Round seven has seen an unusual amount of players face off against their former side. Daisy by his own admission "stunk it up" against the Pies on Friday night, while Bernie Vince was an integral part of the Dees shock win over the Crows. Ben McEvoy and Shane Savage also played against their former sides in the Hawks annihilation of St Kilda, and on Saturday night it was Stewart Crameri facing the Bombers for the first time since crossing over to the Bulldogs at the end of last season. As expected Crameri didn't receive many pleasantries from the Bomber faithful who booed him every chance they got, which in the end wasn't all that often. The Bulldogs' leading goalkicker this season, had a night to forget, failing to kick a goal and managing only 11 disposals and one mark.
2. The resurgence
Essendon's key on-ballers were asleep for the first half and it showed on the stats sheet and the scoreboard with the Bulldogs leading the clearances by six, and the game by 14 points. Bombers skipper Jobe Watson had just eight disposals in the first half after being followed closely by young pup Tom Liberatore, while Paul Chapman (seven), Brendon Goddard (six) and Jake Melksham (six) were well below their usual output. Brent Stanton was tagged closely by Liam Picken and was held to eight touches at half-time. But after the break, the senior Dons awoke from their slumber. Watson had eight touches and a goal in an inspired third term, while Chapman and Dyson Heppell lifted their work rate to impact the clearances and scoreboard as well to turn a 14-point deficit at half-time into a 13-point advantage at the final change.
3. Bombers attack
In the Bombers' past three losses, they have struggled to find avenues to goal, not scoring more than nine goals in any of those defeats. Coach Mark Thompson has persisted with the key forward structure of Joe Daniher and Jake Carlisle despite the pair kicking just the two goals between them in the past three games. Once again the duo struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard. Daniher looked lively, crashing the pack and plucking several marks but he could only manage 1.1, while Carlisle continued to look like a fish out of water with five marks and a behind. The Bombers finished the game with a nice spread of nine individual goal kickers, but just one multiple goal scorer, Watson. One thing is for sure, a move needs to be made on Carlisle quickly before he is void of all confidence.
4. Bulldogs on a Mission
After a promising first half, the Bulldogs announced at the main break they had renewed their partnership with major sponsor Mission Foods until the end of 2017. The multi-million dollar deal will see Mission Foods become the club's longest serving major partner after the relationship began in 2009. Bulldogs president Peter Gordon said the extension was a great show of faith that the club was heading in the right direction. And while they didn't finish the game off as they would have liked after a positive opening half, there is plenty of upside to this young developing side with the likes of Jack Macrae and Jake Stringer on the rise.
5. May the Fourth Be With You
In a galaxy not so far away … Etihad Stadium, the Bulldogs could have used "the force" in the final stages of their eight-point loss to the Bombers. With International Star Wars day on Sunday, the AFL's initiative seemed to hit a note with the geeks at the Whitten Oval. During the week, the Bulldogs' inner sanctum was infiltrated by Storm Troopers who accompanied Jack Macrae to his press conference. On game day the great leader himself, Darth Vader, made a rare appearance. He and his minions formed a guard of honour for the Dogs as they ran out on the ground but as it turns out joining the "dark side" is never good, with the Bulldogs requiring more of a Han Solo effort on Saturday night to help get them over the line.
