ZACH Merrett's reduced output this season is a result of the gun midfielder adjusting to coping with a tag, says Essendon coach John Worsfold.
After averaging 29 disposals a game and earning All Australian honours in 2017, Merrett has only tallied 21 and 13 disposals in the past two weeks in the Bombers' losses to Fremantle and Western Bulldogs.
Docker Bailey Banfield blanketed Merrett in round two, while Bulldogs Luke Dahlhaus and Mitch Honeychurch limited his impact last week.
A heavy bump from Adelaide's Richard Douglas in round one saw the 22-year-old forced out of the game with concussion and with just seven possessions to his name.
Despite a slump in his prolific ball-winner's numbers, Worsfold was confident Merrett, like a lot of star playmakers, would to learn to deal with the extra attention.
"This morning I spoke to Zach, different players have spoken with Zach and his teammates are around him, so he's got plenty of support," Worsfold said on Thursday.
"Zach was in our top three runners on the weekend, so it's not about running and trying harder (to beat a tag) for Zach, he's trying pretty hard and learning."
While Worsfold said Merrett was receiving an "enormous amount of help" from the club to break tags, veteran Brendon Goddard admitted his young teammate could be doing things a little better.
"There's an area where (the team) can improve and there's an area where he can improve, because at some point it's about finding ways to fight through (a tag) and do different things strategically to free himself up and get the ball in his hands," Goddard told RSN Radio on Thursday.
"We're talking about a young guy that's 22 (and) being heavily tagged now, and that's a feather in his cap because teams see him as a threat. Now it's about fighting through that, which all great players have done at some stage."
Darcy Parish is another talented young Bomber midfielder who has also found the going tough in recent weeks, with the 21-year-old averaging just 18 disposals and only kicking one goal in the opening three rounds of the season.
When asked if he expected more from a player taken with pick five in the 2015 NAB AFL Draft, Worsfold said he'd like to see Parish recapture form he displayed earlier in the year.
"(Darcy had a) good pre-season (and) good start to the season, and then the last couple of weeks he hasn't impacted at the same level, so overall, I'd like to think he's won a bit more of the footy," Worsfold said.
"That's part of us (as a team) getting that understanding of how we're working together. I think that will come through."
While Merrett and Parish have seen their numbers nosedive, Essendon's team defence has come under scrutiny this season, with opponents regularly able to move the ball with ease from defence to attack.
With the defensive breakdowns against the Bulldogs last Sunday fresh in his mind, Worsfold said tinkering with the team's approach was better than implementing a whole new game plan.
"We've addressed a lot of the way we defended the game, and that includes how our forwards defended, how our mids defended and how our backs defended the game," Worsfold said.
"We were off in all those areas.
"(We could) play a small forward line and that will increase the pressure, but they won't mark (the ball), so there's a trade-off and we're accessing that all the time."
