Essendon was shown how far away it is from being a genuine AFL contender after being humiliated at the hands of Geelong at Jihad Stadium on Saturday night in AFL Round 12.

12 goals to four the Cats way in the second half, saw the reigning AFL Premier romp home 71 points winners – 23.16 (154) to 12.11 (83) – winning their sixth straight against the Bombers and put a serious dent in the Dons AFL finals hopes.

Michael Hurley kicked four goals for the Bombers on the night and where no other of his team mates made a serious impact.

The match opened up in entertaining style with a combined 10 goal opening quarter. The Bombers scored the opening goal via Alwyn Davey within the first 25 seconds, but the Cats soon hit back with five of the next six goals in a 17 minute run. Cat forward Travis Varcoe notched two of the Cats six first quarter goals, the Bombers scored two goals late in the term to trail by 12 points at the first break.

Davey was once again providing the spark during the second term, as the Bombers fought back to get within 5 points midway through the second term. The Bombers however could only blame themselves as the Cats opened an 18 point half time lead on the back of two errors in the space of seven minutes late in the second term, Shannon Byrne the beneficiary, goaling firstly after a turnover from Brent Stanton and the second after a Courtney Dempsey mistake.

It all went downhill from there, as the Cats opened the second half with an unanswered five goal burst to blow the match apart. James Podsiadly kicked two, while Varcoe added two more of his own as the Bombers finished the third term with the final two goals though Mark McVeigh and Brent Stanton, but the margin was out to a match winning 38 with a quarter to play.

Three Geelong goals straight to begin the last term broke the Bombers back as they piled on a seven goal final term to blow the margin out to 12 goals with only Hurley with four goals and Davey three having any impact.

“All in all it was a very disappointing night, we didn’t get any of our game going and couldn’t control them at all,” Essendon coach Matthew Knights said after the game. “Teams that are around each other in the middle of the ladder at the moment, if you beat those teams it might help you in the long run, so next week’s clash is vital to where everything could end up at the end of the year.’‘

The Bombers slip down to 10th on the AFL ladder and are now a win, plus percentage, behind eighth-placed Hawthorn, who they play in a “must win” AFL Round 13 clash at the MCG next Friday night.