A candid Brad Scott has once again pointed to the inexperience plaguing his injury-hit Essendon side, as another key player joins the club’s growing casualty list.

Speaking post-game after the Bombers’ brutal 93-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night, the veteran coach expressed his devastation for hybrid defender Jordan Ridley, who was subbed out before half time with what the club described as “hamstring tightness”.

But Scott said he won’t “sugar-coat” the setback, believing he fears Ridley’s injury is more serious than initially suggested.

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“He’s got a hamstring strain, almost certainly. We subbed him out immediately,” Scott said.

“When he feels his hamstring… there’s no point sugar coating it. He’ll go get a scan (and) I hope to God I’m wrong, but I doubt it.

“It’s incredibly frustrating, devastating — all the words that you can possibly think of to describe it. But as repetitive as it sounds, there are plenty of examples through the competition who have had to fight setback, after setback, after setback.

“When you can come through it, you come through it a more resilient player and a more resilient person. We rate him so highly. He’s so important to our club.

“As I said, hopefully I’m wrong. But when he feels his hamstring, then I think it’s pretty obvious.”

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Beyond the crucial loss of Ridley, Essendon’s undermanned defence was ruthlessly exposed as the Bulldogs dominated with uncontested, free-flowing football.

The Bulldogs kicked their highest score since Round 14 last year against Fremantle, with brutal first and third terms the nucleus of their monster win.

Aaron Naughton kicked a career-best seven goals for the night, while Sam Darcy continued his meteoric rise with half a dozen majors of his own.

“The margin’s obvious on the scoreboard, but the margins between contests are thinner than people probably appreciate. They just got us bit by bit, over four quarters which added up to a big margin,” Scott said.

In the most cruel of ways, Scott’s club has — both literally and metaphorically — been hamstrung this season, as the senior coach continues to try and make the best of a brutal situation (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

“The player we could probably least afford to lose in defence, we lost. It exposed a pretty undermanned, undersized, vulnerable defence. (We) got it inside 50, almost enough to be able to compete, but there are challenges all over the ground for us at the moment.

“It’s a consistent message to our players at the moment that it’s a difficult situation we’re in, but you can choose which way you respond. You can make excuses, you can identify all the things that aren’t working for us (and) going against us. Or the things the players can’t control — like availability — or we can focus on improvement and getting better through adversity.

“That’s really the only way you get better. When things are going really well, you get a little bit of reward for effort … but real improvement comes through difficult times, and no one enjoys it. But when you do hard things, you improve as long as your attitude’s right.”

The Bombers’ percentage slipped to just 71.9 after the Round 20 loss — now only ahead of Richmond and North Melbourne — as they head into next week’s clash with Sydney desperate to snap an eight-game losing streak.

Tonight’s loss was their third for the season that was 15 goals or more, after a 91-point loss to the Bulldogs and 95-point loss to Geelong.

Foxfooty.com.au requested to speak with an Essendon player after the loss, but was denied.