Essendon wanted a hero in entrance of purpose, enter Kyle Langford the makeshift ahead who delivered in gorgeous trend.
Langford was in devastating kind in entrance of purpose as he helped lead the Bombers over a gallant Gold Coast Suns outfit underneath the roof at Marvel Stadium.
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Essendon misplaced Sam Weideman earlier than the primary bounce and had been already lacking Peter Wright and Jake Stringer, however their ahead combine was too potent for the Suns as they broke away with 5 targets to at least one within the last quarter after neither aspect might be break up on the last break.
The 26-year-old ended the competition with a career-high five-goals and shone brilliant in his position because the Bombers’ key goal in entrance of purpose.
Langford completed with six marks inside 50 because the Bombers flew house after falling behind by 14 factors, the Bombers flipped the script in devastating trend as they kicked 9 of the ultimate 11 targets of the match.
Essendon’s midfielders got here out on high of the Suns following a seesawing battle, the place the Bombers gained the primary six centre clearances of the sport however for intervals couldn’t cease the damaging work of Touk Miller and Matt Rowell across the stoppages.
Andrew McGrath’s velocity was important for the Bombers, with the vice-captain concerned in vital chains operating from deep in defence to the opposite finish of the bottom.
Lachie Weller racked up 24 disposals on a wing in a powerful return from an ACL damage, however the Suns had been came upon within the last quarter as they ran out of the run and intelligent ball use from halfback that had helped them match it with the Bombers.
Gold Coast has an unlucky knack of letting Sam Draper rise up a full head of steam, and coach Stuart Dew would have been experiencing flashbacks when the Essendon large man chased a ball out the again of a pack into the ahead pocket earlier than turning on a dime and operating full velocity again in direction of the purpose.
In scenes harking back to his well-known 2022 Aim of the 12 months, the full-pelt Draper simply swatted away the primary defender who tried to sort out him and seemed like he was prepared to tackle extra, earlier than he handballed to Nic Martin to ship him into an open purpose.
Either side contributed to a head-scratching second halfway via the second time period when Jye Caldwell abruptly got here to a halt in possession of the ball simply 10m out from Essendon’s purpose.
Caldwell thought the umpire had paid holding the ball towards McPherson, however no resolution had been made.
The Suns defenders round him stopped as properly, with greater than half a dozen gamers stopping to have a look at the umpire earlier than they had been informed to play on.
The win units up a mouth-watering contest subsequent Saturday evening for the Bombers towards St Kilda with each groups coming into unbeaten. It’s the primary time the perimeters have squared off with unbeaten information since 1992.
– with Ed Bourke, NCA Newswire
