Brad Scott continues to embrace Essendon’s evolving structure as the season reaches its business end.
Despite Saturday night’s challenging defeat to Melbourne, the Senior Coach also hasn’t been deterred from the Bombers’ overall consistency this season, believing there’s still solid foundations in place to bounce back.
Although the Dons registered 56 inside 50’s compared to Melbourne’s 49 on the night, there were clear inefficiencies going forward and a struggle to adapt to the conditions, areas of the game Scott’s confident they can rectify in the short-term.
“We’re disappointed with our execution more than our effort,” Scott said.
“There aren’t huge fluctuations in terms of contest or generating inside 50’s, it’s just a bit of the polish we’ve had but at different stages this year haven’t been able to execute as much as we would like.
“If we look at a lot of our numbers, we’re playing a brand of footy that’s going to give you a really good opportunity to win every game you play and that’s the key thing.
“It’s a constant work in progress in that space, but I think the foundation’s really solid.”
Considering the gap of just eight premiership points separating second and 13th spot on the AFL ladder after 18 rounds, pressure can weigh heavily on week-to-week results, but Scott’s hoping the Bombers can stay consistent in their preparation.
While the spotlight was quickly drawn on the Bombers’ credentials following their round 17 win over Collingwood and subsequent criticism was taken after the weekend’s loss, Scott’s been steadfast in reaffirming the direction the side’s heading in.
“It doesn’t (change the narrative around us), people just say it does,” Scott said.
“Our footy’s been really consistent this year for the large majority, our effort’s been there and we’ve been in games. Are we perfect, are we where we want to be? Not quite, but that’s just the nature of the competition, teams fluctuate from one week to the next.
“I was pretty clear post-game against Collingwood that people can say what they like, but we’re far from the finished product.
“It wasn’t about making a statement, it’s about bringing consistent footy that’s going to give us our best chance each week and that hasn’t changed.”
Balancing a mix of short and long turnarounds over the last month and an injury list that’s been managed down to just five unavailable players, Essendon’s selection and structural dilemmas have also generated talking points.
With experienced defenders Dyson Heppell and Jayden Laverde each managed for a game in the past fortnight and Todd Goldstein waiting in the wings after a few weeks without AFL action, Scott and the Bombers are still looking for the right balance of talls and smalls in the line-up.
“If we knew what our absolute best structure was, we’d probably look to lock that in and then manage players from there, but it’s a combination for us,” Scott said.
“We’re looking to get players in their best physical shape and we’ve got an interesting cycle of short breaks to long breaks, but we’ll never do anything that we think will impact our ability to win each week.
“What suits the opposition that week, what suits the conditions, all of those things (play a factor), but sometimes you don’t have that luxury, through availability you’ve got what you’ve got.
“We think Sam Draper’s given us a lot since he’s come back, we know what sort of player Goldstein is, we know we’ve got variety in there.
“We’ll keep rotating until we find the mix that suits us best. It’s not easy for us, but it’s a good problem to have.”
Nic Martin created another structural difference for the Bombers with his shuffle into a familiar role ahead of centre on the weekend, proving a massive scoring threat with four goals from 26 touches in one of his best games for the year.
The 23-year-old’s move into defence was a headline of the Dons’ push for flexibility and testing their players in different positions this season, an idea that Scott hasn’t shied away from even in the latter stages of the campaign.
“We’d just like to clone (Martin) and have two or three of him playing different positions,” Scott said.
“He’s been a fantastic player for us regardless of the position he’s played, but we’re open to that (move forward). Part of the reason for putting him back in the pre-season to train him up as a defender was to give us that flexibility to be able to do what we can do in-game with him and others.
“Flexibility’s a good thing. That was our ambition at the start of the year to generate that versatility within our team, both talls and smalls.
“We’ve got that, but pretty quickly we’ve got to start to go with a preferred mix.”
The Dons will kick off round 19's proceedings with an opportunity to recapture their form against Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
