Essendon has overrun a gallant West Coast Eagles outfit on Good Friday, coming from behind to prevail 11.11 (77) to 11.9 (75) in an absolute thriller at Optus Stadium.
The Bombers survived an almighty scare to claim their third-straight win, battling back from as many as 28 points down early in the second quarter to pip West Coast at the post.
The travelling side was propelled by key forward Peter Wright, who booted a whopping six goals — more than half of Essendon’s goal tally — in his return from injury.
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It bested the efforts of Jake Waterman, who slammed home four majors in the first term alone but went largely unsighted from quarter-time onwards.
The Eagles kicked six of the first seven goals, buoyed by Waterman in attack, Jeremy McGovern in defence, and a ferocious Harley Reid.
Essendon will go into next Friday’s Anzac Day clash against Collingwood on the back of three consecutive wins for the first time since 2019.
However, the Bombers’ big-man stocks look to have suffered another significant blow during the two-point win, with ruck-forward Sam Draper appearing to have injured his right leg.
A week after Nick Bryan went down for the season with an ACL, Draper limped from Optus Stadium early in the final term, struggling to put weight on his right leg. He didn’t return. Andy McGrath told Fox Footy post-game “it didn’t look too good”.
And it is rarely good news when a player falls to the turf, away from any contest, like Draper did early in the fourth term on Friday.
If it turns out to be a long-term injury, it will be the third the Bombers will have suffered in the early stages of the season, with key forward Thomas Edwards also sidelined for the remainder of 2025.
— with NCA NewsWire
MRO to assess fierce Harley hit | 00:45
THE 3-2-1 (what we learned) via Catherine Healey at Optus Stadium
3. BRAVE BOMBERS BATTLE BACK BUT LOSE STAR
Essendon came back from five goals down away from home to defeat West Coast, but their win has proved costly with star Sam Draper limping off late.
Just days after ruckman Nick Bryan’s season ended due to an ACL injury, Draper’s injury rubbed more salt into the Bombers’ wounds.
Draper had been seen in a lengthy chat with coach Brad Scott and medical staff at three quarter time, but the decision was made to keep him out there.
But the big man lasted just a few minutes before he went down on the wing – alarmingly at no contact with no player within arm’s reach of him.
“He’s really struggling with that right leg just to get off the ground,” Matthew Pavlich said on Fox Footy.
“That doesn’t look good at all.”
“They lose a ruckman last week to a significant long-term injury – you hope that’s not the case here,” Adam Papalia added.
“He just went straight down – it’s never a good look.”
The injury soured what had been a thrilling comeback by a Bombers outfit Pavlich said looked “all at sea” in a first-half Eagles blitz.
The Bombers were “shell shocked” and “frustrated” as they proved their own worst enemies.
“Making life difficult for themselves the Bombers,” Pavlich said.
“They are refusing to kick it forward to their forwards.
“They are looking sideways, looking short… there’s just no ability to pull the trigger to take some ground.”
Only Peter Wright was keeping the Bombers in it in the first half as he nailed three goals.
But Essendon rallied in the third term to draw level heading into the final term.
And from there, they ran away with it as Wright ran riot to finish with six goals.
The Bombers’ biggest issue was not capitalizing on their clearance dominance – managing just one goal from their 24 clearance wins at the seven-minute mark of the third term.
Two quick goals to Archie Perkins from clearance contests finally turned the match in their favour.
Essendon were “taking West Coast to town” in the clearance battle and it ended up getting them the four points.
2. HUGE HARLEY HIT SET FOR SCRUTINY
Eagles young gun Harley Reid is set to face scrutiny for a big bump on Bomber Archie Roberts late in the first term.
Reid had been involved in everything early as Essendon’s players tried to get under his skin at every opportunity.
That looked to boil over when Reid made heavy contact with Roberts as he was taken to ground.
“It’s high, it’s not severe or too significant but they’ll certainly have a look at it,” Matthew Pavlich said.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see that in our game.”
Reid had earlier been drilled by Bomber Nate Caddy in a moment that saw the number one pick unlucky not to win a free kick.
“Wouldn’t be a week without Harley Reid getting involved in a little scuffle,” Nick Dal Santo laughed.
“Don’t know how much of it he initiates himself!”
Adam Papalia said it was clear teams wanted to “get under his skin” – something Pavlich agreed was a tactic when taking on the Eagles.
“I think that’s the point – opposition sides know that there’s the potential for free kicks,” he said.
“He doesn’t take a backward step which on the one hand is a good thing. On the other, he doesn’t need to do some of it.
“Plenty of opposition players know they can draw a free kick, so they keep going to Harley Reid.”
IMPROVEMENT IS THERE. BUT NO MIRACLE RESULT
West Coast were woeful in last week’s Gather Round loss to Carlton and needed to respond in front of a massive home crowd on Good Friday.
Their leaders engaged in a midweek heart to heart “to talk about their responsibility in the football club”, coach Andrew McQualter confirmed in their winless start to 2025.
But Matthew Pavlich said the Eagles still needed to produce on the field.
“All well and good to meet, but you have to perform. You’ve got to put it into action, and they certainly did that in the first half,” Pavlich praised.
The Eagles tallied 64 contested possessions to half time – just 13 short of what they produced in the ENTIRE match against Carlton.
“They looked dead on their feet last week at Gather Round,” former Eagle Will Schofield said.
“There’s a bit of a wave here from West Coast and really that pressure they’ve brought and the work-rate, we just haven’t seen it all year.
“They’d won one quarter coming into this game for the entire season.”
While they didn’t get the result, Nick Dal Santo liked what he saw from the club.
“I love the pressure – that was the question about the Eagles,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to measure what pressure looks like, but it was immense pressure.
“(Showing the Harry Edwards goal-line dive and the Jack Hutchinson tackle) That’s the sort of stuff you show on a Monday morning in your review and say ‘Hey, if you want to play senior football, you want to pay at this football club, this is the non-negotiable’.”
Re-live West Coast v Essendon in our blog below!
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