Had the roles been reversed
Quote:
In what must surely rank as one of the greater comebacks in history, Essendon* today stamped themselves as a genuine premiership contender, and James Hird the Messiah we all hoped he could be, salvaging a draw from a potentially disastrous thrashing.
Coming up against a fresh Carlton side, who's games so far have come against Richmond, Gold Coast and a Collingwood team that wasn't trying, it was always going to be a tough ask for the courageous Bombers.
Behind by 3 goals in the first quarter, and seemingly out of the context, the Bombers, tired from 3 bruising encounters to start the season, had to draw on new reserves of courage and fortitude to fight back against a team that fancies themselves top-4 material.
Whatever James told them at 1/4 time obviously worked, as the Bombers rallied, applying constant pressure on the Carlton defense to score 4-7, 5 behinds being rushed by a Carlton defense under siege, again calling into question the new deliberate rushed behind rule.
Some contentious umpiring decisions kept Carlton ahead, particularly two instances where Kade Simpson and Jeff Garlett, fell on their Bomber opponents right in front of the umpire. Both incidents are sure to draw attention from the Match Review Panel.
Both players, no doubt due to disciplinary action from under-fire coach Brett Ratten, warmed the bench for the remainder of the match, with both forced to use crutches as part of Carlton's unorthodox punishment methods that could come under scrutiny by the AFLPA.
Ratten's cruel and unusual punishment left Carlton with two players less on the bench, however with the new sub rule the advantage to the Bombers was only one player, and given both players were ineffectual to that point they probably were better without them there.
With so much against them, the Bombers could've faltered. But Hird's words and message is undeniable, and would've had all of the 70,000 on hand, including millions on television, inspired to be better people.
The result showed that the Bombers are a genuine threat to take out the AFL Premiership this year, of this no-one can deny. As for the Blues, their team of number 1 picks and "VISY Ambassador" Chris Judd must wonder what they must do to achieve Stephen Kernahan's boast that his club would win 2 flags in the next 5 years.
Based on yesterday's effort, the Bombers have already surpassed them, and Carlton are arseholes.
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