ESSENDON coach Brad Scott admitted his side "just looked a bit flat" in its disheartening 41-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
And more bad news is expected for the Bombers in the coming days, with a quad injury to important defender Jordan Ridley only further souring a disappointing night.
BOMBERS v BULLDOGS Full match coverage and stats
"It looks like a quad strain ... he did it kicking, it wasn't a cork," Scott said of Ridley post-match.
"I've been watching it as a footy fan, Naughton v Ridley over the last few years and he was great tonight ... but we'll get it scanned and hope he's okay."
Ridley led Essendon for disposals with 29, with fellow defenders Mason Redman, Jayden Laverde and Andrew McGrath close behind, but stunted ball movement out of the back half was one area in which the team struggled.
"We thought we weren't direct enough, we were slow out of the back half. I think our ball movement out of the back half has been pretty good this year ... but to the Bulldogs' credit tonight they were able to stifle that to a certain extent. So we did make some changes there, but it didn't really translate into enough forward-half pressure," Scott said.
After kicking three of the first four goals of the game, the Bombers were smothered in attack, kicking just a further four majors and only seven goals from 49 inside 50s in total.
One of those playing forward for Essendon, Jake Stringer (eight disposals, two tackles), had a quiet night, leading to a question about his fitness.
"He's playing," Scott said in response. "Anyone who plays is fit. Every player at this stage of the season is carrying something and Jake's no different to that.
"We make a decision to play him, and that's a joint decision. Jake would say himself, when you declare yourself fit to play, Jake would never make excuses and he wouldn't want me to make excuses for him either. So we'll have to think through that."
Opposing captain Marcus Bontempelli is another who is carrying injury in the latter stages of the season, with the star Bulldog having a heavily strapped right calf. But it mattered little as the skipper, alongside Tom Liberatore, was the best player on the ground.
"He's just had a little bit of a niggle there that he's carried," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.
"We modified him a bit this week (at training). He's got a slight niggle there that's a bit annoying more than anything. He didn't aggravate it tonight. Hopefully it's a bit better coming into next week."
Beveridge is cautious to temper the expectation around Bontempelli's ability to carry his team, even when injured, imploring his side to have an even spread of contributors.
"It's inspiring, but we can't be shrinking violets and let it overshadow our thought processes about ourselves (and) where we need to grow our group and ensure that every one of our players feels like they can portray that kind of leadership and have that kind of influence," Beveridge said.
At the other end of the spectrum for the Dogs, two players who found themselves out of the first-choice 22 in Bailey Williams (the starting sub) and Rory Lobb (in the VFL) have been challenged to rediscover their best footy.
"We really picked Buku (Khamis) in front of 'Lobby' because Buku just had a better game than him last week (in the VFL) against the Swans up there in NSW, and for selection integrity we thought that was important to reward Buku," Beveridge said.
"There are some things that we're asking from (Lobb) before he comes in. And if he plays well (in the VFL) against Preston, he's every chance to be considered next week."
Similarly, Williams "hasn't been at his best" according to Beveridge and, with mid-season draftee Caleb Poulter challenging for his place on the wing, Williams found himself starting the game with the vest on.
"It was a bit of a circuit breaker for him to have a bit of a think about it," Beveridge said.
