Essendon v Kangaroos (2001 AFL season)

Essendon went into the match placed first on the ladder with a record of 13–2, while the Kangaroos were placed ninth with a record of 8–7. The match was crucial to the Kangaroos' chances of reaching the finals in 2001. Essendon and the Kangaroos (known as North Melbourne until 1998, and again since 2008) had been two of the best teams of the era, winning three of the previous five premierships between them: the Kangaroos in 1996 and 1999, and Essendon in 2000. Both clubs had finished in the top four for the previous two seasons. The start of the 2001 season had been seeing a decline for the Kangaroos, losing five of their first six games of the season, but they had found good form after this point, winning seven of their next nine games, including the three games prior to Essendon. Meanwhile, Essendon was on target to win a third consecutive minor premiership, winning 13 out of their 15 games for the season and had a streak of five consecutive wins prior to the game. Essendon had comfortably won the previous five encounters between the clubs—the last two of those by 125 points and 85 points, with the former being registered in a finals match—and there was recent bad blood between the teams when Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy had notoriously described the Kangaroos executives as 'marshmallows' in 1998. The clubs' respective form, the clubs' respective positions on the ladder, and the absences of injured captain and centre half-forward Wayne Carey, midfielder Anthony Stevens, and full-back Mick Martyn from the Kangaroos' team meant that Essendon were favourites to win. == Teams ==

In addition to the notable outs for the Kangaroos, full-back Glenn Archer covered as stand-in captain for the injured Carey. ==Match summary==

First quarter started champion full-back Dustin Fletcher (pictured in 2007) in the forward pocket The Kangaroos struck first blood with a left-foot snap goal to Shannon Grant 90 seconds into the game, but Essendon full-forward Matthew Lloyd struck back a few minutes later to tie up the game after a trademark forward lead and jumping mark. A behind from Blake Caracella gave Essendon a one-point lead after seven minutes of play. Thereafter, the Kangaroos dominated scoring in the opening quarter, with Byron Pickett, Saverio Rocca, and Brady Rawlings piling on three straight goals in less than five minutes to lead 4.0 (24) to 1.1 (7) by the 12th-minute mark. Chris Heffernan managed a steadier for Essendon to stem the bleeding, but the Kangaroos went on a rampage, kicking the next eight goals to lead by 58 points at quarter time, 12.1 (73) to 2.3 (15). Saverio Rocca kicked four goals in the quarter, while Pickett, Jess Sinclair, and Brent Harvey all kicked two goals each. As for the Kangaroos, coach Dennis Pagan's assistant Tony Elshaug turned to Pagan and whispered in his ear: "We might kick 48 goals today. Twelve times four equals 48." Pagan, knowing Essendon's ability and fighting spirit, glibly replied, "Oh, no". Second quarter The Kangaroos kicked three of the first four goals of the second quarter, with their third of the quarter bringing the lead to a game-high 69 points through a goal from Shannon Grant, who celebrated by miming dual finger guns into the crowd in an imitation of a goal umpire's goal signal; consequently, Kangaroos 15.1 (91) led Essendon's 3.4 (22) in the tenth minute of the second quarter. Essendon's Jason Johnson was considered the best on ground in what is considered the best game of his career, and he polled three Brownlow Medal votes. He had 31 disposals, 13 clearances, 10 inside-50s and kicked four goals to be the most valuable in Essendon's comeback despite dealing personally with the bereavement of having lost a friend in a car accident days earlier. Scoreboard Details Records Essendon's win set a new record for the greatest comeback in AFL history, having trailed by 69 points at the 12-minute mark of the second quarter before recovering to win by 12 points. The comeback broke the existing record of 63 points, which had been set by in Round 12, 1999, two years prior. The teams combined for 52 goals, equalling the record for most goals in a match, which had been set in Round 6, 1978, between and ; the two games still hold this record as of 2023. The teams' combined score of 52.18 (330) was only 15 points short of the all-time record, and as of 2023 stands as the seventh-highest-scoring game of all time; in fact, it is the only game from the 21st century to feature among the twenty all-time highest-scoring games. The Kangaroos' first-quarter score of 12.1 (73) was, at the time, the fourth-highest first-quarter score of all time; additionally, the 58-point deficit was the greatest margin by which Essendon had ever trailed a match at quarter time—two records which further underscored the extent of Essendon's comeback. ==Aftermath==

Both clubs finished the home-and-away season modestly after this match. Of Essendon's last six matches in the home-and-away season, it won just three, enough to secure the minor premiership for the third consecutive year. They qualified for the 2001 Grand Final, but lost to the ; it marked the end of an era, as they dropped out of the top four the following season, and as of the completed 2025 AFL season it has not qualified for a preliminary final since 2001. The Kangaroos won just one more match for the season and eventually finished 13th on the ladder. After this game, the Kangaroos won their next six matches against Essendon; it was not until Round 1, 2008, that Essendon defeated the Kangaroos (who by then had reverted to its old name "North Melbourne") again. ==Legacy==

won a media award for his radio call of the game, predicting that Essendon would win even when they trailed by more than ten goals early in the second quarter After the game, the game was quickly heralded as one of the best, if not the best, game in VFL/AFL history. So high was the interest in the game, that it was replayed in full on Channel Seven in Melbourne the following day, following The Weakest Link, something which had never previously occurred. At the time, it was usual only to broadcast the edited highlights of any Sunday afternoon match played in Victoria. Writing for the Herald Sun, Mark Robinson declared: “Amid the euphoria of victory and emptiness of defeat, there’s only one question to be asked: was this the greatest game of all time? The answer is almost certainly yes. If it was a Grand Final there would be no doubt." North Melbourne's Corey McKernan placed it equal with a match he played against the Western Bulldogs in 1998, while many other players declared it the best ever. Later in 2001, Garry Lyon won a media award for his expert radio call of the game on 3AW. During the call, Lyon had made a prediction early in the second term that Essendon would come back and win despite the margin already exceeding 10 goals. ==See also==