Essendon coach Brad Scott was left searching for answers after the Bombers' finals hopes were dealt another massive blow in the loss.

The Saints piled on seven goals to one during the decisive period, including three majors to skipper Jack Steele, as Essendon failed to fire a shot in one of the most important moments of their season so far.

Scott had no explanation for his side's "lack of competitiveness" and "negligible pressure" in such an important fixture.

"It's extremely disappointing," he said.

"The end result is disappointing but more disappointing than that was our lack of effort and intent, which has been present for most of the year.

"Particularly in the third quarter, our effort and intent in the contest was really poor.

"Across the course of the game it was poor and it doesn't take much, if you drop off in that area, for you to look second-rate.

"We looked third-rate today."

The 53-point loss was further soured by an injury to star defender Jordan Ridley, who was subbed out of the game in the third quarter.

Ridley missed the first half of the season with a quadriceps injury and took a heavy blow to the same leg in a marking contest.

"It was to the front of his hip and we had some concerns around his quad that he's injured before," Scott said.

"He had a fair bit of pain and couldn't function, so we had no choice but to sub him off.

"We'll scan that and fingers crossed.

"It presents like a knee to the hip which is a pretty severe cork and hopefully it's nothing more serious."