It wasn't so much physical laziness or tiredness by the Essendon players but mental mistakes, lack of spread and lack of positioning.

Watch Chapman. He was about four metres behind McDonald when he received the handpass from McKenzie. By the time Salem marked the ball, he was 50 metres behind, stopped and stuffed.

Interestingly the commentary team had a go at Dawes for where he ran to.

It made perfect sense to me - Dawes made Hibbert make a choice - run to Dawes or Salem. In the end he got caught standing between the two.

Dawes job was to cause separation and he did that to a tee.

watching the replays i was surprised salem didn't play on and then handball to dawes who could have just waltzed into the goals

maybe he was confident of kicking it or maybe he wasn't sure if someone was bearing down on him

and as someone said it helped milk 30 secs (or whatever) off the clock

as it was it worked out ok but a lot of pressure on him

from that position salem or watts were the best choices

Never in doubt?!

As I stated in an earlier post Bernie Vince really started the now famous chain leading to the winning goal. His huge crunching tackle causing a big spillage started it all off. Altogether, nine Demons were involved. What team work!

Great win, I want to beat North. For some reason I just hate North Melbourne, I don't know why but I really want to back up yesterday with a big win over North then get a win over the bulldogs. It is time for the club to get some consecutive wins, that is the next step.

I totally agree dr. I've generally been ambivalent about North over the years, even though they seem to have had the wood on us for a long time ...... but Brad Scott's outspoken comments about Melbourne not deserving a priority pick in last year's draft really got up my nose, and I now hate him and his team with a passion. Sick it up 'em dees!!

And they said we couldn't CARE!

Interestingly the commentary team had a go at Dawes for where he ran to.

It made perfect sense to me - Dawes made Hibbert make a choice - run to Dawes or Salem. In the end he got caught standing between the two.

Dawes job was to cause separation and he did that to a tee.

I think they were saying once Salem marked he should have run to the goal square for a Joe the goose. So much for so called expert comments as that would have been the worst thing he could have done as it would have involved considerable risk. For one thing it would of created a little of confusion in Salem's mind - do I flick it over the top to the senior player or go the shot. We have all seen examples of a player caught in two minds and blowing it (like bail in the 2 q). Imagine if he made a mistake with handball. Also going back and kicking eeked 45 seconds or so of the clock. Dawes immediate reaction was to tell Salem to settle. As a poster has said heady stuff from Dawes and great leadership.

The kid is confident and has the kick to back it up.

We won beyond that the rest conjecture

Putting Kent's running goal in my top 3 in between the wiz at Waverley and TJ at subiaco.

Don't forget Wowwoden run from back line!

watching the replays i was surprised salem didn't play on and then handball to dawes who could have just waltzed into the goals

maybe he was confident of kicking it or maybe he wasn't sure if someone was bearing down on him

and as someone said it helped milk 30 secs (or whatever) off the clock

as it was it worked out ok but a lot of pressure on him

from that position salem or watts were the best choices

If he had played on the risk was the siren might go ---no score. From a mark he could soak up time and take a set shot, smart play I say.

In real time ot looked outrageous. IN slow mo it looked right,.

And in fairness they did pay one against Ess afterwards over near the old bay 13 that was marginal.

Dunstall seemed to agree with me even after the slow mo. The Essendon one was dar more obvious and under little pressure.

I think Jason Dunstall has a bit of affection for the Dees

I'm still walking around with a grin on my face.

How good is this....Ess, Carlton, Richmond.....woo hoo...

Dunn must be All Australian. In fact love the backline. Credit to Jade Rawlings.

Sorry to be Mister Negative, but I don't buy this. Rawlings might be doing alright, but if we're giving him credit for this year, we have to give him credit for 2012 and 2013 too. Credit goes to Roos, as far as I'm concerned.

There were a couple of efforts from Dawes I noticed on the replay that just show how valuable he is to a side winning, even if he's not marking and kicking goals.

In the last quarter there was a chase in the middle of the ground where he caught and put enough pressure on some Bomber idiot to scrub the kick.

Then at a centre bounce he came off the line and tackled Zaharakis to stop him getting yet another clean clearance.

Little things like that aren't so little when it's the difference between winning and losing.

Amazing efforts (week in week out) for a big man who had very little prep for this season.

And I can't stop watching that final play that got us the winning goal.

It's a dream sequence.

Every single player involved did the right thing and half of them had a touch of pure brilliance.

We haven't had a play like that in any game, so to pull it off at the most intense point of the season thus far is truly remarkable.

If this game was on VHS the tracking lines would render it unwatchable by the end of the week.

I can honestly say I am looking forward to watching the reply with my girls 9 and 6 when i get home tonight and they are waiting for me ... think I might leave early ..

I did and went home to watch it this afternoon.

Even better the second time around, don't you just love the looks on their faces as they stream out of the ground.

watching the replays i was surprised salem didn't play on and then handball to dawes who could have just waltzed into the goals

maybe he was confident of kicking it or maybe he wasn't sure if someone was bearing down on him

and as someone said it helped milk 30 secs (or whatever) off the clock

as it was it worked out ok but a lot of pressure on him

from that position salem or watts were the best choices

Dawes put his hand up straight away to Salem (as if to say, go back and have a shot)

I reckon he did that because he was aware that the siren wasn't far away ... he may have simply looked at the clock a minute or 2 earlier or maybe the runner had indicated that there was x amount of time left.

I thought it was a heady piece of play by Dawes regardless. Of course, the commentators were urging Salem to handpass it off but they knew how much time was left. Dawes didn't.

Dawes put his hand up straight away to Salem (as if to say, go back and have a shot)

I reckon he did that because he was aware that the siren wasn't far away ... he may have simply looked at the clock a minute or 2 earlier or maybe the runner had indicated that there was x amount of time left.

I thought it was a heady piece of play by Dawes regardless. Of course, the commentators were urging Salem to handpass it off but they knew how much time was left. Dawes didn't.

Dawes was interviewed earlier this year and lauded Salem as one of the best kicks at the club....hence his confidence.

Dawes was interviewed earlier this year and lauded Salem as one of the best kicks at the club....hence his confidence.

Yep, fair enough JR, but I'll stick with my theory.

Dawes was in the clear and under normal circumstances would almost certainly have demanded the ball. Salem would have had no problem giving it off because it would have been part of the team rules.

The timeclock governed the decision in my opinion.

Edited June 16, 201411 yr by Macca

Sorry to be Mister Negative, but I don't buy this. Rawlings might be doing alright, but if we're giving him credit for this year, we have to give him credit for 2012 and 2013 too. Credit goes to Roos, as far as I'm concerned.

Fair enough, but the back line under Rawlings wasn't entirely disgraceful. Those huge blowout scores were coming from a lack of team-wide defence, which was letting opposition mids (and even half-backs) stream into their forward line. Not to mention, the difficulty that our backs had in clearing the ball because our mids were so poor, which meant that it just kept on coming back in.

I wouldn't be so quick to write Rawlings off - he was the only one they kept, after all.

Yep, fair enough JR, but I'll stick with my theory.

Dawes was in the clear and under normal circumstances would have demanded the ball. Salem would have had no problem giving it off because it would have been part of the team rules.

The timeclock governed the decision in my opinion.

Two very intelligent players involved - one a leader, one a novice, but mature thinking on both their parts.

How bad would they, and all of us feel, had he played on and either the siren blew or somehow they stuffed it up??

Edited June 16, 201411 yr by monoccular

Dawes put his hand up straight away to Salem (as if to say, go back and have a shot)

I reckon he did that because he was aware that the siren wasn't far away ... he may have simply looked at the clock a minute or 2 earlier or maybe the runner had indicated that there was x amount of time left.

I thought it was a heady piece of play by Dawes regardless. Of course, the commentators were urging Salem to handpass it off but they knew how much time was left. Dawes didn't.

i don't mind either way. just saying it was a very viable and relatively safe option

big pressure kick on salem....and yeah i know he;s a great kick

not complaining obviously

Two very intelligent players involved - one a leader, one a novice, but mature thinking on both their parts.

How bad would they, and all of us feel, had he played on and either the siren blew or somehow they stuffed it up??

i don't mind either way. just saying it was a very viable and relatively safe option

big pressure kick on salem....and yeah i know he;s a great kick

not complaining obviously

Yep, JR and your good selves have all made excellent points.

All in all, the correct decision was made. Nothing wrong with a senior player putting the onus onto a young player either. Salem would have dreamed of those kind of moments.

Christian came through with the goods under a lot of pressure - I wonder how Bellchambers feels today? (lol)

I hope people get to see the highlights package at the start of AFL 360 tonight, brought a tear to my eye.

Watching 360 for the first time in months. I have to say, it must be very tricky to sit next to Mark Robinson without feeling like you're babysitting your drunk uncle.

cam pederson sends his regards

Easily the most improved in the league

Up to and including the Carlton game I cheered Pedersen in an ironic hipster-ish (ughh) way - no more I genuinely love the guy now, has a crack, presents and gets every last bit of talent out of himself. It's a credit to him, I've heard mixed things about his time at North - on one hand I heard he wasn't in the good books with a lot of guys (not "one of the boys") but on the other hand when he was a rookie he used to do night shift at Bunnings then come to training in the morning to the point where he's actually fall asleep in team meetings (think he's got a young family to look after?) Anyway good on him and hopefully he can give us consistent performances and make those of us who ridiculed and got angry at his 3 year contract eat our words.