Essendon coach Ben Rutten has pointed the finger at his side's senior players and says they "weren’t up for it" following Saturday night's 58-point loss to Sydney at the SCG.

The Bombers came into the game with renewed hope after last week's win over Hawthorn but were never in the contest, slipping to a 2-7 record and sitting 16th on the ladder after nine rounds.

Rutten said his side was "comprehensively beaten" and that the scoreboard flattered the Dons, with Sydney inaccurate in front of goal, kicking 14.21 (105) to 6.11 (47).

The Essendon coach lamented his side's inability to be up for the contest, losing the tackle count 54-30, having had 24 tackles in the fourth quarter alone last week against Hawthorn. Rutten also put the blame on his senior players in skipper Dyson Heppell's 200th game.

"The night, the smaller ground, the opposition, it demanded a contested pressure tackling game and we weren’t up for it," Rutten said.

"(Callum) Mills had 13 tackles individually. He was fantastic. He was one of a lot of Swans that were up for the fight.

"When I look across our squad, we didn’t show the resolve, steeliness to maintain the level that we needed to. There were times we were too easily derailed off our game.

"We found it hard to get back, in particular our more senior players. They're the ones we need to pave the way and shine the light for our younger guys. They didn’t do that tonight."

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Rd 9 | Rutten post-game

Senior coach Ben Rutten speaks to the media following the Bombers' 58-point loss to the Swans.

Rutten declined to single out individuals but was pressed on the form of Dylan Shiel, who has been in and out of the 22 this season, and only managed five kicks and 15 handballs for 69 metres gained.

"I don’t want to single players out at the moment, it's not the time," he said.

"He's one of our senior guys that I mentioned who we need in a game like that that requires us to be up for the contest, pressure and tackling.

"We've got some inexperienced players, but the senior guys need to be ones to get down and do the work and show the way. We were way off the level."

Rutten praised Jye Caldwell for an "unbelievably courageous act" after a heavy collision with Tom McCartin when going back with the flight that saw him subbed out due to an AC issue, although the Dons coach didn’t know the extent of the injury.