“Just make it hard”: What Hodge wants to see from Essendon’s midfield
Essendon entered Gather Round having not lost at centre clearance in their opening three matches of 2024. Brad Scott’s Bombers had beaten Hawthorn 18-9, Sydney 16-15 and St Kilda 13-7 in that statistic, resulting in two victories and a loss to kick off the campaign. However, their centre bounce ascendancy came to a grinding halt on Saturday night when Port Adelaide put the Dons to the sword, dominating centre clearances 19-6 in a 69-point result at the Adelaide Oval. Port’s Jason Horne-Francis racked...