THE Western Bulldogs will have to wait at least one more week for their first win of 2011 after going down to Essendon by 55 points at Etihad Stadium.

James Hird's men ran their highly-rated opponents ragged in the second quarter, booting six goals to one and setting up a 34-point lead at the long break.

From there, the Bombers largely did as they pleased, getting their season off to a flying start with a 16.17 (113) to 8.10 (58) victory.

Essendon's new game plan smothered the Bulldogs, whose usually fluent running play was nowhere to be seen.

Essendon had 10 goalkickers, with JobeWatson among a host of players to finish with two.

The Bulldogs started the afternoon in good touch, and raced to an early 13-point thanks to goals from Hall and recruit Nathan Djerrkura.

But after leading by three points at the opening change, they fell apart in the face of Essendon's relentless pressure, and managed to boot only four more majors for the rest of the game.

Star midfielders Matthew Boyd, Adam Cooney, Ryan Griffen and Daniel Cross all topped the 20-possession mark, yet they were unable to exert any influence on the contest.


Essendon                  3.4    9.12    13.15     16.17 (113)   
Western Bulldogs     4.1    5.2     7.5            8.10 (58)

GOALS
Essendon: Ryder 2, Watson 2, Monfries 2, Hurley 2, Stanton 2, Zaharakis 2, Crameri, Winderlich, McVeigh, Myers
Western Bulldogs: Hall 2, Giansiracusa 2, Djerrkura, Wood, Grant, Hill 


BEST
Essendon: Watson, Hille, Hocking, Stanton, Jetta, Melksham, Ryder, Heppell
Western Bulldogs: Hudson, Higgins, Ward, Picken, Markovic

INJURIES
Essendon: None
Western Bulldogs: None

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Farmer, Kennedy, Findlay

Official crowd: 42,617 at Etihad Stadium


The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.