Coaches from both sides of Friday night’s low-scoring thriller between Adelaide and Essendon have put the result down to the doing of their own team, looking beyond the incredulous decision to not award Adelaide a last-minute shot at goal for holding the ball.
Despite dominating the vast majority of the prime-time clash, the Bombers found themselves vulnerable in the last two minutes of the match, with Adelaide repeatedly entering inside forward 50 in search of a final goal to give them the lead.
In by far the most dramatic moment of the night, Essendon ruckman Sam Draper opted to dive on a loose ball in his defensive 50 – no more than 25m out from goal – with just three seconds on the clock.
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Hysterical appeals for holding the ball ensued from Adelaide players, as Crows gun Taylor Walker wrapped up his 205cm opponent.
Notwithstanding the pleas, the in-zone umpire called for a ball-up, immediately followed by the final siren to hand Essendon its fourth win of 2024.
Two umpires were met with an emotional Walker after the siren.
When quizzed on the ordeal in his post-match press conference, a stony-faced Nicks was in no mood to discuss the umpires’ failure to whistle Draper. Instead he shed light to the ample opportunity his side had leading up to the umpiring decision as to why his team should’ve won.
“I’m not going to make a comment around umpiring, that would just add to the night,” Nicks said.
“There were a number of different opportunities that – I don’t know how many times we went in (inside 50) in a row – but we found our aggression and our assertiveness, and where had that been for the night? That was another disappointing part.
‘I thought we looked slow and reactive’ | 07:30
“I thought we looked slow and reactive early, which put us on the back foot.
“Credit to Essendon, they were sharp early – we were off, which we’ll look into.”
Meanwhile, victorious coach Brad Scott was a little more forthcoming, seemingly conceding the wrong call had been made but adding his side had been on the end of a few howlers too.
“I haven’t looked at a replay, masses of numbers around the ball – there are a lot of decision holding the ball, for and against throughout the night,” Scott said.
“We’ll obviously focus on the one in the last couple of seconds, but I can show you a couple of others too if you like,” he added tongue in cheek.
Nicks also noted how his side ‘lost the contest’ and ‘missed tackles’; two of the many areas that weren’t working for them on the night.
The Crows coach, now in his fifth season coaching at the club, gave well-deserved credit to the visitors for their win.
“It didn’t surprise me where Essendon’s (pressure) level was, they were outstanding early… we’ve seen that, even the last time they played here (against Port Adelaide in Round 4),” added Nicks.
The loss now leaves Adelaide’s season on life support, sitting with one win and five losses heading into their Round 7 clash with North Melbourne in Tasmania.
“Our record’s not where we want it, and unfortunately our game wasn’t tonight either,”
“We took a step back tonight – we felt like the last two weeks we took a couple of big steps forward against Melbourne and against Carlton, and we felt like we were in a good space, but tonight unfortunately was a step backwards.”
Before addressing the controversy, Scott gave praise to the Crows before crediting his own side for holding their own.
“It was a really good game, (it) ebbed and flow and could’ve gone either way at the end obviously,” Scott believed.
“To the Crows credit, I thought we were right on top the first half in particular, but we couldn’t really gap them as much as we obviously would’ve liked to.
“The Crows held up their end of the bargain, and so did we… I’m pretty comfortable saying that our players deserve the end result (though).
‘I was pleased with our effort & intent’ | 05:48
Scott also added to the belief felt by some pundits that the Crows haven’t been as bad as their 2024 suggests – despite the high hopes many had for them.
“They’re playing better footy then their win-loss this year suggests; I think they’re also missing some pretty good players that impact their structure,” Scott added.
“It was a really good win they had last weekend against Carlton, we looked at it really closely, and we knew our pressure game would need to be at its best to get the result.”
Scott’s internal assessment was short and characteristic; very much focusing on the now and not too far into the future.
“I think it’s good reward for effort (being 4-2).”
The Bombers now have a five-day break before their annual Anzac Day clash with Collingwood, while the Crows will have seven full days without a match before clashing with the Kangaroos next Saturday.
— with NCA NewsWire
