A frustrated Brad Scott said Essendon’s delivery into its forward line was the worst he’s seen during his tenure at the club in their 17-point loss to Melbourne on Saturday night.
The Bombers had 56 inside 50s compared to the Demons’ 49 but only managed to kick 10.7 (67) in the wet conditions, with key forward Peter Wright subbed out without registering a mark.
Scott remarked that his team failed to play the “pretty simple footy” required in the wet, as their opponents consistently beat them to the ball with a more determined performance.
“We had some defensive lapses on a night that just called for pretty simple footy,” Scott said. “We got beaten by what we knew, which is the first time I’ve said that in a long time – poor execution, didn’t adapt to the conditions very well in the first quarter even though the game was going OK for us.
“I thought Melbourne were quicker to the ground ball than we were around contest, even though it was a pretty convincing win in pressure, on the numbers, it didn’t look like that live. It was all too little, too late.”
Scott mentioned that the Bombers had “ruck dominance” in Max Gawn’s absence but was more concerned about their failure to deliver the ball inside 50 than the significant clearance deficit.
“Number one, we got to the contest and won the ball. The method we wanted to move the ball inside 50 given the conditions, we just didn’t adhere to, which was the most disappointing part for me,” he said. “That should be pretty simple, and we just didn’t do it. It’s the first time I think I can say that in 18 months.”
Scott said he would review the use of captain Zach Merrett at half-forward after quarter-time, a move that he said might have hurt the Bombers’ momentum following a solid opening term. Merrett, who was closely checked by Alex Neal-Bullen when on the ball, finished with only one clearance and was held to nine disposals after halftime.
“We like to mix up our centre bounce. We thought Merrett was very good in the first quarter, so we were pretty happy with the way that looked,” Scott said. “We’ll have a look at that (move to half-forward), because we thought we could get an advantage a little bit, but we probably lost the ascendancy when we did that.”
Scott smiled and shrugged when asked about what Saturday’s defeats of Essendon, Carlton, and Fremantle said about the closeness of the season.
“I don’t even need to say anything. I’ve been saying it every week, but the evidence is mounting up to support that,” he said. “I’ve said a number of times, the AFL talk, almost lecture us about competitive balance on a regular basis, and they’ve got what they wanted.”
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