Vice-Captain relishing big win, staying grounded for challenges ahead.
Milestone wins don’t come much sweeter than that.
After a week holding plenty of external pressure on his side, Vice-Captain Andrew McGrath celebrated his 150th career game in style as the Bombers ran down a first-term deficit to defeat old rivals Collingwood by 12 points.
A firm response to last week’s 45-point loss against Geelong, the Bombers dictated much of the play after the first change and competed with an intensity around the ball that Collingwood struggled to match as the contest wore on.
McGrath was typically humble following the win, quick to highlight the magnitude of the occasion and added significance of the Dons securing their first win over the Pies since 2021.
“It’s super exciting, the energy in the rooms is pretty electric,” McGrath said.
“We always have close games against Collingwood, we respect them very much, they’re a class outfit and have been for a long period of time, so to play your milestone game against a quality side on a big occasion is pretty special.
“To get the win was even better.”
Despite conceding a flurry of goals in the opening 20 minutes, the Bombers looked to have learnt their lesson from a week prior, quelling momentum and regaining the composure in tense moments that’d propelled them into a top four position leading into the night.
With the comeback driven by the monstrous efforts of skipper Zach Merrett (30 touches, 15 score involvements) and the successful return of veteran Dylan Shiel (26 possessions, five clearances), Essendon’s resurgence around the contest wasn’t lost on McGrath.
“(Collingwood) came out really hot,” McGrath said.
“We were looking at each other like ‘okay, we have to stick to our process, we keep going at what we know we’re good at’ and the tide slowly turned.
“The pressure around the ball from guys like (Sam) Durham and (Jye) Caldwell, ‘Zachy’ brings it every week and adding ‘Shiely’ in there was just amazing. The ball came in a little bit more dirty after that and we were able to rebound off and get some good attack going.”
Defensive solidity and a sense of dare became apparent for the Dons after the main change, cutting the contest open through the courageous in-board kicking of defenders such as Mason Redman.
With Ben McKay also a steady presence on the intercepting front, the Bombers were able to stifle the Pies for much of the third term and the subsequent transition play allowed a young forward to flourish on the big stage.
“It helps having McKay marking everything, it makes our job on the ground a little bit easier,” McGrath said.
“It felt like we were able to pull them apart and get some really good entries which we’ve been working on. Nate Caddy was super, flying at everything and he’s only going to get better week by week.
“We gave our forwards a really good opportunity tonight and executed it on the scoreboard really well.”
While the Bombers will be justifiably thrilled with a win in McGrath’s milestone game and the strides they’ve taken in beating the reigning premier, Senior Coach Brad Scott is ensuring that the process rolls on as intended.
“Brad’s really well balanced,” McGrath said.
“He’s obviously excited for us and excited for our family and supporters, but he’s a realist. The season rolls on, there’s another eight games that will happen this weekend and we’ve got eight days until our next one.
“We tick round 17 and move onto 18 pretty quickly. Brad’s pretty good at getting us back to earth after a win like that.”