Essendon claim ANZAC Day honours with massive 46-point win over Collingwood.
Essendon captain Jobe Watson with coach James Hird. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
Essendon coach James Hird and club doctor Bruce Reid. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
ESSENDON coach James Hird has praised his side's new defensive resolve after the Bombers muzzled Collingwood for their first Anzac Day win since 2009.
The usually free-wheeling Pies were restricted to a season-low 75 points from 46 inside 50s by a red-and-black unit determined to keep the gate locked in front of 93,373 spectators.
Hird said stopping the opposition from scoring had been a pre-season focus and he had put the heat on his onballers.
"Our whole midfield, to be honest, needed a change of mindset and they've gone about that very well," Hird said.
"This team has worked a lot on defending, and if we don't do it properly we get scored against."
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"But I thought today to keep Collingwood to 75 points was an outstanding effort by the players," Hird said.
The Bombers are yet to concede a triple-figure score this season and have given up more than 90 points only once, against St Kilda in Round 4.
"The most pleasing thing for us is the defence," Hird said.
Jobe Watson celebrates a goal with Essendon fans. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: Herald Sun
"We're not there yet, let's not get carried away. We've played five games, we've defended reasonably well. As soon as your intensity ... drops off you can get scored against very quickly."
Hird said that happened in the second half of the second quarter at the MCG yesterday when Collingwood kicked 2.3 in seven minutes to close within four points at halftime.
"We felt in the second half of the second quarter the game was getting away from us and Collingwood were scoring too easily and getting too many inside 50s against us," he said.
"We had to remind our players of the value of defence and the value of making sure we pick up a man, as basic as that is, and defend properly and they responded really well."
Essendon had 31 scoring shots from 52 forward entries in what is a highly efficient return, but Hird only wanted to talk about his defenders, whom he credited for making it possible.
"There's no doubt the stand-out part of our game has been our backs," he said.
"Our defenders are playing a really important role and allowing us to attack."
Anzac medallist David Zaharakis said: "We've always been a team that can score quickly and our offensive attributes have always been our strength, but now it's our defence.
"You can see it out there. The first talk you hear is about defence rather than how we attack."
Essendon and Collingwood players observe a minute's silence on Anzac Day Picture: Alex Coppel Source: Herald Sun
Asked about the significance of a win that keeps his side unbeaten, Hird was pragmatic.
"It's another step towards where we want to be and I think we know next week we'll have another game and another opposition," he said.
"It's a big day and we haven't won it for three or four years ... it's very special, I'm not trying to undersell that, but it's early in the year and we saw last year what happened to us halfway through the year."
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