Essendon star Matt Guelfi kept his word to a hospitalized young girl with a special goal celebration in Essendon’s impressive 20-point AFL win over GWS Giants.
The Bombers recovered superbly from a slow start in Saturday’s match at Marvel Stadium to win 12.10 (82) to 9.8 (62).
Guelfi was in good form, scoring three goals and celebrating each time by raising his hands to show off his red-painted nails.
Her nails were painted earlier in the week by a girl called Alex at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
“I said I would score a goal for her… When I was in line for the first one, I remembered her saying, ‘I believe in you,'” Guelfi explained after the game.
Bombers forward Matt Guelfi (pictured) kept his word to a hospitalized young girl with a special goal celebration during Essendon’s 20-point AFL win over the GWS Giants.
Guelfi scored three goals and each time celebrated by raising his painted nails.
The Bombers tweeted a photo of Alex doing the same celebration while watching the game on television.
Essendon is in the top four at the expense of the Giants, who have lost three of their last four after starting the season with five wins.
It is also important for Essendon following their humiliation in round 23 last year, when GWS slaughtered them by 126 points to end their hopes of reaching the final.
But what particularly caught coach Brad Scott’s attention as his team notched its best win this season was the noise from the long-suffering Bombers fans.
Having not won a final since 2004, the Essendon faithful seemed to be starting to dare to dream.
“That electric feeling… I’m in a soundproof, air-conditioned coach’s box, but I could hear the Essendon fans,” Scott said.
“I thought they were really proud of their team and I told the players: that’s the best reward you can get.”
“They probably have an idea of what is possible with the enthusiasm of the Essendon fans, of what could be.”
But with his next breath, Scott dimmed the emotion.
Essendon claimed their best win of the season on Saturday night
The emphatic victory lifted Essendon to third place on the AFL ladder.
“The challenge then is to rethink how hard we’re working… and not get too caught up,” he said.
“The competition will punch you in the face if you take your foot off the pedal.”
GWS were 22 points up in the second period but could not cope when Essendon pounced on them.
The Giants’ famous Tsunami Orange steadily lost their momentum and Essendon took the lead for good at the end of the third period.
“It’s just a good step forward for our group, in terms of maturity, that we don’t panic,” Scott said.
“We were able to address what wasn’t working for us and we were able to not only stop the flow, but change the course.”
The Bombers clearly did their homework, with Matt Guelfi playing a crucial defensive forward role on Lachie Whitfield and then also kicking three goals.
Nic Martin was also powerful as a runner and Kyle Langford scored four goals.
GWS star Tom Green racked up a game-high 34 possessions after he was feared to have suffered a serious ankle injury last weekend.
But it was a rare bright light on a dirty day for the Giants, who couldn’t honor Callan Ward’s 300th game with a victory.
“In the end, we were beaten by a more desperate and hungrier team, especially after quarter time,” Giants coach Adam Kingsley said.
“We were very good from the start, I’m pleased with our start. Essendon regrouped in the fourth, the pressure increased and we couldn’t hold on… it was very good.
‘They were much better than us in the contest. “We couldn’t really rectify that after quarter time.”