Star Essendon forward Kyle Langford has defended the ‘Essendon edge’, highlighting a teammate’s gutsy act that epitomised the maligned mantra.
Langford’s Bombers overran a stingy St Kilda outfit at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, emerging victorious to the narrow tune of four points to improve to 2-1 in 2024.
Essendon was in the firing line of pundits throughout the past week following a feisty Round 2 clash with Sydney that saw forward Peter Wright banned for four games, among a host of additional spotfires that were frowned-upon.
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The Bombers were lambasted for their inability to defend against the Swans’ devastating transition in a 30-point loss – failing to substantiate their claims of being a physical team.
“You can have an ‘Essendon edge’, but you’ve got to be aggressively defending the game — that’s part of being an ‘edgy’ team,” Mark Robinson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 last Monday.
“Essendon went after (the Swans), they stayed with them, but you still need to challenge, and you still need to defend, and they weren’t good enough.”
However, conceding just 67 points to a high-powered Saints offence that torched reigning premier Collingwood last Thursday – granted, they were without the suspended Max King – the defensive emphasis was clear.
While Langford booted three goals from five scoring shots in a stellar showing on Saturday, the 27-year-old preferred to laud his back-six compatriots when asked to reveal the keys to Essendon’s victory.
“I think it was the defenders a lot of the time,” Langford told Foxfooty.com.au on Saturday.
“Our defenders’ ability to come forward, intercept the ball and keep it in our forward half gave us a chance to score.”
After his club’s unwanted week in the spotlight, Langford went to bat for his coach’s controversial concept; defending its true intention and providing an example of a teammate who embodied the ideation.
“I guess you can call it ‘Essendon edge’ – I think that’s what ‘Scotty’ has called it – but it’s not about off-the-ball hits or hitting the opposition at all,” he assured.
“It’s about playing the ball, playing hard and coming forward and when the ball’s there to be won.
“You know, I think of ‘Hepp’s (Dyson Heppell) contest just before half-time; that’s what we call ‘Essendon edge’. Going through the ball, through the opponent in the right way and the fair way.
“So, that’s kind of what we’re talking about and I think we saw that countless times tonight.”
Langford is referencing a piece of play made by Heppell with a minute left in the first half, where the veteran defender impacts a marking contest from three men deep; spoiling the ball to ground before following up his initial effort with a tackle on Mattaes Phillipou that dispossessed the young Saint.
It was one of the many times a St Kilda player was under immense pressure on Saturday and, as Langford explained, it was a key reason why the Dons took home the chocolates on Easter Saturday.
The only concern for the 2023 Crichton Medal runner-up was a knock to his right leg in a knee-on-knee collision that saw it wrapped in ice post-game.
However, the burgeoning forward isn’t fazed by the ailment and expects to pull up OK ahead of a blockbuster Gather Round bout with Port Adelaide in six days.
“I just got a knock (to) my right knee,” he told Foxfooty.com.au post-game. “Probably a bit of bone bruising, just in a contest, I just got hit right on my knee. It’ll be fine.”
In other Bombers injury news, utility Sam Durham was subbed out of Saturday’s game in the third quarter with a suspected shoulder injury.
Langford and the Dons are scheduled to play the Power at Adelaide Oval next Friday.
Source Agencies
