ESSENDONÂ
4.4 Â Â Â 5.8 Â Â Â Â 12.12 Â Â Â 17.14 Â Â Â (116)
HAWTHORNÂ
2.3 Â Â Â 6.10 Â Â Â 10.14 Â 12.19 Â Â Â (91)
GOALS - Essendon: Fantasia 4, Hooker 3, Heppell 3, Daniher 3, Stanton 2, Zaharakis, McKernan.Â
Hawthorn: McEvoy 2, Roughead 2, Puopolo 2, Hartung, Rioli, Smith, Breust, Shiels, Schoenmakers.
BEST - Essendon: Z Merrett, Heppell, Fantasia, Goddard, Daniher, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Hurley, Baguley.
Hawthorn: Mitchell, Langford, Burgoyne, Smith, Birchall, Shiels.
UMPIRES Findlay, McInerney, Foot.
CROWD 78,294 at the MCG.
Emotion can take you only so far in football. But when it drives a stirring win over an old and bitter rival, it's some sort of fuel.Â
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Bombers back with Hawks upset
Essendon put a terrible 2016 behind them with a strong win over Hawthorn.
Essendon's 25-point win over the Hawks was the unleashing of four years of frustration, anger, disappointment, whatever feeling you can think of with a negative connotation. For the first time since the end of the 2012 season, the Essendon army could focus on the actual football. And boy, did they enjoy it, roaring their approval at every opportunity.Â
The Bombers got the early jump, weathered a measured opponent's diligence in working its way back into the game, then came home with some rush, to a chorus as loud as an Essendon home game has known perhaps for a decade.Â
That passion among Bombers on either side of the fence was obvious from the opening moments. Â The Bombers had three goals to nothing on the board by the nine-minute mark, Orazio Fantasia, Cale Hooker and Joe Daniher all capitalising on that early passion with goals. Indeed, the Dons might have been five-goals-to-zip, Daniher and Brendon Goddard both missing gettable opportunities.Â
They looked potent near goal, though, and full of pace and zip further afield, neither observation of which has been made about an Essendon line-up for many years. They had a mortgage on possession, too, Hawthorn with only seven possessions to their opponent's 34 before six minutes had elapsed.Â
You knew the Hawks wouldn't spend too long completely on the back foot, however, and they just upped their work rate and with it, worked their way  into the contest.Â
Liam Shiels broke the ice, Cyril Rioli sprinted into goal from the back of a pack, and it was back to just eight points the difference. The Hawks had their emotional talisman, too, in the form of the returning star, now skipper, Jarryd Roughead, and his big grab entering time-on of the first term was met with wild applause.Â
Essendon had restored a two-goals-plus lead by quarter-time. But the longer the first half went, the more dawned the sense that the Hawks had the cooler heads. Particularly approaching the long break. A scrubber of a kick from David Zaharakis turned the ball over for a goal to Ryan Schoenmakers. Jobe Watson received an ovation with his first touch, but while he was prolific, the touch wasn't quite there, and a miss running into an open goal costly.Â
Hawthorn, meanwhile, were hitting a few more targets and making the smarter decisions.Â
The pressure is on Billy Hartung to step up this season, and in these opening salvos, at least, he looked determined to prove a point, a step inside an opponent and a nice shot on the run putting the Hawks in front for the first time. Shortly afterwards, Paul Puopolo burnt off a pair of defenders to get boot to ball off the ground, and the Hawks had kicked four of the five goals for the term. That Hawthorn momentum spilled so seamlessly into the second half that when Luke Breust put his side 12 points up halfway through the third quarter, somehow it felt like a bit more.Â
Essendon were fluffing what chances they had, Kyle Langford needlessly playing on after marking 15 metres out and  missing. One more Hawk goal might have been the killer blow. But the Dons' rally was inspiring stuff.Â
Fantasia's fourth goal was his best, a gem of a snap in tight with the outside of his right foot. Now Hawthorn started to fumble a little, even Rioli, whose dropped mark ended in another goal to David Zaharakis. A lovely raking bomb from Joe Daniher found Dyson Heppell in the goalsquare. Daniher added another. And Shaun McKernan somehow slotted a blinder from the boundary line. As suddenly as they'd looked in trouble, Essendon were 16 points up.Â
And the cream continued to rise to the top when it mattered most. Hawthorn had a real goer in Tom Mitchell, while Will Langford was disciplined indeed on Watson, but contributions from their teammates were sporadic at best. Yes, the second quarter was cool-headed stuff. But the Hawks could sorely have used some of the spirit of their opponent in the final term with the result still salvageable.Â
Instead, it was Heppell leading the way with two late goals. His predecessor as skipper, too, for while Watson may have been beaten on the night, his last term was important. It was spark provided by Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and Darcy Parish. And it was captured in every one of those 12 second half-goals.Â
Can Essendon keep it up? It's a long season, which will be physically and emotionally draining on a team coming back together in  unusual circumstances. But the spirit that buoyed this memorable win won't dissipate for some time. For the Essendon army, there's four years worth of angst to be exorcised. And this was just the start.Â