Is that the pattern? After every fantastic win we have to collapse? I guess it’s better than a year of struggling to 10th.
This has been a very common narrative in the last 15 years or so.
But back in 2006, this was still a complete unknown.
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Best Win Since 2000 No. 38
Round 21 2021 vs Western Bulldogs
| Western Bulldogs | 3.3.21 | 6.5.41 | 8.11.59 | 12.12.84 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon | 1.2.8 | 7.2.44 | 11.4.70 | 15.7.97 |
Context
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Essendon came into the game placed 10th on the ladder and coming off 2 close losses to finals-bound sides, GWS and Sydney.
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The Western Bulldogs were 1st on the ladder and on a 3-game winning streak, including a win over eventual premiers, Melbourne.
Why it’s on the list / key moments
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Against all the odds, Essendon needed to win to keep their season alive and got the job done. They won despite being 27-8 down early in the 2nd quarter.
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Peter Wright played an almost flawless game up forward by kicking 7.0 including some picture-perfect set-shot bombs late in the game. He also took 3 contested marks while claiming the 3 Brownlow votes.
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James Stewart made a goalkeeper-like save to prevent a Bulldogs goal to Ed Richards during the 3rd quarter.
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Darcy Parish kicked one of the goals of his career when he snapped from the wrong pocket for a right-footer to give the Bombers a 15 point lead during the 3rd quarter.
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Jake Stringer delivered a couple of fantastic assists straight out of the centre square.
Extra notes
- No spectators were allowed at the game due to COVID restrictions. If you don’t remember being at the game, that’s why.
What happened next?
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The Bombers won their remaining two Home and Away season games without a sweat against Gold Coast and Collingwood, before capitulating in the second half of their Elimination Final win against the Bulldogs in Tasmania.
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The Bulldogs followed up their Elimination Final win with back-to-back interstate wins against Brisbane and Port Adelaide respectively, before coughing up a 19 point 3rd quarter lead against Melbourne in the Grand Final to lose by a whopping 74 points.
Click here to go to best win #37.
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21 had been the year I was most hopeful of winning a final. We showed good form in the back half of the season. Of course fate stepped in with injuries to Tippa and Jones. A rainy day in Tassie and dropped our heads after three dodgy free kicks to the same bloke.
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Best Win Since 2000 No. 37
Round 16 2014 vs Port Adelaide
| Port Adelaide | 1.4.10 | 2.8.20 | 4.14.38 | 7.18.60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon | 2.4.16 | 6.8.44 | 7.12.54 | 8.14.62 |
Context
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Essendon were 10th, a game outside the 8 and coming off a close loss to Geelong at Docklands. Essendon had struggled interstate already earlier in the season, losing by 53 points against a top 4 Fremantle outfit, scraping over the line against bottom of the league Brisbane, and winning in underwhelming fashion against another bottom of the league club in GWS.
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Port Adelaide were continuing their rapid improvement under coach, Ken Hinkley, sitting in 2nd on the ladder with a strong 141.9%.
Why it’s on the list / key moments
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The Bombers had very little reason to think they could win this one, but somehow pulled through, thanks in large part to their first half which earned them a strong 44-20 lead at HT.
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Port had many chances in the 2nd half but Essendon held on under intense pressure, both in the game and in the context of their season.
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The dewy conditions, as we know, are and were rarely the Bombers’ strong suit, but they managed to make the most of their fewer shots at goal. They also had 6 fewer clangers.
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With about 10 minutes remaining, Dyson Heppell intercepted a touched clearing kick just inside 50 and kicked a crucial goal under pressure to put the Bombers 8 points up.
Extra notes
- Essendon won the tackle count 96-62.
What happened next?
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Essendon continued their purple patch the following week against Collingwood before entering the finals in unconvincing form and throwing away a 33 point lead to lose their Elimination Final against North Melbourne.
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Port Adelaide finished 5th on the ladder but saved their best form for the finals, thrashing Richmond at home before claiming an interstate semi-final victory against Fremantle. They came home with a wet sail against eventual premiers, Hawthorn, in the Preliminary Final, but fell short by 3 points despite 7 more scoring shots.
Click here to go to best win #36.
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This was a really gutsy win. But I remember an extremely dodgy umpiring call right at the end which very nearly cost us the game. Baguley and Monfries the players involved, from memory.
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Should have been HTB
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They got dicked late by the umps didn’t they?
I went to both, Paul Stanley was awesome and so was the Essendon game, although the saints game was in 09
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Was just about to mention this. Would like to see it once more. Remember losing my s**t at the time.
Best Win Since 2000 No. 36
Round 5 2017 vs Collingwood
| Essendon | 4.3.27 | 6.6.42 | 11.9.75 | 15.10.100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood | 1.2.8 | 5.9.39 | 9.12.66 | 11.16.82 |
Context
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Essendon had shown their best and worst in the first 4 rounds, coming in with a 2-2 W/L record.
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The Pies were 1-3 but had demolished Essendon in the previous ANZAC Day game.
Why it’s on the list / key moments
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ANZAC Day wins had/have been hard to come by, and this one was both fun to watch and quite promising at the time. Essendon weren’t great defensively, but made up for it with some great individual efforts.
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Joe Daniher won the ANZAC Medal despite his usual wayward kicking in front of goal. His goal from well inside the centre square to stop a run of 3 Collingwood goals was one of his best moments in an Essendon jumper.
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Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti’s rundown tackle of Will Hoskin-Elliott in the 4th quarter put an end to any Collingwood resurgence.
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Daniher kicked another goal from just outside 50 to seal the game late on.
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Fellow Essendon youngsters Zach Merrett and Orazio Fantasia also played very strong games.
Extra notes
- Ben McNiece’s debut for Essendon.
What happened next?
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The Bombers were beaten easily by midtable Melbourne and Fremantle in successive weeks. They’d show signs before eventually bowing out to Sydney in an embarrassing Elimination Final defeat.
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The Pies were competitive almost their entire season, with their biggest defeat coming against Essendon in their 2nd meeting in Round 16, that time by 37 points. They finished 13th but with a respectable percentage of 99.
Click here to go to best win #35.
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I think this was also Daniel Wells’ first game for Collingwood and pretty close to his last game too.
Easily his best game for the Pies too. He looked like taking the game away from us at various stages that day.
Was that particular game in 2009? Then it must’ve been another Saints game where we upset them in ‘07 because I swear we played them on the same day as the Paul Stanley gig. I agree with you though that that gig was just brilliant.
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It wasn’t 2007 because Knights was the coach at the time.
Yep, the Nick Riewoldt post-siren miss game was in late '09, when the Saints were still unbeaten.
I’m struggling to keep up.
I was initially trying to watch the game within a few days of it being posted, but I’m only up to number 47.
I have the majority of the games in full, so you’re not far off.
I think the only ones I don’t have is the Gold Coast game in 2011. I used to have it, but it’s been replaced with highlights. I went to the game, and the first quarter was great, but if it wasn’t for Reimers, that game would have been forgotten by now.
I don’t have the Sydney game in 2006, but that’s because I could never find a decent quality version of that game, so I settled for average quality highlights. It definitely is a memorable game though. I thought we’d be poor leading into that season, but that game gave me a bit of hope. I’d grown tired of Sheedy’s ‘we’re 1 midfield jet away’ after just seeing West Coast win a premiership with three midfield jets. He was well past it by that stage and our 2000 team was also well past it too.
I don’t have the Port game in 2014, but I have the full last quarter. I recall that game pretty well though.
@Ta0Ta. Are you including NAB cup games?
For some silly reason, I have one from the years you’ve recently posted. Basically, as you post a game from the year, I’m just dragging all our games that year into a folder to watch and I noticed that I have a NAB game in there.
The 2000 NAB GF would definitely be on my list of 50, but was surprised when I found another one. I think I only have it because I can’t find the highlights of the game and it’s such a small file, I’ve just hesitated from deleting it.
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Incredible effort to even give that a try - I’m sure my post frequency isn’t helping. Trying to get it done before the season takes off and people lose interest.
No I’m not. The only games that come to mind are the Mark Williams one and maybe one from 2010 when I think we did pretty well?
You know, you’re probably right that this one deserved consideration, if any, from preseason comps. It stamped the team’s authority over the reigning premiers (again) and set the tone for what came after.
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I never gave NAB games a thought when I did my rough framework of what could make a top 50.
But I agree, the 2000 NAB GF is the only one worthy of inclusion if any.
I have the same sentiment as you did from that game. I wasn’t sure if we could back up after the 99 PF disappointment. Even though we beat North in 99, I was still suspect of them. That NAB GF was when I knew we had the right mindset going into the season and was confident it wouldn’t end in disappointment. The other two times that year was the North game mid year and the Carlton game late in the year.
The other NAB game I had was the Williams goal after the siren against the Saints. I barely remember the game apart from that and it’s only mentioned because of Montagna’s ‘it’s pre-season, not a GF’ take on our celebration after it. I was surprised I still had the game. I think that was the round robin era of shortened games and if we won that game, we progressed to the next round.
I can’t think of any other NAB games in the last 25 years. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the NM GF in the early to mid 90s. Maybe another one from the late 80s when the games were more competitive.
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