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Scott conceded the Bombers were beaten in areas they had specifically flagged pre-game, particularly their inability to halt the Hawks\u2019 transition and intercept game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m reluctant to say that we prepared really well, because the outcome clearly wasn\u2019t what we were after,\u201d Scott began.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand how much work we\u2019ve got to do to bridge the gap between us and the top four teams; of which Hawthorn were one. But, we really got beaten by what we were concerned about coming into the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have the inside 50 differential was significant, but then they\u2019re (also) able to intercept the ball much more than we did. Clearly, they gave us a lot more opportunities to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bombers conceded a whopping 157 marks, the equal-second-most in Hawthorn history \u2014 only trailing their absurd total of 180 against the Western Bulldogs in Round 10, 2011.<\/p>\n
Mitchell not getting carried away | 05:21<\/p>\n
And while Scott felt Essendon\u2019s effort around the contest and ground ball was reasonable, he admitted their defensive structure behind the ball fell well short.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though our effort at contest and ground ball was okay … our inability to stop them transitioning out of our front half was just nowhere near the level,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s under any illusions we\u2019ve got a big gap to bridge. But, we got a good lesson tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was our inability to defend against a very good kicking side and a very good running side. GWS were able to defend it last week … but the reality is, it\u2019s a bit off. It\u2019s not as if they did anything that surprised us. It was just our inability to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sobering start to 2026 comes after the Bombers finished last year with 13 straight losses, amid a major injury crisis that at one point saw them almost unable to field 23 AFL-listed players.<\/p>\n
Nic Martin won\u2019t play at all in 2026, while Jordan Ridley, Isaac Kako, Will Setterfield and Nick Bryan were all among the names absent in Round 1 through injury. It\u2019s left the Dons with little opportunity to build on-field chemistry with such a high turnover rate week-to-week.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the hard things to generate is synergy over a period of time, and connection with teammates. You see Jack Gunston moving, his teammates know what to do,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone told me we\u2019ve had 20 debutants in the time that\/since when Hawthorn\u2019s had one … unfortunately, it takes time. We worked extremely hard in the pre-season on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a small positive from the clash, former captain Zach Merrett was valiant in defeat, collecting 32 disposals and a goal after fighting hard all night.<\/p>\n
The 252-gamer was subject to small booing around the ground in the first quarter, after failing in his bid to move across to Hawthorn last October during the trade period.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe probably played exactly as everyone expected. He was competitive, he fought. He showed class at times \u2014 he was very good,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it impacts everyone (his off-season). Anyone going through a hard time can show resilience … but does it affect you? Yeah, it does affect you, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily affect your performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnor Macdonald, Dylan Moore, did it affect their preparation coming into the game? I would\u2019ve thought it did, but it doesn\u2019t necessarily impact your performance. That\u2019s what professional athletes do … and it takes a certain type of character and resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one should\u2019ve been surprised about the way Zach played tonight, because we know him so well and that\u2019s what he\u2019s made of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Essendon\u2019s first crack at redemption comes next Sunday afternoon at Adelaide oval against Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon coach Brad Scott says his side is under \u201cno illusions\u201d about the work required to close the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,696,266758,12111,93961,42251,7492,1809,243723,68995,12102,266757,3032,68970,677,6082,668,20766,266755,12936,266759,1124,85,266756,38447,1133,698,25581],"class_list":["post-537918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brad-scott","tag-crazy-stat","tag-dylan-moore","tag-ground-ball","tag-hawks-coach","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-injury-crisis","tag-intercept-game","tag-isaac-kako","tag-jack-gunston","tag-kicking-side","tag-nic-martin","tag-nick-bryan","tag-oceania","tag-port-adelaide","tag-press-conference","tag-professional-athletes","tag-running-side","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-sobering-admission","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-time-that-since","tag-top-teams","tag-trade-period","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}