More than that, a glorious win. No-one replays the last quarter of ‘85 on Family Day.
Best Win Since 2000 No. 4
Preliminary Final 2000 vs Carlton
| Essendon | 4.2.26 | 8.7.55 | 14.13.97 | 18.17.125 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlton | 2.3.15 | 5.4.34 | 6.7.43 | 12.8.80 |
Context
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Essendon were coming off their incredible 125-point Qualifying Final victory over the Kangaroos and had an extra week of rest over the Blues. It was a case of avoiding the catastrophe of 1999 at all costs.
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Carlton were the clear 2nd-best team in the comp throughout the Home & Away season, but had choked against Melbourne in their Qualifying Final, giving up a 21-point 3QT lead. They had rebounded strongly against Brisbane, winning by 82 points at the MCG. The Blues were also missing key players in Anthony Koutoufides and Stephen Silvagni.
Why it’s on the list / key moments
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Essendon avenged their 1999 Preliminary Final defeat with a convincing victory.
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The Bombers’ tackling and intent to win the hard ball was evident from the outset, applying constant pressure to the Blues. Late in the 1st quarter, Carlton’s Lance Whitnall dawdled in possession on the wing, hesitating to kick before being rundown by Chris Heffernan. Mark Mercuri, Joe Misiti and Blake Caracella shared the ball between each other before Mercuri strolled in and kicked accurately from just inside 50.
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In the 2nd term, Matthew Lloyd took a great contested mark while being sandwiched by two Blues. He kicked his 2nd to give the Bombers a 14-point lead after Carlton had kicked a few in a row.
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Minutes later, the Bombers worked the ball well from half-forward inside 50. Caracella had burst away from the stoppage before handballing in the direction of Adam Ramanauskas. Rama took possession of the bouncing ball and quickly got his handpass away to Mercuri, who dished off to Michael Long, who finished off with a cool finish to put the Dons up by 21.
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Scott Lucas put Essendon 31 points in front after roving the pack and kicking a snap from the left forward pocket.
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Steven Alessio soon grabbed the ball out of the ruck and dribbled a kick towards goal while being swung in a tackle. The ball evaded all bodies and somehow snuck inside the right-hand goalpost for 6 points.
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Lloyd then initiated a scuffle with his opponent, Glenn Manton, which eventually gifted Lloyd with a set shot 20m out. Lloyd converted to punish the Blues.
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Eventual Crichton Medalist, Dustin Fletcher, took a brilliant mark at centre half back against Whitnall before launching the Bombers into attack with a bomb to Justin Blumfield on centre wing. Blumfield strolled to 50 and launched goalward. The ball cleared all fingertips for another goal.
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Lucas finished off the quarter by roving the pack once again in almost identical fashion and finishing from an even tighter angle. The Bomber fans could rest easy now.
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The Bombers gave up some late goals to the Blues and missed plenty of chances themselves throughout the match, but luckily it was inconsequential this time around.
Extra notes
- Essendon won the tackle count 66-43 and contested possessions 146-128.
What happened next?
- Essendon won by a more comfortable margin against Melbourne in the Grand Final, claiming their 16th premiership to equal Carlton’s record.
Click here to go to best win #3.
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The 2000 prelim was more of a relief than anything. The 3rd quarter blast meant we could put the feet up and enjoy watching the last quarter. A stark contrast from 12 months earlier.
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Yep, a little fist pump at FT and that was it.
Was a feeling of thank ■■■■ for that because the next week was never going to be an issue.
Hmmmmmmmm…….not for me, but whatever.
They were never going to beat us without Silvagni and Kouta. They challenged us a bit in the second, think Hamill got then within a kick or two but that was it. Cards fell our way with Kouta doing his knee in round 20 against us (knocked knees with JJ) and Silvagni ripping hammy off the bone in week 2 of the finals. Think was in the last 5-10 minutes as well.
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Robert Walls finals tipping was 0/2 at this stage.
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I had nervous moments when it came out that Hird’s daughter had been hospitalised and he may not play. It was relieving to not lose to them again.
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The Blues really botched their finals campaign losing to Melbourne in the QF. Without a doubt, they were the second best team in it in 2000.
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The 2003 game was when Charman busted his shoulder and Hille stayed to help. Remember Quarters in the commentary saying “Brisbane’s season is falling apart at the seams”. Hmmmmm…..
Carlton started the season pretty badly (including getting absolutely thumped by a Collingwood team who started 5-0 then collapsed to 15th) and they copped some injuries and slowed down towards the end, but for about half a season they were probably about 95% as good as Essendon were. It’s why the late season game that year was so hyped.
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We were in a predominantly Essendon area with a couple of Pies fans who were absolutely giving it to us for most of the last quarter. Boy, did that change in the last few minutes.
Best Win Since 2000 No. 3
Grand Final 2000 vs Melbourne
| Essendon | 4.8.32 | 10.16.76 | 16.17.113 | 19.21.135 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | 3.3.21 | 5.5.35 | 8.8.56 | 11.9.75 |
Context
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Essendon were the roaring favorites having easily accounted for the Kangaroos and Carlton in their previous 2 finals. That plus winning 23/24 matches in total for the season.
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Melbourne had put together a very good couple of months having not lost since Round 17. The Dees had toppled Carlton in their Qualifying Final with a 4th quarter comeback before dispatching the Kangaroos by 50 points.
Why it’s on the list / key moments
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Essendon won the flag with an easy win over the Demons.
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James Hird won the Norm Smith medal to complete his fairytale return to regular football after missing the majority of the previous 3 seasons. His snap from a ball-up to get the Bombers’ first goal was a beauty.
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Blake Caracella was on fire in the 1st quarter. His 2nd goal included a feint that fooled Melbourne’s Anthony Ingerson and a classy finish from a tricky angle.
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Dean Wallis took a spectacular mark over the top of Dees’ full forward, David Neitz, late in the 1st quarter.
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The “lowlight” of the match was undoubtedly Michael Long’s bump on Melbourne ruckman, Troy Simmonds, late in the 2nd quarter. Simmonds was lucky to not suffer a more severe injury.
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The Bombers were wasteful in front of goal throughout the 1st half but were so dominant in general play that it didn’t matter. Essendon’s 26 scoring shots to 10 meant that they took a 41-point lead into HT.
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Early in the 3rd term, Matthew Lloyd took a fantastic one-handed double grab on the wing before delivering inside 50. Eventually Dean Solomon centred the ball high in the air. John Barnes and Justin Blumfield got in each other’s way in the marking contest before Long saved their blushes by flicking the ball behind him straight to Blumfield in the pocket. Blumfield fed Jason Johnson, who squeezed a handball out to Steven Alessio, who finally bounced through the goal.
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Mark Johnson took a wonderful one-handed mark while holding off Jeff Farmer, who had kicked 8 goals in the Dees’ Preliminary Final win.
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Late in the 3rd quarter, Darren Bewick kicked his last ever goal as he gleefully dribbled a goal from 10m out before taking a brief victory lap.
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Early in the 4th quarter, Jeff Farmer took a mark at half back for the Dees. The Bronx cheers came - presumably from the Essendon fans who had been fearing a larger goal haul from the gun small forward. Farmer tried to move the ball on quickly, but his kick was smothered by Sean Wellman. Mark Mercuri mopped up and handballed to Barnes, who centred the ball to Paul Barnard just outside 50. Barnard strolled in and drilled the goal for a career-high 4 goals. It was time to lap up the victory. You never know how long it will be until the next premiership.
Extra notes
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Essendon won the tackle count 50-30, the contested possessions 148-111, and the contested marks 26-15.
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Darren Bewick’s last game for Essendon.
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Dean Wallis’s last disposal for Essendon. Wallis was talked out of retirement to play the following season, but only managed 1 tackle in his only appearance during 2001.
Click here to go to best win #2.
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Wonder how many times it has happened where a player has kicked his teams first goal for each final.
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Yes, looking at their results between R6-18, they notched some huge wins. From memory, they looked like they were mounting a very credible challenge until quite late in the season. The Dogs knocked them off at Optus Oval in a massive upset the week before we accounted for them in that huge top-of-the-table clash.
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Of note is that they lost to Collingwood by 73 points in round 3 and beat them by 111 in round 18, a 184 point reversal. That has to be the biggest turnaround between two teams in a season, right?
Absolutely nuts when you compare the results.
1989 finals was 172 point turnaround in the space of 2 weeks
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Ignoring Essendon’s shaky conversion, this has to be up there with all time one sided Grand Finals.
Poor Melbourne, they make two Grannies in about 50 years and they’re against 2000 Essendon and 1988 Hawthorn.
Obviously winning a GF is big, but….it was a crap game and the result was a foregone conclusion. I rewatched the game once, I don’t think I’ll ever watch it again.
It was at this play that I was comfortable we’d win this game.
This game was actually closer than I remembered as well. I recall the first quarter being an arm wrestle, but I seemed to think the Blumfield goal came in the second quarter, not the third quarter.
Mercuri and Lloyd were a lot better that day than I’d remembered. Lloyd has his average, but his leading and marking was a lot more damaging given how little of the ball he actually got.
It’s actually odd watching this game again.
Essington was in there.
Carlton were weaker. Far weaker than when we played them a month before this game.
This game should have been over well before half time given who they sent out. We’d just smashed North in the most dominant finals win I’ve ever seen and maybe we were rusty from the week’s break, but still, it didn’t seem we ‘took it easy’. I actually think we played well, Carlton just defended us pretty well across the ground, until they ran out of steam and we ran over them.
I’d actually completely forgotten that Craig Bradley was still playing. I knew Kouta was out after the knee knock against us and that pretty much ended their chances of beating us.
And whilst I recall Fevola kicking a bag in the Millennium game against Collingwood, I don’t remember him playing against us that year let alone in the prelim.
I also had forgotten that Johnson was injured. A year later, playing injured players in a GF was considered a terrible choice. I don’t think you can begrudge us naming Mark Johnson the week after even if there was some doubt with his shoulder injury.
Whilst sending Hird and Mercuri into a GF didn’t work, I don’t think putting in our other players who missed the game would have changed the result. Wallis and Long were already busted and were retired during the week. Barnes played but he was included in the retirement ceremony before the GF, but he was well past it by the time GF day came. Our depth was pretty farking poor and the next half decade proves that almost none of them reached anywhere near Hird or Mercuri’s peak let alone their subdued level that they displayed on GF day. Left from the rest was Henneman, McGrath, Bolton, Pev (although I don’t think he could play because he was a rookie and we needed an LTI), Forster-Knight, Lalich, Hille (he was very raw), Robran, Bannister, Bullen and McAllister. Looking back now, I would be sending Mercuri and Hird injured into a GF instead of any of those players.
I had a tape of Leigh Matthews talking about that week. It was the week that Ansett collapsed and they had to bus it down. They could have looked at it negatively, but they embraced having to ‘do it hard’ and just tried to find positives. He also mentioned that he found it odd that at a training session we had ‘sombre moments’ to retire a few players. He felt that it was an odd way to go into the GF that way. It just seemed almost defeatist and negative. He felt confident about beating us at that moment.
But anyway…
Back on to 2000…
I’ll include comments from memories of this game…
I was never worried one bit during this game. We were going to out class them. It was just a matter of when.
I didn’t think they had enough fire power (yeah, Farmer and Neitz could be a difference), but I thought they could be contained. I also didn’t rank their backline.
It was interesting whilst watching the PF against Carlton that they spoke to Misiti after the game and he said Melbourne reminded him of them in 1993. I never thought of them like that at all. I thought they were a high chance to crumble on GF day. And whilst it wasn’t an absolute smashing and the game was pretty much over at half time, I just didn’t think they’d rise to the occasion against us that day.
I had Blumfield as BOG on the day. Hird was Hird though, so as long as the stats were there, he was going to get the Norm Smith. I just thought Blummers was better when it mattered.
I haven’t re-watched this in a while, but we’ll see if that holds true on the re-watch. I probably won’t get to it until the end of the weekend though.
Interesting that MJ had the injury and he was going to take on Farmer who kicked a bag in the prelim (I’d forgotten about that). You definitely had to back him in during that situation. I can’t recall who Hardwick played on, but I think MJ was the perfect matchup for him.
The Longy hit was pretty big on the day. It was more normal back then, but it was clear he’d get a decent suspension from that hit. Nowadays, you’d probably get de-registered.
Gee, looking at the stats, Lucas was pretty wasteful. I don’t recall too many terrible misses from that day.
I seem to recall some funny buggers coming out of the 3 quarter time break. I don’t know if we had an extra on the ground, but we had someone sprinting towards the bench and no one replaced them. I don’t think it was as the quarter began, maybe it was as players were lining up. Or maybe we made a last second change and I didn’t pick who came on to the field. Or maybe it’s just another mis-remembrance of the day.
It is interesting to watch a player like Rama during that era. He was the prototypical winger that most teams were looking for.
Throughout that 5 years, he averaged around 15 to 17 possessions. They were damaging possessions, but even back then, the wings weren’t played as heavily. And I actually thought we were one team that did leak out the other wing more often than not during 2000. How many times I saw Barnes get out to that area all on his own during the year was bloody amazing. He was good that year, but obviously opposition rucks were either too slow and stayed a kick behind the footy and got caught out or just didn’t think he’d be used.
Regarding the game itself and it’s ranking…
I’d echo the below sentiments.
I have re-watched it a few times. Probably not in the last 5 years though. There are others in 2000 that I’ve watched. The North final and the North Ansett Cup come to mind. It doesn’t make this list, but the 99 game against North where Carey and Lloyd both kicked bags I’ve re-watched. I think the Sydney final from there is another. There was a Bulldogs night game from that year and the season opener against Carlton that I can watch.
From 2000, there was a game against Adelaide during the year that was memorable but I’m not sure if I have the full game. For memory, Adelaide were close late, then we went on our customary 15 minute burst and beat them easily. The Richmond game was memorable too. The Bulldogs game earlier in the year was memorable simply because it was Sheedy doing his usual. I think it was a Fletcher milestone game so he decided to play him forward. Until he realised that he may be better suited against Luke Darcy. It didn’t matter, we won the game easily, but the second and third quarters were us just leaving the door ajar for the Bulldogs.
Basically, the whole year was a weekly celebration of how good we were. But every fan was just holding their breath the entire season hoping we wouldn’t screw this up along the way. And by the end, it was more relief than anything else. I enjoyed 1999 more than 2000 even though the end result is different. You could tell we were building in 1999, but 2000 was the peak and we just needed to get the reward we deserved.
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