Smith gets the quick reply for the Bombers as he collects the loose ball out the back of the pack and bananas it through from point-blank range!
A chain of Melbourne possessions ends up with Hunt who runs to 25m out on a tricky angle and puts it straight through the middle.
He now has a game-high four goals and is playing one of his best games of his career.
Essendon doing all the attacking this quarter but behinds to Devon Smith and Cutler (as well as a rushed one) are denying them full reward on the scoreboard.
It’s one-way traffic at Metricon Stadium. Melbourne are leading the disposals 238-234, clearances 16-14, marks 90-59, inside 50s 32-28, contested possessions 75-66, free kicks 12-8, hitouts 19-12 and scoring shots 14-6.
Given they’ve missed a few easy shots for goal as well, they should probably be leading by a few more goals in reality.
DISPOSALSEssendon: Parish 21, Langford 19, Shiel 19, Cutler 17, Merrett 17Melbourne: Salem 19, Oliver 18, Brown 17, Langdon 17
McDonald-Tipungwuti takes a bounce on the wing and releases Langford who kicks it deep into attack where Stewart takes the grab,
The siren sounds and from 25m out on a slight angle, Stewart splits the big sticks – that’s Essendon’s first goal in 44 minutes of playing time.
It’s been 38 minutes of playing time since Essendon kicked their last goal, which came on the quarter-time siren courtesy of Stringer.
The match is in a bit of a lull at the moment, still no goals this quarter…
