GWS kill Dons at death
ANTHONY McDonald-Tipungwuti has won many a game for Essendon off his own boot during his career.
He didn’t lose the game for the Bombers against GWS at Metricon Stadium on Friday night, but he could have practically sewn up what would have been a vital Essendon win.
As the Giants clawed back a 29-point deficit inch by inch, McDondal-Tipungwuti marked the ball all by himself in the Bombers forward 50 and instead of going back and slotting what would have been a momentum-halting goal he instead kicked it to Shaun McKernan who missed.
With that nail in the coffin avoided, the Giants came back from the dead to claim a stirring four-point comeback win noone could have predicted after a yawn-fest of a first quarter.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said earlier this week said all the things he hated about soccer - diving and cheap shots - were creeping into footy, Bombers and GWS players did their best to replicate a world game scoreline in the first quarter.
But if it was 2-2 after 20 minutes in a soccer game it would be a thrilling game, the first quarter at Metricon wast the complete opposite.
Both sides looked like taking no risks at all, the Bombers were extremely slow when it came to moving the ball.
The four behinds was the lowest opening quarter for a
VFL/AFL game since Geelong faced Footscray in Round 1 1965, luckily for the viewers and small crowd at Metricon both teams took the handbrake off in the second.
The second quarter started with a bang when Giants skipper Stephen Coniglio goaled almost immediately.
But any thoughts GWS would stroll through the rest of the match were quickly dispelled as the Bombers reeled off six in a row.
When Sam Draper kicked his first AFL goal early on in the third it looked like the game was done.
But GWS’ star power came to the fore as they battered the Bombers from then on. A quick Jeremy Cameron goal to start the fourth gave them the start they needed.