Essendon was vastly undermanned with the likes of James Hird, Dustin Fletcher, Matthew Lloyd, Adam Ramanauskas, Jason and Mark Johnson all missing. However Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy would still have been disappointed with his side’s effort. The writing was on the wall early for the Bombers. The first half was riddled with skill errors and it was only in the final minute of the first half that Essendon managed to kick its first goal.
The Bombers had more of a dip in the second half but couldn’t reel the Tigers in. Danny Jacobs had his hands full containing Matthew Richardson – the Tiger star finishing with five of his side’s 12 goals. Dean Rioli was clearly Essendon’s best player – running hard and creating through the middle.
Of the young brigade, Adam Winter got a bit of the ball and did a reasonable job on Brad Ottens – he did however let himself down with his disposal. Ken Hall worked hard and was another good player for the Bombers while Scott Howard did okay in the first half. However there would have been a number of players who would have been disappointed with their performance. They had an opportunity given to them but failed to grab it.
The Essendon goalkickers were: Paul Barnard, Chris Heffernan, David Hille 2, Mark McVeigh 1. The Bombers’ best players were: Rioli, Hille, Hall, Misiti, Heffernan.
