'Taking the mickey': AFL greats erupt over handshake 'insult'
A halftime moment between two St Kilda players has earned the ire of AFL legends Dermott Brereton and Cameron Mooney.
The incident came about during the main break of the Saints' 10.8 (68) to 5.3 (33) win over the Bombers at the Gabba on Sunday.
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St Kilda were so dominant in the opening two quarters that defenders Ben Long and Hunter Clark were already celebrating wholeheartedly.
The pair could be seen on the television coverage performing elaborate hand-shakes and revelling in the fact they were 35-points ahead in the contest.
Brereton and Mooney said the actions of the St Kilda pair would have left Essendon incensed, particularly because they only managed to fashion two scoring plays in a dismal opening half.
“The Saints are taking the mickey, they’re already doing handshakes at half time,” Brereton said.
“They’re probably lucky they’ve got stops in, otherwise they’d be doing moonwalking.
“That’s an insult. If you’re an Essendon player and you see that… you’d be going up to them and grabbing them by the back of the neck.”
Mooney agreed with the Hawthorn legend, insisting that the Essendon players would justifiably be out for retribution after seeing the antics of Long and Clark.
“I’d be filthy,” Mooney said.
“That’s not a good look from an opposition point of view. If I saw that, I would be ropeable coming out at half time.”
Bombers’ finals hopes hang by a thread
The Bombers hopes of ending a 16-year drought of finals wins looked in dire straights during a contest in which they conceded seven of the first eight majors by halftime.
Saints midfielders Zak Jones and Jack Steele starred and Max King kicked three goals as Essendon meekly surrendered during the showdown in Brisbane.
"The Saints took uncontested marks and used the ball as they wished under really limited pressure in that first quarter," Essendon coach John Worsfold said post-match.
"To go forward like they did and score at ease like they did in that first quarter really put the game away.
"We matched them fairly well for big parts of the game after that but the damage was done.
"We can't really give teams that un-pressured look for those long periods."
Essendon, who have about half of their best team sidelined with injuries, meet top-eight sides Richmond, West Coast, Geelong, Port Adelaide and Melbourne, as well as Hawthorn, in a brutal finish to the home-and-away season.
with AAP
