Essendon coach Brad Scott said the Bombers were fighting against becoming demoralised as the losses continue to mount for them.

Scott’s men have now suffered a club record-equalling losing streak of 17 matches, and the only other time Essendon endured a run like that was in 2016 when their season was ravaged by WADA suspensions.

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The Dons (0-4) have also made their worst start to a campaign in 59 years when they began 1967 with five straight defeats.

“It’s just one of those facts that you have to deal with,” Scott said.

“And, yes, potentially it can get demoralising, but that’s what we’re fighting against, and that’s the challenge that we’re all faced with.

“I’m faced with it as coach, our leaders are faced with it and people ask a lot of the time, ‘What do you want from your leaders?’ Well, they need to keep the group galvanised and they need to perform on field – they’re the two major things you want from your leaders.”

Scott was confident that the lengthy run of defeats wasn’t impacting the playing group’s spirit.

“They’re being challenged in that space as much as you can imagine,” Scott said.

After giving up 10 of the first 11 goals to the Western Bulldogs on Sunday night at Marvel Stadium, Essendon fought back to outscore the premiership fancies by 20 points in the second half on the way to a 34-point defeat.

“The start of the game today you’d think that if a team was going to capitulate, it would’ve been about the 25-minute mark of the first quarter,” Scott said.

“I have a lot of belief in the character of the group and the individual players that we’ve recruited and they’re showing that fight without the reward at the moment.

“But I’m very optimistic that they’re made of the right stuff.”

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While Scott was pleased with the response from his side after half-time, he was “really disappointed” with the way they started the game.

“We talked about getting on the front foot and, really, they got on the front foot,” Scott said.

The Essendon coach praised former captain Zach Merrett for leading the way in turning the tide after the major break, particularly with increased pressure around the ball.

“Really, the third quarter started to look like how we wanted it to look like from the start of the game,” Scott said.

“To be able to wrestle back some sort of control around the third quarter was pleasing, but we need to put it together for longer.”

Scott was starting to see some incremental improvements following Essendon’s disastrous opening fortnight to the season.

“Our pressure was non-existent in the first two rounds of the year – that has looked very different the last two weeks,” he said.

“Our execution is still a work in progress, but at least it was better tonight. We connected a bit better inside forward 50.

“So I think significant improvement (has occurred), but significant improvement to go.”

Talented, but injury-prone, Zach Reid didn’t play the final quarter due to hamstring tightness, and while the key defender was keen to see out the game, Scott ruled that out due to the 24-year-old’s extensive injury history.

Meanwhile, fellow backman Jordan Ridley is set to play his first senior game next week against Melbourne.