But if this Anzac Day showed that Essendon’s youngsters are ahead of theirCollingwood counterparts – a large group of whom were promoted for this occasion,due to the Pies’ threadbare depth – the most potent and influential performers were a pair of Bombers who’ve teased,but never quite delivered on the great expectations that accompanied them since they first played in the club’s traumatic 2016 season:Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Darcy Parish.
McDonald-Tipungwuti,has been a barometer of Essendon’s fortunes. When he boots three goals or more,they win more than three quarters of the time. Sometimes it’s hard to know if this is because he is riding Essendon’s wave,or if they are riding his explosive creativity,which has not been seen consistently.
On thisAnzac Day,“Walla” booted five goals,and his interventions were timely. The first was caused by a vigorous tackle that personified Essendon’s impressive pressure game (50 tackles to half-time – close to 2021’s full-game average for a team),as he ran down an unsuspecting Jack Madgen from behind and slotted the free from 25 metres.
His second was a trademark snap across his low-centred,stocky body in the second quarter,by which stage the Dons had wrested control of play – and possession of the footy – and seemed clearly superior to the battling Pies,yet could not turn that advantage in play into a scoreboard advantage.
Goal number three,Essendon’s eighth and last before half-time,was both a brilliant and a minor controversy,as Walla deftly paddled the ball nested right on the boundary line in the forward pocket at the Ponsford Stand end,kept it in play and ran into the open goal.
Was the ball out of bounds? The Collingwood throng in the Ponsford stand – some doubtless still upset about Wayne Harmes’ disputed tap back into play in the 1979 grand final – howled that it was out. In bounds or not,it was smart thinking by the Bomber.