The coaching future of Matthew Knights will come under the blowtorch following the Bombers dismal 65 point loss 18.12 (120) to 8.7 (55) to Collingwood in their traditional ANZAC Day clash at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

Collingwood blew the Bombers away with a seven goal to nil opening quarter and hopes of a repeat trip to September now seems unlikely with the Bombers sitting 14th on the AFL ladder with a 1-4 record and have registered just 3 wins in their last 13 matches.

Brent Stanton finished with 34 disposals while skipper Jobe Watson chipped in with 32. Scott Gumbleton provided the only bright side on a dirty day with 2 goals, 18 possessions and 10 marks showing he could live up to his ‘hype’ in coming years.

A loss to Hawthorn next weekend in AFL Round 6, will only put even more pressure on Knights with Bomber fans rushing to their keyboards and talkback radio lines with the “Sack Knights” mantra kicked up another notch.

As for the match itself …. 7.5 to 0.3 in the opening term the Magpies way to open up a 44-point lead by quarter time and the match was all but over after the first bell. Pies spud forward Travis Cloke showed up Cale Hooker with the opening two goals of the game. Cloke added a third going into time on and when another Pie spud, this time ruckman-forward Josh Fraser capitalised on an Essendon defensive fumble to stroll into the goalsquare for an easy goal, it ended one of the Bombers worst quarters of football in a long time with no redeeming features at all.

After a goalless first quarter, it took the Bombers 14 seconds to register the first of the second and their first of the game with Gumbleton opening the ledger. The Bombers were more competitive in the second term, applying more defensive pressure and harder tackling, but their woeful skills meant they could not make any impact on the scoreboard with both sides notching up four goals each for the term as the margin was 46 points by half-time.

A reshuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic after half-time, saw Hooker and Courtenay Dempsey from forward and Michael Hurley to the backline and early in the third quarter it began to pay dividends with Dempsey adding two quick goals. But the Pies hit back and piled on four goals straight, with forward Chris Dawes chipping in with two as the margin blew out to a match high 70 points at the last break.

The match petered out to it’s inevitable end with both sides shutting up shop with the Bombers kicking two goals to one in the final term to reduce the margin to the final 65 point difference.

“There wasn’t one quality that stood out that definitely decided today’s game, it was a number of thing, whether it be the stoppages, we didn’t take the ball cleanly, we didn’t kick the ball well, our handballs were to players who were flat-footed.” Knights said after the match.

“You’ve got to have the strength and conviction to just keep working hard and we didn’t do that.”