{"id":706426,"date":"2026-05-31T14:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/706426\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T14:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:13:12","slug":"west-coast-eagles-vs-essendon-live-afl-round-12-2026-scores-results-odds-stats-and-start-time-from-optus-stadium-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/706426\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast Eagles vs Essendon LIVE: AFL round 12 2026, scores, results, odds, stats and start time from Optus Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a post-match press conference, Dean Solomon said he was very grateful for the opportunity to act as Essendon\u2019s senior coach and admitted it had been \u201ca tough week\u201d for players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe circumstances are\u2026 obviously I didn\u2019t want it to be this way, but we\u2019re here now, and I\u2019m just going to embrace the opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dean Solomon speaks to players during their round 12 clash. \" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5cef07c9135fa2a366c473fd47265a11eddbcb67.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>Dean Solomon speaks to players during their round 12 clash. via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe other coaches and all staff have been amazing in their support\u2026 it\u2019s not just me, it\u2019s all of us pulling together and driving this club to the finish line with momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Solomon said it had been a whirlwind since Scott\u2019s departure on Tuesday, and said the club would now be able to take a breath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTomorrow we\u2019ll review the game, and then try and find a bit of rhythm this week, and get into it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll coaches, all staff at this footy club, and the players have been amazing in their support and we\u2019ll do this together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Solomon said it had been a tough week for the Bombers, but players had tried to rally over the last 48 hours and focus on the game.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Archie Roberts copped a tackle. \" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/29674704a094266d2878bee321917228202473ab.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d34e428-1 ldCIuB\"\/>Archie Roberts copped a tackle. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The interim coach credited West Coast for their pressure and said the hometown heroes handled the windy conditions better. However, he noted the Bombers showed signs of promise during the second quarter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur team defence is something we continue to work on, it\u2019s been an issue for a period of time,\u201d he said. \u201cYou would have heard Brad speak about it as well, so it\u2019s an area we\u2019re going to focus on for the remainder of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Solomon also spoke about Ben McKay\u2019s stint as a forward, adding he\u2019d like to see players \u201chave a bit of flexibility\u201d for the rest of the year around positions.<\/p>\n<p>Solomon said he\u2019d shut down most of his social media and wanted to remain fully focused on the job at hand, batting away questions on James Hird\u2019s potential return as senior coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a post-match press conference, Dean Solomon said he was very grateful for the opportunity to act as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-706426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706426","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=706426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}