Cale Hooker

The All Australian defender was the dominant forward on the ground and was a central figure in the Bombers stunning opening quarter. Hooker had 17 disposals, nine marks (including four contested) and booted five goals in his most dominant display on the season.

Hooker now has 23 goals for the season, which is 17th overall in the AFL. Joe Daniher (34 goals) is equal second and Orazio Fantasia (25 goals) is 13th. Hookier is also ranked number two in the league for contested marks.

Since switching to the forward line midway through 2015, Hooker has played 21 games in attack. In that time he has kicked 43 goals and has been held goalless just three times.

First quarter blitz

The Bombers seven goal opening term (from 13 scoring shots) was the side’s best start of the year and the Club’s best ever first quarter against Port Adelaide.

By the first change Hooker had three goals to his name and Essendon had 43 more possessions than the Power.

Travis Colyer was one of the early sparks with ten first quarter disposals including three intercept possessions and four contested possessions.

David Zaharakis

The Crichton Medal winner picked up 26 possessions against the Power but perhaps the most impressive aspect of his game was his run (nine running bounces), linking the defence with the attack (seven inside 50s) and his defensive work-rate (11 tackles).

In the last five weeks, Zaharakis has averaged 29 possessions per game.

Ball movement

Essendon’s ability to punish Port Adelaide’s turnovers was elite with 16 of the team’s 19 goals coming from that source.

The backline was central to the side’s ball movement with the side only giving up eight goals from the visitors 51 inside 50s. That meant the Bombers were able to regain possession deep in the defensive half and launch their counter attack.

The net results were Essendon’s highest score since round 8 2015 and its biggest winning margin since smacking Carlton by 81 points in round three 2014.

Inside 50

The efficiency of the Bombers forward line has masked some of the lack of time spent in the attacking zone this season. Going into the game against the Power, the Dons had won the inside 50 count just once.

Coaches and players had spoken of their confidence is the team’s potential if they were able to generate a few more inside 50s and against the Power, their faith was justified.

The Bombers drove the ball inside 50 67 times for a still highly efficient 36 scoring shots.

Conor McKenna

His rate of improvement over the last month has seen McKenna become a regular talking point.

He had 22 possessions including six inside 50s and more than 650 metres gained against the Power.

In his 22nd senior match McKenna was composed and broke the lines on a number of occasions through his daring runs in the middle of the ground.

Big guns deliver

At 5-6 and sitting in 11th spot before the ball was bounced – Essendon needed a strong performance before its mid-season bye to keep pace with the top eight contenders.

In a crunch game, the big name players delivered. Reigning best and fairest winner Zach Merrett led from the front in the midfield. He finished with 38 possessions – that’s the ninth time in his 71 games he’s topped 35 disposals.

Merrett was ably supported in the midfield by Dyson Heppell (34 disposals), Brendon Goddard (31 disposals) and Jobe Watson (31 disposals).

In attack there were threats everywhere with Hooker (five goals), Joe Daniher (four goals) and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (four goals) causing the damage on the scoreboard but James Stewart (two goals), Orazio Fantasia and Josh Green also played important roles.

The backline produced its now familiar resilient performance with Michael Hurley (25 possessions) continuing his All Australian form. Michael Hartley kept Charlie Dixon goalless and James Kelly showed no rustiness after missing last week.