Despite a competitive first half, Adelaide’s experience proved too much for the Bombers in week four of the AFLW season.
The 33-point defeat at Thomas Farms Oval on Sunday has the Dons sitting at 1-3 for the season, showing glimpses of their potential but still looking to piece together more consistent four-quarter displays against the competition’s best.
An interstate matchup against the league leaders was always going to provide a big challenge but the Bombers’ coaching group are leaving South Australia optimistic that the side can bounce back in the coming weeks.
“(Adelaide are) a really well drilled, super team but I thought we made them change the way they wanted to play a fair bit,” Assistant Coach Paul Groves told essendonfc.com.au’s The Last Word.
“They’re obviously one of the benchmark teams in the comp and have been for numerous years. What they are very seasoned at is their fitness and they work really hard on it, so towards the end of the game they ran away from us a little bit.
“Clearance numbers were equal, so we challenged them, the (team) really battled away and listened to a lot of the structures and everything we’ve set up.”
A structural change was made early in the piece for the Dons, who elected to shift defender Ellyse Gamble up forward following some injury troubles for talls Bonnie Toogood and Emily Gough in recent weeks.
Creating a contest throughout the day and hitting the scoreboard, it’s a look the Dons could potentially persist with as they try to find their stride in the coming weeks.
“There were a number of positives on how we looked to execute,” Groves said.
“We felt that we needed a little more height up forward, obviously we’ve lost a couple of key forwards so we discussed that and (Gamble’s) played it before, so (we) threw her down there and competed really well in that role for us, gave us a fair bit of ground ball from aerial competition.
“We certainly want to move the footy a fair bit quicker than last weekend’s game against the Saints. We did that in patches today as well, so that will be a big focus.”
Essendon’s first opportunity to respond comes in the form of Melbourne at Windy Hill this Friday, an exciting occasion on Victoria’s Grand Final Eve public holiday.
With the Demons also trying to get their year into gear, the 2:05pm matchup shapes as one of the more tantalising fixtures of the round.
“Obviously getting back to Windy Hill on the Grand Final public holiday will be really exciting,” Groves said.
“Hopefully we’ll get a huge crowd there. It’s a quick backup but all the teams are in that period now, we’ll lick our wounds from today and head into it.”
