There are known knowns, there are known unknowns and there are things we don’t know. And then there’s the finish to today’s drawn Anzac Day clash. How on earth does one make sense of that game? Both sides had the four points in their grasp, but let them slip. Both sides played scintillating football at times, and had Frank Spencer-like calamities at others. Both sides had opportunities to win it at the death. Kyle Langford, Essendon’s goalkicking lock, the surest of bets from set shots, missed from 35 metres out. Earlier, Brodie Mihocek, an excellent player all afternoon, ballooned one across goal, and shanked one sideways a few minutes later.
The Bombers were completely dominant early, winning in close and out wide, and finding their forwards with conviction and precision. The Pies were listless and wasteful, and if not for Bobby Hill’s checkside platter putter close on quarter time, the horse may have already bolted. By halfway through that quarter, Jordan De Goey and Steele Sidebottom had yet to touch the footy and the Bombers had double the possessions and all the momentum. When Scott Pendlebury chalked up his 10,000th career possession, the applause was almost apologetic and quickly drowned out by the home Essendon crowd.
