Essendon captain Dyson Heppell has taken a swipe at the pundits who criticised his playing group for smiling during training after the Bombers staged a remarkable comeback victory over the Hawks on Saturday night.
Undermanned by sickness and under-fire for its recent run of poor performances, Essendon kicked the final seven goals of the match to give it a 27-point lead at the final siren.
Forced into making five changes in the hours leading up to the game because of illness, the odds appeared heavily stacked against the side.
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With Jordan Ridley, Jake Kelly, Matt Guelfi, Alec Waterman and Sam Durham all withdrawn, every Essendon emergency was called in, including Brayden Ham, Kaine Baldwin, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher and Aaron Francis.
Midfielder Devon Smith was also named as well as 2021 draftee, Alastair Lord, who made his AFL debut as the medical sub.
Trailing by a game-high 25 points in the third quarter, a switch soon flicked as the Bombers went on the attack, lead by key forward Peter Wright who starred with six majors
Speaking after the match, Heppell was amazed by his side’s resilience.
“That’s unbelievable, to be honest,” he said.
“You sort of come into a game with a bit of a sense and a feeling and I’m just so proud of the attitude that the boys have been sticking to over this whole period, a lot of outside noise, but within the four walls it’s just been an unbelievable environment for the circumstance we’ve been in.”
As a replay showed of the Essendon players celebrating on the field with each other, Heppell interrupted his response saying, “Talk about smiling”.
Referencing St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt‘s comments during the week that the players should not be smiling and having fun at training given their form, Heppell was clearly not impressed with the fault-finding.
“Anyone can jam it for telling us to stop smiling,” he added.
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