AFL 2021 LIVE updates Western Bulldogs v Essendon Bombers in the elimination final
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Nothing really sticking for the Bulldogs. Their high-possession game isn’t firing, and they’re struggling to keep the ball in their forward 50 or move it out of their defensive 50.
Pressure isn’t great either. Alarm bells.
Schache playing as a forward, by the way. Said pre-game he had spent most of his recent footy in defence but that’s switched back to attack today.
Rain falling too.
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And it is Jake Stringer, with a snap from close range.
The 2016 premiership player for the Dogs, now a Bomber, does damage early.
All the play has been with Essendon early. Stringer crumbed it beautifully.
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It would be terribly disappointing for the Dogs to exit the finals in week one.
It would be one of the great triumphs if Essendon won and broke their 6203-day drought.
Ten thousand people in the stands and it looks mostly an Essendon crowd (that happened when they played the Hawks in Tassie earlier in 2021 too). Here we go!
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Fans queue for the elimination final between the Bulldogs and Essendon at University of Tasmania Stadium.Credit:Getty Images
Here is a parable about Tasmanian football.
Graeme “Gypsy†Lee, my first footy hero, died earlier this year. Gypsy inspired East Devonport to its historic 1968 premiership win, which was magical and memorable in the same way that the Western Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership win was. As Gypsy lay dying, East Devonport announced it could no longer field a senior team. My footy hero died not knowing his footy club didn’t exist any more.
One of the first projects I got involved in after returning to Tasmania at the start of 2020 was a book about football on Tasmania’s wild west coast. On the west coast over the past century, there have been eight different football associations and around 100 different football clubs â€" today there are no football associations and only two clubs. The last great Tasmanian grand final I saw before moving to Melbourne in 1985 was two years earlier on the north-west coast between Smithton and Cooee. Today neither club exists.
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Martin Flanagan on the Longford ground where he played his first game at the age of six.
Zaine Cordy (illness) is out. Ryan Gardner comes into the 22. That’s like-for-like.
But that is not all! Jason Johannisen was in the 22 and now he is medical sub. Josh Schache comes into the 22 for him.
Schache has played key defence of late, while Johannisen has been a forward in 2021.
Josh Schache is into the Bulldogs side. Credit:Getty Images
Greg Baum, Melissa Ryan and Len Johnson were at the MCG in 1999 to see this classic Dogs v Bombers clash:
A severely undermanned Essendon last night showed enormous courage and depth to defeat the Western Bulldogs by four points in a thrilling contest at the MCG - 10.20 (80) to 11.10 (76).
Injuries to three key players failed to stop the Bombers scoring an unlikely win, their fifth in succession and their 10th for the season and one that could push them to the top of the ladder at the end of the round. It was the first time the Bulldogs had been beaten since round six.
The Bombers lost star full-forward Matthew Lloyd late in the first quarter with damaged ankle ligaments. Full-back Dustin Fletcher did not take part after quarter-time because of a knee problem and Darren Bewick was forced from the field midway through the third term with concussion.
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The Age’s back page on June 26, 1999.Credit:The Age
Make sure you have a read of Jake Niall’s column on Stringer. He writes:
When Luke Beveridge and the Bulldogs made the uncompromising decision to jettison Jake Stringer, then a classic high-end talent with low-end professionalism, the question was posed of whether this was “a Stevie J†moment.
That question was asked of the Bulldogs by Stringer’s management, who wanted to know if the club was hellbent on trading Stringer, or if he might be reinvented at Whitten Oval, as the once recalcitrant Steve Johnson was at Geelong.
The Bulldogs were adamant in their view that, for cultural reasons and the sake of their standards within the playing group, Stringer had to go.
There was always the danger that such a sublime talent would flourish at another club ... it’s no exaggeration to say that Essendon would not be playing the Bulldogs in an elimination final if not for the match-turning performances of Stringer in 2021.
Read the full column here.
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