“What a game of footy“: Scott Lucas reacts to Essendon’s thrilling win over Freo

Essendon have rebounded after a hard week, claiming a thrilling 90-89 win over Fremantle at the MCG to keep their finals hopes alive.

After trailing by 25 early in the fourth term, the Dons kicked five of the last six goals to win, with Sam Durham, who picked up 25 disposals, kicking a behind in the final minute giving the red and black the winning lead.

Durham’s important score came from a centre clearance after Fremantle’s Jye Amiss (four goals) converted to tie the game up. The midfielder had a running shot from the 50m arc that just went wide after Zach Merrett (29 disposals) broke away and handballed to his teammate in space.

Bombers great Scott Lucas praised captain Merrett for that composure in the big moment and described the comeback win as one that was full of character.

“What a game of footy,” Lucas told AFL Nation.

“Freo got to 25 points up in that third quarter but the Bombers kept working and charged all the way back.

“It was an excellent effort to get there in the end and an outstanding performance with some really strong decision-making late in that game enabled them to do that.

“No less than Zach Merrett coming out of the middle of the ground, drawing his opponent to get that ball across.

“To rise up from 25 points down, it was a win full of character.”

Looking at a lot of the key stats, Lucas pointed out that Essendon probably held sway throughout but weren’t able to capitalise kicking 13.12 (90) to Fremantle’s accurate 14.5 (89). 

He thinks that the area the Dons must tidy up on is defence with the Dockers kicking a competitive score despite having just 44 inside 50s to Essendon’s 59.

“They deserve a lot of credit because Freo played pretty well, but the Bombers were dominating certain areas,” Lucas said.

“When we thought that Freo had the game, the Bombers surged, it was excellent.

“If you look at it, they had 25 scoring shots to 19, 59 inside 50 entries to 44, they just lost clearances but won centre clearances 15 to 11, they would have been disappointed not to do it looking at that, they did a lot right.

“Their backline at times still looked vulnerable, when Freo went in, they kicked 14 goals from 44 entries, that’s the area they need to work on.”

The win lifted the Dons to ninth as they’re only outside of the eight by two premiership points. Meanwhile, Fremantle misses a golden chance to enter the top four as they sit sixth, two points out of the double chance slots.

Essendon next host Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium while the Dockers meet the Cats at Optus Stadium in Round 22.