Bombers crash as Blues find their radar

Rohan Connolly Carlton miss so many opportunities at the beginning that you wondered whether the Blues were driving a stake through their own heart.

Injury and form take toll as stars chase All-Australian honours

Rohan Connolly If a week is a long time in football, half-a-season is an eternity. So it has proved again.

Cut-throat final starts early for Saints, Roos

Rohan Connolly Saturday night at Etihad Stadium will be closest to genuine final outside September.

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Dons turn to teenager

Rohan Connolly Essendon forced to turn to debutant for MCG clash with Collingwood.

Hird must wield the axe

Rohan Connolly James Hird refused to get as excited by Essendon's start to the season as did seemingly everyone else. Perhaps we're now seeing why.

Hawks slice Bombers

Rohan Connolly A fortnight ago, after Hawthorn lost a thriller to Geelong, coach Alastair Clarkson compared the various twists and turns to an Agatha Christie novel.

Bombers show style, now for substance

Rohan Connolly James Hird's demeanour has been the one constant in Essendon's fluctuating season.

Essendon maintains faith in Ryder

Rohan Connolly Essendon continues to stand by out-of-sorts big man Paddy Ryder, last night dumping No.1 ruckman Tom Bellchambers instead for a second time in three weeks.

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Why the Bombers hate flying

Rohan Connolly Essendon is keen to reverse its poor record when playing interstate.

Horror stretch follows more roadkill for Dons

Rohan Connolly Essendon needed to make a statement when it took on Fremantle.

A six-pack of stars comes out of the Blue

Rohan Connolly Sit down to pick a mid-season All-Australian team, and two things become quickly apparent. One is that most of the AFL's elite players right now are near their best.

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Essendon slides on bye

Rohan Connolly It's becoming apparent that the event of a bye is something to be treated with utmost caution.

Magpies hold off plucky Bombers

Rohan Connolly Anzac Day blockbuster was always going to be a good test of how much ground Essendon had made on the competition's best during the past nine months.

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Essendon and Carlton draw on deeper reserves

Rohan Connolly There were at least three times in the last five minutes of this epic game when you would have sworn you'd just witnessed the single, defining moment.

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Bomber relaunch is ready for take off

Rohan Connolly Well, that was rather impressive. Even the crustiest cynics of pre-season form would have to dip their lid to James Hird and his revamped Essendon this morning.

Pies like this winning stuff

Rohan Connolly It's coolness of thought and quality of execution in the heat of the moment that separates great sides from promising ones.

More comedy gold from the tinkerers and tailors of the game

Rohan Connolly Forty-seven rule changes, 18 seasons! Just leave it alone.

Hird's Dons show style

Rohan Connolly Let's leave the qualifiers and embrace the evidence gleaned so far that there's a lot to like about James Hird's new-look Essendon.

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An Essendon revival is on for young and old

Rohan Connolly While focus of Essendon's potential improvement in 2011 continues to revolve around development of its younger players, coach James Hird just as impressed with pre-season campaigns of more seasoned...

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