Why Essendon collapsed against Hawthorn

ESSENDON led by almost seven goals late in the second quarter of last Saturday night’s clash with Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium.

The Bombers blitzed the Hawks with eight second-term goals to take a comfortable 39-point lead into the half-time break.

In response, the Hawks kicked eight of their own in the third quarter before edging out the Dons to win by a point after a seesawing final term.

After the defeat, former Bombers captain Tim Watson spoke of the main shortcomings he saw from Ben Rutten’s team during their second-half collapse.

“The difference in the game might have been this. (Zach) Merrett was great in the first half and (Liam) Shiels goes to him in the second half and just reduces his effectiveness,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.

“Then you’ve got Tom Mitchell who has 17 disposals in the third quarter alone and Essendon does not have a player capable of slowing him down.

“They haven’t trained a guy to be able to do that. They’ve got to start to think about that. They haven’t done this in the past, that’s an area they need to improve in.”

Watson continued, criticising the Essendon players for going away from what gave them a hefty lead in the first place.

“Everything has been rolling their way in the first half,” he added.

“This is what happens. Everyone wants a lick of the ice cream. What they all did was they all just peeled off really early thinking, ‘Ok, that bloke’s secured the ball, I’m going to get on the end of this’. That was symptomatic of the way they played the third quarter in particular.

“Full credit to Hawthorn. Clarko (Alastair Clarkson) comes to them at half-times and says, ‘Okay boys, we’re getting smashed around the stoppages here’. He puts it on those guys and then they respond.”

Garry Lyon spoke of Essendon’s main deficiency which to him appears to be in defence.

“My takeaway is that the Bombers are really vulnerable in the back half,” Lyon said.

“That third quarter, I know it was a procession with Tommy Mitchell and Jaeger (O’Meara) getting to work through the middle of the ground, but Aaron Francis playing in the key post is not going to cut it.

“(Cale) Hooker is at the other end of the ground, we understand why. They just looked vulnerable. Hawthorn looked likely to score every time they went forward.”

Watson added, “I think that’s a structural problem they still have.

“The space that they allowed between the arcs for Hawthorn to build an attacking motion, that’s something they’re going to have to close up.

“They’re a work in progress.”

Prompting Lyon to conclude with, “My other takeaway was nothing has changed with midfield accountability.

“It’s hard to run like Tom Mitchell but they just run around on their own. Good on them for getting 26 touches in a half, but they should.

“There was no accountability in the midfield.”

The Dons will look to bounce back in Round 2 when they meet Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

– BY SEN STAFF WRITERS