MICHAEL Hurley has booted five goals to propel Essendon to a convincing 56-point win against the Brisbane Lions at Visy Park.
The Bombers restricted the Lions to just one goal in the first half, with Hurley easily the most dangerous forward on the ground in the 16.16 (112) to 8.8 (56) win.
Hurley survived a scare in the third quarter when he copped a heavy hit from Pearce Hanley in a marking contest. He lay motionless on the ground before getting to his feet to kick his third goal.
Hanley faces a nervous wait after being reported over the incident and Bombers coach James Hird admitted he had his heart in his mouth as his star forward lay on the turf.
"That's the battle in these sorts of games," Hird said of the incident.
"Michael needed the game time because he hasn't played a lot of footy. We had to rule out concussion - which we did - but we were pretty keen for him to come back on if everything was OK just so he could get that game time.
"I just thought that his intensity at the ball and his ability to, if he didn't win the contest, he didn't lose it [either]. He was able to have eight or nine shots at goal and as a forward you need some confidence like that."
Despite missing out on a NAB Cup match after the aborted game against St Kilda in Wangaratta, Hird declared his players on track to be ready for round one after the hit-out.
Essendon skipper Jobe Watson played his second game of the pre-season and was all class around the stoppages with 22 possessions and he received plenty of help in the form of Brent Stanton (25 disposals), David Zaharakis (23) and Courtenay Dempsey (21), who continued his stellar comeback from a long-term knee injury.
The Dons surged to 29-point lead at the first break and extended that to 38 at half-time. The Lions enjoyed their best quarter of the match in the third period with four goals, but were unable to continue that effort in the final term.
The youthful Lions were outplayed at the stoppages for long periods, but second-year onballer Jared Polec battled hard throughout to finish with 19 touches and Hanley topped the Lions' possession getters with 22 touches.
"We had no ball flow," Lions coach Michael Voss lamented after the match.
"Getting our hands on the footy was proving a battle.
"We tried a few different things, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter what you try and do if you can't get your hands on the footy. It's pretty hard to change anything really.
"To Essendon's credit they were stronger over the footy."
Billy Longer, the former Northern Knights ruckman taken at No.8 at the 2011 NAB AFL Draft, was another of the few positives for the Lions with some strong work up forward that saw him boot two goals.
Despite his disappointment at several aspects of the performance, Voss was happy to have had some weaknesses exposed in time to allow some tinkering ahead of the season opener against Melbourne at the MCG.
ESSENDON 5.6 6.11 10.14 16.16 (112)
BRISBANE LIONS 1.1 1.3 5.7 8.8 (56)
GOALS
Essendon: Hurley 5, Crameri 2, Zaharakis 2, Melksham 2, Watson, Dempsey, Jetta, McVeigh, Monfries.
Brisbane Lions: Longer 2, Black, Leuenberger, Rich, Merrett, Karnezis, Redden.
BEST
Essendon: Hurley, Watson, Stanton Dempsey, Zaharakis, Hille.
Brisbane Lions: Hanley, Maguire, Polec, Golby, Black, Redden.
INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
Brisbane Lions: Rockliff (migraine)
Reports: Pearce Hanley (Brisbane Lions) reported by umpire Steven for charging Michael Hurley in the third quarter.
Umpires: Grun, Jeffery, Keating
Estimated crowd: 3500 at Visy Park
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The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
