Brendon Goddard against his old Saints. Picture: George Salpigtidis
FROM the first bounce Brendon Goddard made his intentions clear.
He was going to go at the ball and he was going to go at it hard.
From the time Goddard lined up to kick the game's first goal, St Kilda fans made their intentions clear.
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They were going to boo and hiss whenever the No.9 went near the pill - particularly the group on the outer wing holding the "In Goddard We Trusted" sign.
But did the Saints make their intentions known?
Not so much.
You expected, after Goddard became the first high-profile player to switch clubs under the free agency rule, that his former teammates would get a little bit physical with him.
At the opening bounce Goddard lined up next to Clint Jones, but you could have driven a truck in the gap between them.
Goddard sharked the first tap and was instantly wrapped up by Jones, Lenny Hayes and Nick Dal Santo, but there was no overt aggression - although things may have been a little different had Nick Riewoldt arrived in the circle a couple of seconds earlier.
Minutes later he ambled inside Essendon's attacking 50 unattended and marked a floating Dyson Heppell kick in front of Sam Fisher.
It gave Saints fans 30 seconds to air their grievances towards the 2002 No.1 draft pick, but they were all but drowned out by the noise made by the Bombers cheersquad.
They gave him a standing ovation to remember, he's their boy now, and it continued after he kicked truly.
About a dozen of his new teammates got around him, the only Saint that did so was Dal Santo, who gave him a bump as he ran to the interchange bench. Goddard just laughed.
It was Essendon v St Kilda last night, but the Goddard v St Kilda contest was symbolic.
At quarter-time Goddard had seven possessions, all contested. St Kilda had 75 possessions, only 36 contested.
Goddard had five tackles - the most on the ground - whereas the Saints, despite having had 34 fewer disposals than the Bombers, were losing the tackle count 20-16.
Some physicality towards Goddard would have at least shown a bit of intent from the Saints, a sign that they were willing to get their hands dirty to get back in to the contest.
It never came - although he didn't give them much of a chance.
Because who was virtually the only player not involved in the scuffle after the halftime siren? Goddard.
After the game it was Jarryn Geary first to him, followed by Rhys Stanley.
Then off they went in separate directions. Again symbolic, because you would think these clubs are headed in different directions this season, too.
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