A quad injury to star midfielder Jobe Watson has soured the Essendon Bombers’ 15-point victory over the Greater Western Sydney Giants at Spotless Stadium on Saturday night.
The Bombers prevailed 11.15 (81) to 9.12 (66) to move to ninth on the AFL ladder but lost Watson midway through the final quarter. The 2012 Brownlow Medallist attempted to spoil a mark before immediately signalling to the bench and hobbling off the field.
Bombers coach Mark Thompson said early indications were that Watson faced a month on the sideline. “We’ll just get our heads around that,” he said. “It’s not always a bad thing, as long as he does his good rehab. It’s just over halfway through the season, so there’s plenty of time.”
More pleasing for the Bombers was the form of Joe Daniher. The 20-year-old continues to grow in stature as a key-position player and finished the match with three goals and nine marks. Teammate David Zaharakis was also outstanding on his way to collecting a game-high 34 possessions.
While they missed out on the win, GWS was always in the contest. The Giants closed within one point of the Bombers in the last quarter after kicking three consecutive majors, but the visitors steadied and booted the next two to see off the challenge.
Despite the closeness of the match, Thompson always felt confident his team would prevail. “I never thought at any stage we were in serious trouble,” he said. “That’s just your gut feel for what your players are capable of and what you’ve seen before. We would’ve liked to have been 100 points in front, but we weren’t.”
Bombers substitute David Myers could find himself in trouble at the judiciary after sparking a melee with a careless elbow to the jaw of Giants player Devon Smith at the end of the third term.
In Saturday night’s other game, the Brisbane Lions moved off the bottom of the ladder with a thrilling 14.11 (95) to 13.9 (87) victory over the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
