Dream A 'disgrace' For Dons
The Sunday Age
Sunday May 25, 2008
ON THE back of some fearsome defeats in the past month, Essendon reached a new low last night, with Essendon coach Matthew Knights conceding that his team's performance against his old side was "disgraceful".
A crowd of 60,333 fans was treated to a moving pre-match show for the Dreamtime Game at the 'G, but for Essendon fans, the entertainment stopped once the game began, before eventually losing the match 16.14 (110) to 10.12 (72). Essendon conceded the first eight goals of the game - following on from conceding the final 13 goals against Sydney last week - meaning to that stage, the Bombers had conceded a staggering 21 goals in succession."Clearly we were just on our heels in that first half, no initiative," Knights said. "It was a pretty ordinary recipe in that first half and we got our right whack - it was the worst half for the year definitely."The coach admitted he was animated with the team during the half-time break, after which Essendon showed some spirit. He then locked up the team for an hour after the match, delivering some harsh home truths."There were a number of very direct phrases, very direct views on my behalf on where we are breaking down match day and during the week and out of those directions comes solutions about how we are going to do things beyond tonight," he said. "That's for our players to consume. We spoke about a few themes, where we need to improve and develop. We weren't good enough in a number of areas. Poor, disgraceful effort in the first half."Knights said his players had not come to play with the right attitude and that when challenged to go in harder and win the contested football in the second half they played a far better brand of football.Richmond coach Terry Wallace said it was a sign of growing maturity from the Tigers that they were able to do the job in a match they were expected to win. "They've got some young boys probably in the same position as what we were two years ago," Wallace said. "I said to our players during the week . . . no one gives you any opportunities when you're in that situation, as we've found out over the last few years and as we start to mature we've got to be the same way with opposition clubs. "I thought we handled that exactly the way we should have in the first half, our attack on the ball and the man was excellent."
© 2008 The Sunday Age
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