. I just didn’t think it could happen, let alone would.
The Collingwood hatred was rising but I knew they were a better team than us. That was evident just looking at the players that played that day.
But still the Zaharakis ‘be a hero son’ call still send shivers down my spine when I hear it. It the kind of thing you dream of but never expect and Zaharakis got to live it for a day. It’s a shame he didn’t become a great of the club, but at least he had a moment that he’d forever remember.
I’d say I watch the Hird Anzac Day game more than this one, but they are bloody close. Basically, the Hird game I can watch in full, this one, I sort of can get distracted easily through the first three quarters but watch the fifteen minutes closely.