Essendon Bombers dominate hapless Hawthorn Hawks

On the evidence available in just one game, any team vying for the final eight that plays Hawthorn twice has won the fixture lottery.

It wasn’t just that they were outclassed by an Essendon team, which itself has conceded it has a long path ahead of it to return to former glory, it’s that the Hawks had no avenue to attack after quarter time.

With Mitch Lewis out injured, they turned to Jacob Koschitzke as their marking target, but gave up on him midway through the third quarter when he had managed just four touches.

Chad Wingard tried hard before being injured and Luke Breust, who kicked three goals, can’t carry an attack. Blake Hardwick kicked two goals when he shifted forward in the last quarter.

But the forward line wasn’t Hawthorn’s only issue. Their defence was spooked and sat back looking for switch kicks rather than getting ahead of the ball to launch counter-attacks.

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Hawthorn are going to battle all season.

By contrast, Essendon should be pleased with their start, having arrived at the game facing their own questions about who might kick their goals. With Peter Wright unfortunately injured on the eve of the season, recruit Sam Weideman got his chance inside 50 metres.

He showed promise in the first half with two goals as the ball began to enter with monotonous regularity when the Hawks’ tackle-pressure dropped. Mason Redman, Darcy Parish and Will Setterfield shared the ball around before looking for either Weideman or the mobile Harrison Jones.

Sam Draper also caused concern for the opposition when he went forward while Archie Perkins and Alwyn Davey junior, on debut, sniffed around at ground level as the Bombers ended with 13 goalkickers.

Davey junior provided a highlight before half-time when he kicked his first goal, while Jordan Ridley joined what had become a party midway through the third quarter as he kicked his first goal in his 69th game. It was in that patch that the Bombers slammed on nine unanswered goals.

McDonald-Tipungwuti playing footy

When Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti ran on to the ground six and a half minutes into the final quarter to replace Harrison Jones a celebratory roar resonated around the ground as the Bombers’ faithful welcomed back their goalscoring hero for his first senior game for 588 days. A chant of “Tippa” momentarily went up before skipper Zach Merrett found the 29-year-old in space just four minutes later. He kicked long and straight, raised his arms aloft and smiled wide. A minute later he took a beautiful mark but unfortunately missed the shot.

One bright spot for Hawthorn

Cam Mackenzie arrived at the Hawks via pick six in the national draft as the club tries to walk up a steeper hill than most other clubs have tried. The good news is that the club’s recruiters look to have got that selection right. He showed poise in the midfield early and was instrumental in the Hawks making a solid start to the game.

HAWTHORN: 4.5 5.7 5.9 9.11 (65)
ESSENDON: 3.1 7.3 14.8 19.10 (124)

GOALS – Hawthorn: Breust 3, Hardwick 2, Wingard, Amon, Greene, Jiath.
Essendon: Perkins 3, Weideman 2, Draper 2, Redman 2, Menzie 2, Davey, Setterfield, Jones, Caldwell, Ridley, Heppell, Durham.

BEST – Hawthorn: Breust, Worpel, Hardwick, Sicily.
Essendon: Redman, Parish, Merrett, Setterfield, Perkins, Zerk-Thatcher.