Match

Essendon vs North Melbourne

Commentary / 04 Jun 2023

Pre Game

00:00
Essendon has won each of its last eight matches against North Melbourne by an average margin of 33 points.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
01:11
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jye Menzie)
03:57
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Kyle Langford)
04:08
Kyle Langford has taken the first mark inside 50 for the match, resulting in a set shot goal. Langford took 27 marks inside 50 for the season coming into Round 12 – ranked 10th in the AFL.
06:54
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
07:13
Essendon has generated the first six inside 50s for the match, resulting in two unanswered goals. Essendon averages six fewer inside 50s to their opponents this season - the third-worst differential in the league.
08:50
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
09:54
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Bailey Scott)
10:54
Bailey Scott, lining up on the wing, has scored North Melbourne's first goal of the match. Scott has been in career-best form in recent weeks, amassing 30 or more disposals in his last two matches for the first time in his career.
14:37
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Nic Martin)
14:43
Two of Essendon's three goals in this opening quarter have been sourced from stoppages. Essendon leads clearances seven to two, with Ben Hobbs leading the way with two.
16:19
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Zach Merrett)
16:53
Zach Merrett has enjoyed a dominant start to the match, accumulating a game-high eight disposals at 88% efficiency, and has scored a goal from his three score involvements. Merrett averages the second-most handballs receives in the AFL and leads Essendon in pressure acts and inside 50s this season.
20:34
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
21:19
North Melbourne has scored both of their goals from defensive 50 launches - matching their season average of 12 points per game launched from this zone.
25:04
North Melbourne's pressure has been improving, applying the last six tackles of the match. North Melbourne has recorded the worst tackle differential in the league this season, averaging 7.6 fewer tackles than their opposition.
25:28
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Todd Goldstein)
28:28
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Zach Merrett)
31:44
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Kyle Langford)
33:09
Zach Merrett had an outstanding first quarter. He collected 16 disposals (nine more than any other player) and five clearances (three more than any other player), as well as scoring two goals. This is just the eighth time in Merrett’s career that he has scored multiple goals in a quarter.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
00:53
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Callum Coleman-Jones)
01:30
North Melbourne has only won one second quarter for the season and have been outscored by 117 points in this term in 2023.
02:13
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
03:09
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jordan Ridley)
05:44
Sam Draper and Andrew Phillips have both won four hitouts to advantage whilst North Melbourne has only won one for the match. Draper and Phillips average 6.1 and 4.6 hitouts to advantage respectively this season.
06:23
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Callum Coleman-Jones)
09:12
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
09:34
North Melbourne has scored four times from turnovers this quarter but has struggled with conversion, scoring 1.3 (9) from this source. They have won the first three clearances for the quarter.
09:35
Bombers Interchange - Jayden Laverde off due to the blood rule.
11:33
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Rushed)
14:19
North Melbourne leads inside 50s by seven for the quarter, with 68% of the play being held in their attacking half of the ground. North Melbourne has only had two quarters this season with a great inside 50 differential.
14:53
Bombers Interchange - Ben Hobbs off due to an injury.
17:26
Essendon's pressure has increased since the start of the quarter. In the first 10 minutes of the quarter, the Bombers did not lay a tackle but have laid eight tackles in the next seven minutes of play.
18:24
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
19:45
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
21:16
North Melbourne has restricted Essendon to just two points in the second quarter. The fewest points that North Melbourne has conceded in a quarter this season is seven points, whilst Essendon's lowest scoring quarter in 2023 is three points.
22:08
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Sam Draper)
22:56
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Luke McDonald)
23:45
North Melbourne has scored all three goals in the second quarter, generating a score from 58% of their inside 50s this term. North Melbourne averages a score from 40% of their attacking 50 entries this season - ranked last in the competition.
26:35
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Ben Hobbs)
27:20
North Melbourne has won the second quarter by 18 points, the second time this season that they have won this term. They held Essendon goalless for the quarter - the first time this season they have achieved this feat.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
00:51
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Cameron Zurhaar)
03:09
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Nick Larkey)
03:58
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Will Phillips)
04:10
Bombers Interchange - Andrew McGrath off due to an injury.
04:14
North Melbourne has scored 4.1 (25) from defensive 50 launches - a season-best result. Their previous highest-scoring effort from this zone was 15 points.
06:54
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Tarryn Thomas)
07:30
North Melbourne has scored their fourth goal of the match sourced from a turnover. They now lead Essendon by 20 points from this score source. Since Round 8, the Kangaroos have been outscored by 39.3 points per game from intercept possessions – ranked last.
08:56
North Melbourne has scored the last six goals of the game. Essendon’s last goal was at the 31st minute of the first quarter. Since this time, North Melbourne lead inside 50s by 5, clearances by six, contested possessions by 11 and groundballs by 12.
10:37
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Archie Perkins)
13:27
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
13:50
Essendon has scored two goals this quarter sourced from turnovers after only scoring one goal in the first half from this source. The Bombers average 51 points from this source this season.
15:07
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Matt Guelfi)
16:17
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Bailey Scott)
17:59
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Kyle Langford)
19:41
Essendon has taken 15 marks inside 50 tonight, nine more than the Kangaroos. The Bombers have only once taken more marks inside 50 this season - Round 1 vs Hawthorn with 16.
20:06
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
21:51
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Darcy Tucker)
23:26
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Cameron Zurhaar)
24:16
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Jaidyn Stephenson)
25:29
North Melbourne has won 12 more post-clearance contested possessions than the Bombers. The Bombers won the post-clearance contested possession count by 21 last round – their best differential this year.
27:18
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jye Menzie)
27:35
Bombers Interchange - Dylan Shiel and is possibly out for the game.
29:20
Essendon has scored an accurate 10.1 (61) from their set shots tonight. Eight of these set shots have been following a mark, whilst two have been from free kicks.
31:17
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Nic Martin)
32:45
After scoring just one goal sourced from turnovers in the first half, Essendon generated five scoring chains from this source in the third quarter - all resulting in goals. Essendon leads forward-half intercepts 19 to nine.

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
02:09
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Cameron Zurhaar)
03:09
Cameron Zurhaar has scored the first goal of the final quarter - his seventh score involvement for the match. Zurhaar finished with 18 disposals, seven score involvements, and four goals straight against the Bombers in Round 20 last season.
04:40
Bombers Interchange - Jye Menzie off due to an injury.
06:48
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Callum Coleman-Jones)
07:09
Callum Coleman-Jones has been targeted a team-high eight times inside 50 today, resulting in three marks in this attacking zone. He has won two of his five offensive one-on-one contests today.
09:35
The Kangaroos are on top at the contest, leading the clearances six to one for the quarter as well as winning eight more contested possessions.
12:19
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Matt Guelfi)
12:31
Kangaroos Interchange - Phoenix Spicer off due to an injury.
13:07
Kyle Langford has taken his sixth mark inside 50 for the match - the most of any player in the match. Langford is the only Essendon player this season to have taken more than three marks inside 50 in a game this season - a feat he has now achieved five times in 2023.
13:38
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Cameron Zurhaar)
13:54
Bombers Interchange - Jye Caldwell off due to an injury.
15:12
North Melbourne continues to control the stoppages, leading clearances eight to two in this final quarter. Since quarter time, the Bombers have been outscored by 25 points from stoppages.
15:38
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
17:53
Kangaroos Interchange - Darcy Tucker off due to an injury.
18:18
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Cameron Zurhaar)
19:13
North Melbourne's efficiency inside 50 has continued into the last quarter, leading scores per inside 50 for the match 50% to 38%. North Melbourne has only recorded a conversion of over 50% in two of their 11 matches this season.
22:29
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Andrew Phillips)
22:50
One of Essendon's strengths in the first three quarters was their intercept marking, leading this stat 15 to eight. North Melbourne has turned this around in the final quarter, taking five intercept marks whilst Essendon are yet to take their first.
23:05
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Sam Draper)
23:48
Kangaroos Interchange - Liam Shiels off due to an injury.
24:25
SCORE BEHIND - Kangaroos (Harry Sheezel)
25:31
North Melbourne's score of 14.9 (93) is their highest score of the season. The Kangaroos have only scored over 100 points once in their past 63 matches.
25:44
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Kyle Langford)
28:05
SCORE GOAL - Kangaroos (Jaidyn Stephenson)
30:06
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Massimo D'Ambrosio)
30:40
Essendon has reached 100 points for the sixth time out of their past eight matches at Marvel Stadium. The Bombers have won each of their previous five matches when scoring 100 points at this venue.
33:58
Essendon holds on in an intense final quarter, where both teams recorded a pressure factor of over 200 for the term. The Bombers outscored the Kangaroos by 17 points from turnover and won 10 more forward half intercepts.