DAVID Zaharakis says Essendon is nowhere near its best, and admits the club's aspirations of finishing in the top eight and winning its first final since 2004 will be in jeopardy if it doesn't overcome the issue.
The Bombers’ disappointing run continued last weekend after Melbourne’s dominant seven-goal-to-one third quarter paved the way to a comfortable 36-point victory for the Demons.
“We’ve got a lot of areas to work on and everyone knows that,” Zaharakis said on Wednesday afternoon.
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“The only way you can improve - obviously you can improve by watching vision - but the main way to improve is by training and [by] what you do on the training track.
“There’s a lot of heated stuff happening out there, but that’s what we want.
“(The team) is surprised [by our] inconsistency.
“Our best is really good but we’re nowhere near that.”
The Bombers now have two wins from six games, have slumped to 14th on the ladder and their woes will only worsen should they lose to Hawthorn this Saturday
“There are only 22 games played, so every game counts a lot. We are two and four - it’s a game we want to win,” Zaharakis said.
“Round one was such a great occasion and great win and obviously round four again we had a great win, [but] other weeks have been so disappointing.
“Our up-and-down inconsistencies are probably the most surprising thing.
“We can’t quite put together … not just weeks, we can’t put together quarters [within] games. We played good for a half on the weekend against Melbourne, then dropped away in the third quarter.”
Essendon is yet to win a third term this season and the seven quarters it has won is equalled by Carlton. Only Brisbane has won fewer terms, with six.
Zaharakis said the club had addressed the issue and ensured the ‘premiership-quarter’ lapses weren’t a result of laziness, but revealed it may change what they do during the half-time interval.
“It’s not like we’re sitting at half-time doing nothing,” he said.
“It’s the same as it’s always been. We’re addressing (the issue) now about how we go about it.
“Coming out after half-time, we might change up something to do with warm-ups. We might adjust that to give us a little burst of energy for the third quarters because (they aren’t) our best and we won’t shy away from that.
“We do need to work out a way to come out strong.”
Joe Daniher will play his 100th career game on Saturday against the Hawks and Zaharakis was quick to defend the key forward’s slow start to the year.
Joe Daniher has been far from his best so far this season. Picture: AFL Photos
“(Daniher) is out on the track working as hard as he can to improve.
“People are saying ‘how many goals has he kicked?’ but that doesn’t mean anything for us. His role isn’t to kick five goals a game, that’s not what we want him to do.
“He’s been a great player for the first hundred games of his career, it’s a great milestone for him this week.”
