Media Release 10 June 2005
Bombers run out of fuel on interstate flights
West Coast coach John Worsfold keeps insisting travel is not an issue for his team, but you can bet your life every time his side heads off to the airport for another interstate game, he'll be asked about it.
The Eagles are, in fact, 4-1 from their five interstate trips so far in 2005. But with so little going wrong, those few remaining sceptics are running out of question marks. And the increasing ease with which not only West Coast, but the other interstate teams are handling the travel issue is fast making even that query redundant.
Particularly when compared with the record of most Victorian teams, and especially the one the Eagles play at Subiaco tonight.
Travel phobias do not come much more acute than Essendon's. After last week's 88-point thrashing in Adelaide, the Bombers have won only three of their past 19 games outside their own state. That's a miserable strike rate of 16 per cent.
The tale of woe stretches way back to 2002, when Essendon travelled six times for only one two-point victory over Sydney. Since then, things have got only worse.
Essendon managed to beat Fremantle when the Dockers hosted their one and only final in Perth in 2003, an obviously critical win, but one that came after five losses, none by any fewer than 31 points. There have been another seven losses and only one win since that evening, including a 96-point humiliation against Port Adelaide, and last week's pitiful 88-point defeat against the Crows.
Is it a case of the Dons simply not being good enough over the same period? Hardly. Essendon has made the final eight every year in question, and between 2002 and 2004, chalked up more home-and-away wins than any other Victorian side. Yet even its local rivals appear to travel better.
Collingwood is the next-best performed Victorian team over that journey - just one-and-a-half wins behind the Bombers - but the Magpies' interstate record is a vastly superior five wins and eight losses, or 38 per cent. Melbourne and St Kilda have won significantly fewer games than Essendon over the same period, yet also have better travel records - winning ratios of 25 and 21 per cent respectively.
The Bombers, it seems, are as perplexed by the problem as anyone. Essendon flew to Perth earlier in the week than it ever had before, on a Wednesday, when it scored that memorable elimination final win over Fremantle in 2003.
Bomber assistant coach Robert Shaw still recalls it as one of the best preparations he has seen from both players and the coaching panel. But the Dons followed exactly the same routine in last year's trip to Perth to play West Coast, only to come away with a 44-point loss.
Shaw says personnel has often been an issue, Essendon's thrashing by Port Adelaide in round one last year coming with a injury-riddled line-up containing several greenhorns. "If you're forced to play younger, inexperienced players, it's reasonably daunting for them, because they're generally playing only their first or second interstate game," he said. "You can't have anything but a very experienced side, and a strong side, because you need a lot of physical and mental strength."
Worsfold, however, might take issue with that theory. The Eagles broke their supposed MCG hoodoo against Richmond last week fielding the youngest of any of the 16 sides taking the field last weekend.
Shaw says the other "non-negotiable" is a good start. "History tells you starting well is probably the only chance travelling teams have to win the game. There's only been odd ones where visiting teams have come from behind. I think you still have to put the opposition crowd and environment out of the picture early. It's very, very hard otherwise."
No wonder then, that the Bombers looked so despondent when they trudged to the quarter-time huddle last Saturday night - Adelaide already having rattled on seven goals to just two. With Essendon chasing just a fourth interstate victory from 20 attempts, Bomber fans might be best advised to avert their eyes should West Coast start similarly this evening.
Rohan Connolly
The Age
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