Essendon coach Brad Scott has put the spotlight on his side’s poor contest, particularly from his older brigade, following a disappointing 43-point loss to Fremantle.
He also provided a defiant response to a question about the historically poor crowd that attended the MCG on Sunday afternoon.
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The Bombers were blown out of the park early at the MCG, conceding three goals in the first three minutes, before more pressure led them to a 25-point deficit at quarter time and 52 points at half time.
Scott’s side had put up just 1.8 compared to Freo’s 10.6 after two quarters, with the visitors going into halftime plus-18 in contested possessions and plus-10 in inside 50s.
Scott credited youngster Sullivan Robey for leading the way in his side’s contest and used his strong efforts (11 contested possessions) to shine a light on his senior players.
“You shouldn’t be, as a team, looking to your 18-year-olds to lead you out of that,” Scott said following the 8.13 (61) to 16.8 (104) loss.
“Right now, we need more support around our young players, which sounds a little bit back to front doesn’t it.”
The measly crowd of 25,100 at the MCG was Essendon’s smallest crowd at the home of footy – removing the COVID years – since R19, 1993 against Sydney (22,813).
Asked for his message to Bombers fans and ability to sell hope, Scott said: “Our fans are incredible, (but) it was a putrid day today. I’m sure you woke up today thinking you didn’t want to go for a walk down the park, either.
“Our fans are incredible, and they see, the last three years, they see the players we’ve brought in – Roberts, Caddy, Kako, Farrow, Robey, Sharp.
“The fans want to come to the game to see their team win, but if you scratch one layer deeper, you can clearly see – blind Freddy can see what we’re trying to do.
“And it’s frustrating in the short term, but we’ve tried to patch this together in the past – we’re not doing that again, so it’s really clear in terms of what we’re doing.”
Three-time All-Australian Zach Merrett, 30, had just two contested possessions in the first half and five for the game, while Darcy Parish, 28, had two in the opening half, before an improved five in the second half.
Meanwhile, younger midfielders Sam Durham (11 contested possessions and four in the first half) and Jye Caldwell (eight and five) proved tougher around the ball.
“Our game was won and lost early in the first quarter,” Scott said.
“Our contest was as poor as I’ve seen it.
“The way we started the game was just nowhere near the level it needs to be.
“Particularly against any opponent, but an opponent that’s won eight in a row when it’s slippery conditions, the ball’s going to be on the ground, it’s going to be in a contest.”
Scott added how the turnaround in the second half (plus-18 contested possessions) proved that it wasn’t a capability issue for his 1-9 side.
“We were a completely different-looking team in the second half in that space than where we were in the first,” he said.
“So it’s not capability, it’s the mindset to come out and compete against a very good team, which was just nowhere near the level in the first 30 minutes of the game.”
Scott said there was a “long way to go” in terms of his side’s leadership and hinted at more opportunities for his younger players in weeks to come.
The Dons take on Richmond on Friday and West Coast the following week.