{"id":615502,"date":"2026-04-18T17:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615502\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T17:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:39:16","slug":"cry-me-a-river-coachs-blatant-swipe-at-rivals-as-bombers-begin-to-bridge-the-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615502\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cry me a river\u2019: Coach\u2019s blatant swipe at rivals as Bombers begin to \u2018bridge the gap\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon coach Brad Scott is confident his side has turned a corner in recent weeks after a strong performance against premiership contender Gold Coast at Carrara on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bombers claimed a breakthrough win against Melbourne at Gather Round which was their first victory since round 11 last year and were right in the fight against the Suns, going down by just nine points.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about that,\u201d Scott said when asked if he felt the team had turned a corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working really hard to bridge the gap between where we are and probably a group of a dozen or more teams \u2026 that are high-quality teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to do and we know that.<\/p>\n

Umpire leaves the field after collision | 00:38<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last couple of weeks there\u2019s been things where you think, \u2018That\u2019s what we want to look like\u2019 and you can see what we\u2019re going to look like, sooner rather than later I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bombers\u2019 much-improved showing came after their forgettable, injury-riddled 2025 campaign, which finished with a 95-point loss to the Suns on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

When asked to reflect on his side\u2019s progress, Scott said: \u201cIt\u2019s been interesting. I\u2019ve heard a few teams talk about they\u2019ve had a few players out. Well we had 20 out \u2026 so cry me a river.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the club prepares for a blockbuster Anzac Day clash against Collingwood, Scott was impressed by the efforts of his young core.<\/p>\n

Archie Roberts, selected at No. 54 in the 2023 draft, was again at the front of the Bombers\u2019 charge with 33 disposals.<\/p>\n

Suns win despite Bombers scare | 04:46<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a real competitor. I think back to the draft night, we rated him really highly and in the end we traded up to pick him and it was a very good pick and his development this stage is just continuing on a pretty steep upward curve,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s been terrific and I think there\u2019s a lot of teams at the moment if they miss a couple of pieces of the puzzle, it has a flow-on effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoberts is terrific, but getting the back six somewhat together which we haven\u2019t been able to do for a three or four year period, I think it\u2019s really helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bombers will nervously await news on the availability of defender Jordan Ridley who left the game in the second half with calf tightness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not sure if there\u2019s any damage there but he had a tight calf and we just have a no-risk approach with him,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo fingers crossed he\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon coach Brad Scott is confident his side has turned a corner in recent weeks after a strong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,69039,64,63,689,55,639,696,241769,177785,166581,161115,2105,2485,9130,296174,298808,677,41653,298807,701,238847,85,68979],"class_list":{"0":"post-615502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-archie-roberts","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-brad-scott","16":"tag-breakthrough-win","17":"tag-calf-tightness","18":"tag-draft-night","19":"tag-flow-on-effect","20":"tag-getty-images-inc","21":"tag-gold-coast","22":"tag-gold-coast-suns","23":"tag-high-quality-teams","24":"tag-no-risk-approach","25":"tag-oceania","26":"tag-premiership-contender","27":"tag-pretty-steep","28":"tag-queensland","29":"tag-real-competitor","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-young-core"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615502","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=615502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}