THE AXE is poised to be swung at Tullamarine this week with Essendon coach John Worsfold running out of patience with his underperforming Bombers.
Despite riding a three-game losing streak before Saturday's clash, the Bombers chose not to make any unforced change at the selection table, replacing injured pair Joe Daniher and Andrew McGrath with Shaun McKernan and Orazio Fantasia.
That looks set to change after Saturday afternoon's embarrassing 13-point loss to the previously-winless Carlton, with a number of players – most notably high-profile recruit Jake Stringer – again failing to fire.
Stringer finished the game with just 14 possessions and one behind for his efforts on Saturday.
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Fellow forward Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti was another who was quiet again while Darcy Parish had just 13 touches.
Zach Merrett had 16 disposals after again struggling to break a tag; this time by Ed Curnow, who was Carlton's best player, and Brendon Goddard failed to register a single tackle for the third time this season.
Worsfold refused to name potential omissions but said the time had come to look at sending out-of-form players back to the VFL.
"We've got a number of players that aren't playing at the level that we expect, whether it's just making errors or looking frustrated or looking shaky with their skills," Worsfold said.
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"We've got to look at how we get the group playing at its best and how we get individuals back to having that belief and confidence.
"There's obviously one option there; they play at the lower level until they regain that real form that we need.
"We've been pretty strong to support them and back the majority of this group in over a number of weeks, and the ones that haven't at any point been able to get to the level we need them to, their spots will be in jeopardy."
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But the Bombers' problems were widespread on Saturday, which prompted Worsfold to throw some of the ownership on righting the ship back on the players.
"We don't have a trademark at the moment, that would be fair to say," he said.
"We've got a clean slate to create our own, and that doesn't happen in one game and it doesn't happen in a quarter, it happens over a period of time.
"The next period for us, whether it's the next month, two months or six months, is an opportunity for us to find that and work towards it.
"It's not what I want them to stand for, it's really what they want to stand for and us as a collective – what we want to stand for."
The loss leaves the Bombers three games adrift of the top eight, but Worsfold said the "maths" surrounding whether they could still make the finals were irrelevant.
Instead, he said the players should look at the "great opportunity" to create this "trademark", as he believed the current group simply didn't have one.
"Last year we were, right or wrong, whatever happens happens [because] there's players coming back from suspensions – that was who we were last year," he said.
"This is now the start of who we want to be.
"The commitment that we have to now look for from each other, from coaching staff from players from everyone in the club … what is it we want to be?
"We're exploring and challenging each other on that and we've got a long, long way to go to get there but I am seeing signs that the players are aware this is a great opportunity for them to start to stamp their own mark on the future of the Essendon footy club."
