JOHN Worsfold says Essendon's loss to the Western Bulldogs was as poor as any in his time at the club, after the Bombers were comprehensively beaten on Sunday.
Although the scoreboard showed only a 21-point deficit at the final siren, the Bulldogs were the far better side at Etihad Stadium, skipping ahead early in the game and maintaining their lead throughout.
DOGS' DAY OUT: Full match coverage and stats
The Bombers got within 16 points late in the contest before Joe Daniher erroneously handballed after a mark at the top of the goalsquare and cost his side a nearly certain goal.
But Worsfold wasn't taking any solace from the late comeback, admitting his team was fortunate to even be that close after conceding 34 scoring shots to the Dogs.
"We were well and truly outplayed for inside-50s, weight of possession. I don't think we could really play any worse across all aspects of the game. Maybe [the] clearance numbers and contested possession showed up OK, but everything else in the game was poor," he said post-game.
Worsfold, who recently signed a two-year contract extension making him the Bombers' coach until at least the end of 2020, took on the role in 2016, when Essendon claimed the wooden spoon for the first time since 1933.
WATCH: John Worsfold's full post-match media conference
Essendon only won three games in Worsfold's first year in charge and suffered some heavy defeats, but he said the loss to the Bulldogs was as flattening as any for the club.
"I don't even think in 2016 we potentially played that poorly. Pretty much everything was poor – decision making, support for each other, ball use, defending the game. It was all pretty poor," he said.
Essendon came from 20 points down in round one to blitz past Adelaide, but travelled to Perth last week and was disappointing in its loss to Fremantle. Worsfold said all factors would be considered as the coaches try to unravel what went wrong against the Dogs.
"That's what we've got to work out. When you're that poor it could be a number of things and that's what we'll have a look at: our preparation for the week, our mindset going to the game, our understanding of what we're trying to do and what the Bulldogs were doing to us and sometimes they're all linked," he said.
"You can give players messages and really get frustrated when you think 'Did they hear what we talked about?' And that can be just players maybe going into a bit of self-preservation mode."
Essendon entered the year with the intention to improve its defence and concede lower scores, but so far has averaged 99 points against this season, with Worsfold admitting it had gone backwards in that area.
The Bombers hope it is a case of the players still getting used to some style tweaks and not an attitude issue when defending, with Worsfold also suggesting his team is good enough to turn around a game when it is not played on their terms.
"We will stick at it and we will build it and get a better understanding of it, and the players who refuse to perform that way will be putting their spots at jeopardy," he said.
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"We'll find out who wants to buy-in to the way we want to play, and the players have already challenged themselves on that."
There were few positives for the Bombers, although Jake Stringer tried hard in his first game against his former side.
The 2016 premiership forward had 16 disposals and kicked his first goal in Essendon colours, but also spent some time off the ground in the second half nursing a sore cheekbone and a poke to the eye.
"I thought he did some good stuff for us today. He lost a fair bit of his clear vision for that period so that's the main thing we need to assess, how it's affected his eye," Worsfold said.
