{"id":811108,"date":"2026-07-19T23:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T23:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/811108\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T23:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T23:32:11","slug":"afl-2026-moments-that-won-essendon-bombers-game-vs-gws-giants-first-crack-analysis-video-highlights-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/811108\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Moments that won Essendon Bombers game vs GWS Giants, First Crack analysis, video, highlights, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four critical moments underlined Essendon\u2019s courageous drought-breaking win<\/a> over the Giants on Sunday night. <\/p>\n

After 14 months without a win in Melbourne, the Bombers held their nerve against a surging GWS favourite to emerge three-point victors at Marvel Stadium. <\/p>\n

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\u201cFull credit to the kids \u2026 just some of the names we\u2019ve been waiting to see little snippets of taking their moments. <\/p>\n

\u201cGuys like (Dyson) Sharp and (Jacob) Farrow – we\u2019ve talked enough about (Sully) Robey, (Archie) Roberts and (Isaac) Kako.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first moment King sought to highlight was Archer Day-Wicks\u2019 gutsy mark on the wing at the 20-minute mark that led to a forward-50 opportunity. <\/p>\n

Then, it was Huss El Achkar hunting down two Giants to win a free kick, with Robey taking the advantage to snap a go-ahead goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cDay-Wicks – that there to me was the moment (where you thought) you know what, they\u2019re going to win this. That sort of courage, little efforts like that,\u201d King said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the fight here just to get a neutral ball \u2026 I just thought these kids had really significant moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Later, as the Bombers were protecting their lead and the Giants went forward, Sharp desperately nailed Lachie Ash in a tackle to win back possession. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re out and gone – it doesn\u2019t look like a lot, but Sharp defeats Fonti, and then he goes again to just do enough to force the turnover,\u201d King said. <\/p>\n

That subsequent passage saw a drilling Roberts kick land in the mitts of Kyle Langford, who wisely took his 30 seconds in front of goal before passing it to drain crucial time off the clock. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where you need your leaders to have the wherewithal to manage the game,\u201d King said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was probably Langford\u2019s best moment in two years of footy. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut really, it all came together at the right time for the kids, with an act or two of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dual premiership player also had plaudits for under-fire veteran Zach Merrett, who\u2019s set to seek a trade out of the club at season\u2019s end. <\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon Zach Merrett has been bashed from pillar to post in the last two months of footy. (He had) 35 touches,\u201d said King. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there was a moment in the third quarter where he had to stay and lay a big tackle, and they were barnstorming at that stage, the Giants. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe stuck the tackle and sent them back the other way.<\/p>\n

Hinkley to coach Tasmania Devils | 05:39<\/p>\n

\u201c(It was) just a game full of little moments that I think they\u2019ll get a lot of growth from. And nothing beats winning. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to keep fronting up on a Monday when you\u2019ve been whacked, really, by the whole football world – not just on gameday, but every media hour afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Western Bulldogs games record-holder Brad Johnson also directed praise in the way of the fans who showed up at Docklands on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you could nearly put the fans as a tick as well,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing Day-Wicks have that shot (on the siren), you just watch the fans behind him. They were just absolutely pumped. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere would have been thousands watching at home, of course, but ultimately, the ones that were there to witness it – they just go home with the biggest bloody grin on their face, which is awesome for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disappointing GWS fall to Essendon | 06:44<\/p>\n

King added: \u201cI reckon there\u2019d be some disappointed fans (that) they didn\u2019t go. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey looked light on for numbers, and this is where you absolutely need their support. <\/p>\n

\u201cI understand they put their money in – they can go or not – but gee, it would have been a great day to be there if you\u2019re a Bombers supporter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essendon caretaker coach Dean Solomon described his team\u2019s stunning upset win as \u201ca bloody good feeling\u201d.<\/p>\n

The three-point thriller served as just the Bombers\u2019 second win from 31 attempts and snapped their 12-game losing streak while also lifting them off the bottom of the ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur footy club\u2019s been on its knees for a period of time and the footy world\u2019s jumped on that,\u201d Solomon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey enjoy us sitting at the bottom and we\u2019ve felt that and we don\u2019t like that and so to push back a little bit and get one win … I\u2019m just really happy for these players.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 with NewsWire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four critical moments underlined Essendon\u2019s courageous drought-breaking win over the Giants on Sunday night. After 14 months without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-811108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}