Experienced Bomber Brendon Goddard has praised Essendon’s composure as it ran away with a thrilling 12-point comeback win over Adelaide after staring down defeat.
Goddard was among Essendon’s best players in the stirring victory, gathering 29 disposals at 83 per-cent efficiency and booting a classy last-quarter goal as the Bombers mounted their comeback.
The 313-game veteran’s experience and composure shone through throughout the game, and the former Saint said he always tries to lead from the front.
“That’s always the case, but I believe that’s one of my strengths, my composure with the ball,” Goddard said post-match.
“At times I can get wound up, but as long as I balance that out with other good stuff as well, which I think I have learnt to do and I’ve learnt from mistakes in the past.
“At times like that there is nothing special that’s needed from anyone, so as long as we do the basics well and then your natural talent (and) instincts will take over in the big moments.
“But as long as you’re doing the basics well for longer, then the majority of the time you’re going to come out on top.”
Goddard said composure was a focal point of the conversation at three-quarter time as the Bombers faced a daunting 20-point deficit.
“We talked about it in the huddle, just about having composure and taking our opportunities.
“We felt at different stages through the third – they (Crows) started off really well, got off to a great start in the first five or 10 – but we felt like we pegged them back.
“And even going back to the second quarter, we felt like we dominated that quarter and missed plenty of opportunities or didn’t take them.
“We’d hope in the future that we don’t let teams get out to a 20-point lead and have to peg it back, because it takes that extra bit out of you to peg it back, but it was a great response after three-quarter-time.”
Goddard said to beat last year’s Grand Finalists in such a fashion would give the playing group plenty of confidence throughout the season.
“A lot of people say ’it’s round one, it’s not overly important and you want to be playing your best footy at the end of the year’, but I don’t believe that to be the case,” he said.
“We’ve been working on a lot of things in the pre-season and to come out today and implement those things – you get a lot of confidence from that and you can carry that through the rest of the season.”
Goddard praised the loud and proud Essendon crowd on hand who rose to the occasion in the final term to spur on the Bombers as they mowed down the Crows.
“You could see and hear how excited the fans were, so it was a great turnout by them,” Goddard said.
“42,000 (fans in) round one at Etihad against an interstate team is pretty impressive.”
