No one has gotten rich underestimating the Sydney Swans in the past decade – and don’t Essendon fans know it. Under pressure after winning only one game in six this season, the underdog Swans on Friday night battled their way to a five point win against the Bombers at the SCG. It left coach John Longmire admiring the potential of his young group, while acknowledging there were still many ups and downs to come as the club rebuilds. “Only six players tonight had over 100 games. A lot of players under the 48 game mark,” he said. We won’t get it right all the time. We are striving to get it right and get that style of footy embedded in the way we go about it. “It’s important to be able to win. It’s handy to be able to show we can change momentum in the course of a game, with a younger team to be able to do that, it’s important. “We go to Tasmania next week, the challenges don’t stop, as a younger player it doesn’t stop. It starts again next week. “You also have to enjoy it and enjoy those moments in footy. It’s a tough caper and you have to enjoy the tight wins when you can.” It was Essendon’s seventh consecutive loss at the Swans home ground and sent John Worsfold’s team tumbling to a 3-5 record. The Swans tight contested possession game-style stifled the Bombers, who continually bombed the ball into the forward line in the final quarter to little effect. A Darcy Parish snap with less than four minutes to play put the Bombers in with a sniff and only five points behind. In the final seconds, Essendon’s David Myers marked and had a shot to win the game after the siren – 60 metres out, he failed to make the distance leaving the scores at 11.11 (77) to 10.12 (72). Sydney’s Josh Kennedy told Channel Seven after the game that Longmire had a simple match plan. “It was done in really good fashion with an even contribution across the ground, which is great,” Kennedy said. “To keep it really simple, get it going forward, when we are facing forward … Our forwards did a fantastic job of making the most of their opportunities, or at least hitting the scoreboard. “When we got it in there, we were creating a little pressure: get it in there when we are facing forward and keep it in there as long as we can. Cale Hooker was left to sum up for the Essendon players saying: “It was close at the end there, but it was disappointing … It’s an even competition and it is disappointing to lose, but we win or lose together, we have to find a way to turn form around.” Co-captains Kennedy and Luke Parker both led from the front in the middle for the Swans, while youngster Nick Blakey was outstanding. A 12-point lead, held by the Bombers when Tom Bellchambers kicked the second goal of the night, proved to be the biggest margin of the topsy-turvy game. -with AAP<doc-sep>Dylan Shiel of the Bombers looks dejected. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Heading into the 2019 season, plenty had Essendon as a finals lock, with many considering them a top-four fancy. But after eight games, the Bombers’ biggest flaw has well and truly emerged — and threatens to undermine their finals chances. Essendon’s wastefulness going inside 50 has been one of the underlying flaws in its game this year — and against the Swans, it proved seriously costly. Live stream the 2019 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on KAYO SPORTS. Every match of every round. Live & anytime on your TV or favourite device. Get your 14 day free trial > The Bombers slipped to a 3-5 record with their five-point loss to the Swans on Friday, with an inefficient last quarter cruelling their attempts to run over the top of Sydney late in their SCG clash. In the final quarter, Essendon dominated the midfield contest, winning the clearances 18 to eight and had 20 inside-50s to Sydney’s eight. But inexplicably, the Bombers converted those entries to just 18 points, as opposed to Sydney’s 14. “The inside 50s by Essendon is as bad as I’ve seen,” Brisbane great Jonathan Brown said on Fox Footy. “If I was the forwards coach, I would be tearing absolute strips off the midfield. “It is disgraceful the way they enter inside 50. Shocking.” The sight of the Essendon midfield bombing the ball inside 50 — and down the throat of defenders Aliir Aliir and Dane Rampe to either be intercepted or negated — became an all-too-common and frustrating sight on Friday night. Dylan Shiel looks dejected after losing. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images Rampe finished the game with nine intercept possessions, Aliir had five and Callum Mills had six, while Essendon took just six marks inside 50 from its 54 entries, compared to Sydney’s 11 marks from 41 inside-50s. Melbourne great Garry Lyon said the Bombers simply hadn’t been smart enough with their ball movement going forward. “Let’s cut to the chase here — 20 to eight inside 50s,” Lyon said on Fox Footy. “They’ve got no great secret, the Swans, they put one in the hole. It wasn’t like they redefined football, it was one in the hole and what did Essendon do? Kept belting it down the throat of Rampe or Aliir Aliir. “So that’s really disappointing from a team that had aspirations to be contending. “And again, we take nothing away from Sydney — but we know where the Swans are at a bit and they were great. “But from an Essendon point of view — come on. You watch that tonight back from wherever you are and you think your side’s a chance and they serve that up.” Big-name recruit Dylan Shiel has been particularly criticised for his disposal this season. He was held to five touches by George Hewett in the first half but bounced back after half-time to finish with 17 — but still tracked at just 41 per cent disposal efficiency. Dylan Shiel is under the pump. Picture. Phil Hillyard Source: News Corp Australia “Shiel’s got to get better at that inside-50 kick. It’s just long and strong with no direction,” Bulldogs great Brad Johnson said on Fox Footy. “There was one coming out of the middle in the last quarter where he just bombed it long and Sydney ended up cleaning it up, where he had time and space. “If he’s got time and space, he’s got to look low. He’s got to hit up — maybe there was no player coming at him but he’s still got to try and find that with time and space around.” Things won’t get easier for the Bombers over the next two weeks, with clashes against Fremantle at Marvel Stadium and Richmond at the MCG. It makes their failure to convert against the Swans — regardless of the controversy around the Dane Rampe non-free-kick — even more costly. “Sydney well done — but Sydney are a 1-6 team going into that game and Essendon are potentially, I think some people tipped them to finish top — they were really, really poor,” former Swans coach Paul Roos said on Fox Footy. And if those forward-50 entries don’t get any better, the Bombers could yet be in for a world of pain. “No way known they can be a top four side serving up that stuff,” Brown said. “They’re teasers, they’re absolute teasers. They show up in moments.”<doc-sep>
Lauded for its silky run and gun, Essendon has once again failed to show it can kick, scratch and, ultimately, be a finals certainty. Having only won three matches this season - all off the back of high-scores and attractive footy – the Bombers couldn’t beat the Sydney Swans at their home ground on Friday night, or at their own game. In a test of the Bombers’ ability to win ugly, Sydney strangled the life out of the side at the SCG to win a tense encounter 77 points to 72. Stream Sydney Swans v Essendon on KAYO SPORTS. Live & anytime in HD. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly > It was only Sydney’s second win of the year, while Essendon have now lost three in a row and sits just four points away from 17th on the ladder. Essendon had been billed as a potential top four side but is looking anything but after earlier losses to GWS, St. Kilda, Collingwood and Geelong. Alarm bells were ringing but a loss to the struggling Swans may now see the finger inch closer to the panic button. Sydney pushed Essendon to that threshold, responding to its challenge with relentless pressure that the visitors – after a spirited display for three and a half quarters – eventually crumbled under. The Swans were yet to win a home match this season and were once again without star forward Lance Franklin, who continues to be sidelined with a hamstring injury. Another loss would have left John Longmire’s side bottom of the ladder and with its finals aspirations almost over. There is still a long way to go but the Swans are now still a chance to play football in September, something the club has done every season since 2009. “Definitely a big relief after a win like that,” forward Tom McCartin told foxsports.com.au after the match. “We’ve all missed the feeling and it was so good to sing the song with all the boys again at the end of the game. “We love to get the win for the fans, they show up every week and their support tonight was great. Their chanting at the end really got us up. “All the forwards tonight were really dangerous. It felt really good down there and we worked well together and I’m lucky enough to be in the same forward line as those boys. We’re all working well at this stage.” Usual suspects Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker were ball magnets for the Swans, collecting 24 and 33 disposals respectively. The former led the side with an equal match-high 10 tackles. Jordan Dawson was the only Swan to boot multiple goals in a true team performance. At the other end, Orazio Fantasia played a lone-hand up front in his Essendon return, kicking four goals straight in the absence of tall forward Joe Daniher. Zach Merrett also shone for the Bombers, picking up 28 disposals and nine tackles while midfield partner Dylan Shiel was tagged out of the first half in which he only had five disposals. He ended the game with 17. Essendon’s finals chances are now on shaky ground having slumped to five losses after eight rounds. In a minor positive, the Bombers hadn’t scored more than 69 points in a loss this season but on Friday scored 72. In their winning matches, the Bombers have kicked 130, 112 and 116 points; all markers which they came well short of. Get the ultimate AFL experience on your phone with the new FOX FOOTY App. Download it NOW for FREE on iOS and Android! Follow Round 8 of the 2019 AFL season in our live blog below. IF YOU CAN’T SEE IT, TAP HERE!