The slow-starting Swans were galvanised into action after half-time — similarly to how they were in the final term of last week’s stirring win over Collingwood — overcoming a threatening Bombers outfit after again falling behind at the first change.
Despite sitting fourth in the AFL for the season, Sydney has ranked dead last for points-from-turnover differential (-24.0) over the past five weeks — but it pounced on Essendon’s missteps in the third and fourth terms.
The Swans were led admirably in particular by Luke Parker and Ollie Florent, who were awarded increased midfield time due to the sidelined Chad Warner (calf), while electric forward Tom Papley (ankle) and reliable ball-carrier Justin McInerney (knee) also remained absent.
Parker, who has had a continually interrupted campaign and whose name has recently arisen in trade rumours, was impactful both in attack and between the arcs — especially in the third term when he notched nine disposals, 222 metres gained, two goals and three score involvements in the period alone.
It wasn’t a highlight-reel product for the Swans the entire night, though, as they were again uninspiring at the outset — only gaining the ascendancy in the second half.
Melbourne great Garry Lyon wasn’t impressed by Sydney’s first-half showing.
“Flat, lethargic, an inability to pressure Essendon,” he said on Fox Footy. “Between the arcs, the contested number was scary.”
In the third period, the gears shifted for Longmire’s side, with the Swans piling on six third-quarter goals to Essendon’s one to take a 21-point advantage into the final change.
“First goal of the (second half) goes to Luke Parker — he was absolutely sensational — and he was matched by Isaac Heeney,” Lyon said at three-quarter-time.
“They were both devilishly quiet in that first half, but they came to life and it seemed to energise the rest of the group … the highest two rated players on the ground, and all of a sudden they’ve got a 21-point lead.”
Brisbane Lions legend Jonathan Brown added: “We saw it last week in the last quarter against Collingwood …. They can explode.”
The steadied Swans closed it out in the final quarter, adding another six goals to their tally to prevail comprehensively by 39 points.
Essendon’s finals hopes are done and dusted — barring the absolute pinnacle of miracles in the final fortnight of the regular season — after going down to Sydney for the fifth time in the past six occasions.
Agonisingly, it did so after dominating the first-half portion of the game.
But despite owning the play in the opening quarter, the Bombers were wasteful with many of their early opportunities.
The home side owned territory but couldn’t capitalise enough to instil a comfortable buffer — going at just a 20 per cent scores-per-inside-50 clip, compared to Sydney’s 40 per cent.
In a scrappy, turnover-laden tussle of a second term, Essendon stretched its slender lead by just two points to seven by the time the half-time siren sounded.
Dylan Shiel was one of Essendon’s best, recording a game-high 19 disposals and four clearances to half-time — he finished the evening with 30 tocuhes and six clearances with a disposal efficiency of 80.8 per cent.
“Essendon’s midfield are smashing — Shiel, (Jye) Caldwell, (Darcy) Parish — and that’s without putting (Zach) Merrett and (Sam) Durham in there, (Nic) Martin on the wing; just absolutely annihilating a Sydney midfield that’s got such great talent,” former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley told Fox Footy’s half-time coverage.
By the main change, Essendon had generated 28 points from the midfield zone, 26 more contested possessions than Sydney, 10 more clearances, and nine more ground-ball gets.
However, the third quarter was when it all turned pear-shaped for the Dons, conceding 13 of the game’s final 17 goals to fall to a 39-point defeat.
“This Essendon side could be the biggest bunch of panic merchants in the AFL,” Lyon told Fox Footy’s coverage on Friday night.
“When the pressure didn’t come early in the game, they got comfortable … it’s not going to be good watching for Bomber fans.”
In addition to having to beat the vaunted Lions in Brisbane next Saturday night, Essendon now needs one of the seventh-placed Western Bulldogs or eighth-placed Hawthorn to lose both of their last two home-and-away games in order to qualify for the finals.
Put simply, it ain’t happening. In its final home game of the 2024 season, Essendon disappointed its home faithful one more time.
Despite Friday night’s come-from-behind victory, the Swans’ lacklustre first quarters remain a glaring concern for coach John Longmire, especially with a crucial finals campaign nearing.
Sydney has now won just eight of 22 (36 per cent) opening terms this season — a staggeringly low number considering its dominance in 2024.
That ugly trend continued on Friday, as Longmire’s brigade again surrendered a quarter-time lead and was forced to come from behind.
Granted, the Swans trailed Essendon by just five points at the first change, but it should have been more.
A hungry and desperate Bombers outfit simply outmuscled Sydney at the source to start proceedings, as the Swans trailed 26-45 in the contested possession count at the first change.
They were also -14 for uncontested possessions, -10 for inside-50s, -27 for disposals and -3 for clearances.
“It was the same old Swans with that first quarter fadeout; not being there to be able and stake a claim, especially after their last quarter heroics last week,” Collingwood icon Nathan Buckley told Fox Footy’s coverage at quarter-time.
“Four scoring shots each (at QT) isn’t representative of how the game (was) played, Essendon had all the territory.
“The conversation at quarter time for the Swans would’ve been pretty similar to the last three or four weeks: ‘Come on boys, let’s get to work and get our hands dirty’.”
Influential midfielders Isaac Heeney and James Rowbottom were limited to just one disposal each at the first break, while Luke Parker was without a touch after starting forward.
While Sydney wrested some territory back in the waning moments of the period, the quarter indubitably belonged to the home side.
The Swans’ consistently second-rate starts have been one of the season’s unsolvable mysteries — and it continues to give cause for concern as September approaches.
Come finals time, these sorts of first-quarter outputs simply won’t suffice — and with questions already hanging over Sydney’s premiership legitimacy following a recent torrid stretch, it is a problem ‘Horse’ needs to saddle.
