Match

Essendon vs GWS Giants

Commentary / 09 Apr 2023

Pre Game

00:00
Essendon has scored from 15.6% of its kick-ins so far this season - ranked second in the league. The Bombers average 8.3 points per game from kick-ins, also ranked second overall.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:20
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Josh Kelly)
00:51
Josh Kelly gets GWS on the board immediately, with a goal from a centre bounce clearance chain. The Giants only managed one goal from this source for the whole game last round.
02:56
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Brent Daniels)
05:34
The Bombers have taken three contested marks in the first five minutes of the match. Essendon averages 11 per game in 2023, ranked eighth overall.
06:04
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
06:36
Jake Stringer puts the Bombers on the board with their first goal of the game, from a forward 50 stoppage. Essendon averages 9.3 points per game from forward 50 stoppage chains, ranked sixth in the competition.
07:11
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jye Caldwell)
07:59
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jye Caldwell)
08:43
The Giants have turned the ball over in their defensive midfield zone three times in the last five minutes. However, the Bombers have not capitalised, scoring only one behind from these turnovers.
11:55
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
15:03
The Bombers have started strongly at the contest, leading contested possessions by ten and clearances by four in the first 15 minutes of the quarter.
15:37
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
16:42
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Will Setterfield)
17:43
Essendon has already amassed five marks from opposition kicks this match - three of which have been taken in the forward half. The Bombers average 17 per game so far this year, ranked seventh.
19:11
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Andrew Phillips)
20:24
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
20:58
GWS has given up eight scoring shots from 12 Essendon inside 50s so far - a scoring rate of 66.6%. The Giants on average give up scores 52% of the time - ranked last in the competition.
23:10
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Stephen Coniglio)
24:27
The Giants currently trail the Bombers by 11 in contested possessions. GWS averages a total of 123.3 contested possessions per game so far this year - ranked last in the competition.
25:19
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
27:15
From Tom Green's 11 disposals so far in the first term, eight have been contested. It's the equal-highest number of contested possessions in a first-quarter by any player this so far this season.
29:44
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Harry Himmelberg)
30:17
Zach Merrett's five clearances in the first term are the equal-most clearances in the first term for any player this year. Three of his five clearances have been centre clearances - the most of any player on the ground.
31:31
Despite only 12 forward-50 entries, the Giants were efficient, kicking 4.0 (24) from these entries. This goal-per-inside-50 rate of 33.3% is much higher than their season rate of 21.1% (ranked 14th in the league).

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
01:10
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Jesse Hogan)
02:18
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Callan Ward)
02:19
Bombers Interchange - Sam Weideman and is possibly out for the game.
03:33
While the Bombers now have six contested marks, the Giants are still yet to register one for the match. The Giants average 8.7 per match in 2023, ranked 13th overall.
06:43
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
07:51
Darcy Parish and Zach Merrett have nine handball-receives between them so far this match. They average 15.3 and 14.7 handball-receives respectively this season - ranked first and third in the league.
08:19
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Toby Greene)
11:03
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Brent Daniels)
11:29
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Callan Ward)
11:46
An errant handball from Mason Redman leads to the first goal of the second quarter through Callan Ward. It's the Giants' first goal of the match from a forward-50 intercept, a measure they average 10.3 points per game in this season - ranked sixth overall.
13:50
After 13 first-quarter disposals and ten contested possessions (the equal-best contested possession quarter for any player this season), Tom Green has collected just one disposal so far this quarter - a single ineffective handball.
16:05
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Toby Greene)
17:49
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Kyle Langford)
18:46
Kyle Langford's settling goal for the Bombers is Essendon's first goal from a centre bounce clearance chain since Round 2 against Gold Coast.
20:50
Mason Redman has collected eight kicks for the Bombers at 100% kicking efficiency so far today. Redman's average kicking efficiency of 83% is the fifth-best of the competition's top-23 kicks.
21:29
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Harrison Jones)
22:49
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Sam Draper)
23:08
The Giants have now conceded ten contested marks, and have only taken one themselves so far. This differential of nine is the Giant's worst first-half differential since Round 2, 2019.
25:10
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Rushed)
26:53
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jye Menzie)
27:39
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
28:10
The Giants won the contested possessions by four, and drew even in clearances and tackles for the quarter, after trailing in all three in the first quarter. Despite this, they only managed five effective kicks in their forward 50 for the quarter for a score of 2.5 (17).

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
01:17
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Zach Merrett)
01:32
Zach Merrett kicks the first goal of the second quarter, and his first goal of the season. Merrett leads all players on the ground in disposals (with 18), and also in uncontested possessions (with 13).
01:34
Bombers Interchange - Alwyn Davey Jnr off due to an injury.
02:34
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jye Menzie)
04:38
After only five touches and no goals last week - the second-worst disposal tally of his career - Toby Greene has had a return-to-form this week, collecting 12 disposals and a goal so far today. Greene has six score involvements - the equal most on the ground.
07:22
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
08:40
The Giants have collected 56 uncontested marks for the match. The Bombers give up on average 99.3 uncontested marks per match - the second-highest total in the league.
10:30
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jye Caldwell)
10:56
Despite Zach Merrett's goal, the Bombers have added three more behinds to their total this quarter. Essendon has now scored 3.8 (26) from general play, while the Giants have scored 3.1 (19).
12:38
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
12:47
The Bombers have now scored 2.2 (14) from intercept possessions this quarter. They have taken five intercept marks this quarter, and have now taken six more than the Giants for the entirety of the match.
14:26
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Callan Ward)
14:37
Jesse Hogan has now taken two contested marks in the last five minutes, to bring his total to three for the match. The rest of the Giants have managed just two contested marks between them.
15:39
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Nic Martin)
18:01
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
20:42
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Harry Himmelberg)
21:54
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Josh Kelly)
23:11
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Josh Kelly)
23:45
The Giants have now outscored the Bombers by 16 points from stoppage clearances so far today. Throughout 2023 so far, the Giants have trailed in this statistic by three points per game - ranked 13th in the league.
24:34
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Nic Martin)
24:55
Tom Green has now collected 11 disposals for the quarter, with eight of them from uncontested possessions. Green averages 21 uncontested possessions per game in 2023 - ranked first in the league.
26:15
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Alwyn Davey Jnr)
26:28
Sam Draper leads the hitout and hitout-to-advantage count, with 20 and seven respectively. Matt Flynn has five hitouts-to-advantage, despite averaging 10.7 per game this year - ranked fifth in the league.
27:36
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Sam Draper)
29:33
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Mason Redman)
29:43
In the last ten minutes, the Bombers have intercepted the ball in their defensive midfield five times. All five of these intercepts have ended with the ball entering their forward 50, for a score of 2.1 (13).
31:14
The Giants were simply unable to get any meaningful ball movement from their back half in the third quarter. From 18 chains starting in their defensive half, they could only enter their forward 50 twice, and could not register a single score.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
01:34
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
02:44
Nick Haynes leads all players on the ground for intercept marks, with five for the match. It's just the third time he's taken five or more intercept marks since the beginning of 2021.
03:37
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
04:45
The Bombers have added another two goals from intercept possessions in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. They have now outscored the Giants in this measure by 35 points.
05:37
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
06:34
The Bombers have now taken five intercept possessions for the quarter. All five have led to forward-50 entries, and three of them have resulted in goals.
07:51
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
08:46
Jack Buckley has six spoils to his name for the match - the second-highest for the Giants. At the end of Round 3, Buckley had 26 spoils - the equal-most in the competition.
10:54
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Daniel Lloyd)
13:10
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Zach Merrett)
14:55
The Bombers have managed 12 contested possessions in the forward half this quarter - seven more than the Giants. They now have 23 more than the Giants for the entirety of the match - 19 more than their average 2023 differential.
15:32
SCORE BEHIND - Giants (Jake Riccardi)
18:08
Darcy Parish again leads the Bombers in disposals (30), contested possessions (11), clearances (seven) and inside 50s (eight). Parish is ranked in the top three of the competition for all of these statistics, except inside 50s (where he is ranked seventh).
20:10
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
21:27
Jake Stringer now has a scoreline of 4.6 (30). His six behinds today is the highest behind count of his career, and the first time he's kicked four or more since 2019.
21:48
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Toby Greene)
23:03
SCORE GOAL - Giants (Harry Himmelberg)
23:34
The Giants have turned the momentum in the last five minutes, collecting four more contested possessions, two more clearances and scoring two more goals than the Bombers in this time.
25:58
Bombers Interchange - Alwyn Davey Jnr off due to an injury.
27:54
Cooper Hamilton has collected ten disposals since he came on as substitute - all in the fourth quarter. It is the highest disposal count in a quarter of his career.
29:18
Bombers Interchange - Andrew McGrath off due to the blood rule.
29:46
Essendon won the match through their scoring from turnover. The Bombers outscored the Giants by 30 points from intercept possessions - a 62-point turnaround from last week. However, 17 behinds came from these intercept possession chains, so the margin should have been significantly higher.