{"id":559818,"date":"2026-03-23T22:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559818\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T22:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:04:14","slug":"essendon-hold-players-only-meeting-after-round-2-loss-bombers-problems-andrew-mcgrath-and-leaders-selfish-behaviour-on-field-analysis-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559818\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon hold players-only meeting after Round 2 loss, Bombers problems, Andrew McGrath and leaders\u2019 selfish behaviour on field, analysis, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon captain Andrew McGrath called a players-only meeting immediately after his side\u2019s second consecutive smashing to start the 2026 season, as pressure builds on the club\u2019s leaders to help pull them out of their decades-long hole.<\/p>\n

Nine\u2019s Damian Barrett reported<\/a> on Footy Classified \u201ca range of frustrations were aired amongst the 23 players including frustrations with each other\u201d and with how they had \u201ctwice been easily dismantled\u201d following Sunday\u2019s 63-point loss to Port Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But it comes as McGrath himself was called out for what one AFL great believes was a self-centred act during the loss to the Power, with demands for the Bombers\u2019 leaders to take greater responsibility during games.<\/p>\n

McGrath took over the captaincy from Zach Merrett following the ex-leader\u2019s off-season request to be traded to Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

He heads a leadership group with limited experience including Kyle Langford, Mason Redman, Sam Durham, Jye Caldwell, first-year Bomber Brayden Fiorini, and the injured Nic Martin.<\/p>\n

Andrew McGrath of the Bombers leads his team off after the round two AFL match between Port Adelaide Power and Essendon Bombers at Adelaide Oval, on March 22, 2026, in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Mark Brake\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you watch the games back, the things it looks to me they lack is on-field leaders,\u201d Hawthorn champion Jordan Lewis said on Fox Footy\u2019s On the Couch.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo these leaders might be great in the theatrette in terms of pointing out things, and where should I stand here, and this might be wrong, but it\u2019s not translating to on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no pointing. There\u2019s no communication. When there\u2019s an error, the players go into themselves with their heads down and go back to their positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cUsually when you\u2019re part of the leadership group, you\u2019ve got your own backyard in order, so then you actually give stuff to the rest of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Essendon are still easy to play’ | 04:46<\/p>\n

But the On the Couch team showed multiple incidents where the likes of Caldwell, McGrath and Merrett failed to communicate in crucial moments leading directly to Port Adelaide goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cZach Merrett comes into the stoppage with (Willem) Drew and hands him over, says not my job any more, I\u2019m gonna pass him over,\u201d Richmond great Jack Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see McGrath there. If you see a free player in your D50, you are screaming, \u2018there\u2019s a free player\u2019. (McGrath) just puts the arm up, just worried about his man, Merrett\u2019s man has gone in by himself and gets an easy shot on goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat there is a lack of communication. Andrew McGrath is looking after one person, and one person only.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis was part of the selection panel which brought Brad Scott to the Bombers after the 2022 season and revealed he saw issues during that review period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club has failed to develop talent. You look at the talent they\u2019ve got in – there\u2019s 13 first-rounders on their list, a lot of them have gone backwards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember sitting in a room with a young key forward at the time, who was two years into his career, and hadn\u2019t yet been caught forward craft. That gives you a bit of an idea of their development program prior to the review and to Scott getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bombers’ season off to horror start | 02:58<\/p>\n

Earlier in the night on AFL 360, Melbourne great Garry Lyon questioned coach Brad Scott\u2019s press conference behaviour which included strong criticism of his players<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem I have with the coach saying they\u2019re demoralised is there might be half or dozen or 10 of them who don\u2019t think they\u2019re demoralised,\u201d Lyon said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in the end it\u2019s self-fulfilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour coach says we\u2019re demoralised and they go: \u2018are we? We must be\u2019, so they become demoralised because the coach says they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like it, I didn\u2019t like the singling out of (Nate) Caddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it just got to a stage where he (Scott) thought he had no other choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

His co-host, veteran broadcaster Gerard Whateley, responded: \u201cI thought that\u2019s the language that we\u2019d extrapolate on a Monday and it escalates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you come into a season you want there to be a level of hope and optimism, and Essendon clearly aren\u2019t living that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if I were the (Essendon) CEO or the president today I would have wanted to just sit down and ask \u2018do you still believe in what we\u2019re doing?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then it spreads out into the broader question of \u2018what are they doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Scott says ‘we’re demoralised’ | 09:03<\/p>\n

Whateley questioned whether the Merrett trade saga was linked to the current poor vibes emerging from Tullamarine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lived through an off season where their general, their best player said to them: \u2018hey, I don\u2019t believe in this anymore\u2019,\u201d Whateley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what Zach Merrett said when he asked to be traded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to win and he doesn\u2019t believe the winning is going to happen at Essendon and that filters through.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid we think that was just going to exist in isolation?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to examine \u2018demoralised\u2019, the general said \u2018this plan is going to fail.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the troops have all gone \u2018we\u2019re just marching to impending doom here\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how you get out of a cycle like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon captain Andrew McGrath called a players-only meeting immediately after his side\u2019s second consecutive smashing to start the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,36846,64,63,689,55,639,696,276253,1818,33107,14348,39202,10145,61,2105,276252,1823,19080,100214,3255,36877,16677,3032,677,6082,276251,25862,60509,276254,1124,85,3254,51,25581],"class_list":["post-559818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-mcgrath","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brad-scott","tag-consecutive-smashing","tag-david-king","tag-development-program","tag-disappointing-loss","tag-drew-jones","tag-garry-lyon","tag-gerard-whateley","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-impending-doom","tag-jack-riewoldt","tag-jordan-lewis","tag-jye-caldwell","tag-leadership-group","tag-mason-redman","tag-max-laughton","tag-nic-martin","tag-oceania","tag-port-adelaide","tag-press-conference-behaviour","tag-sam-durham","tag-selection-panel","tag-selfish-behaviour","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-trade-saga","tag-veteran-broadcaster","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559818","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=559818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}