Brad Scott concedes that Essendon’s 61-point defeat to Adelaide in round two was the worst pressure performance he’s seen in his time at the Club.

The Senior Coach was honest and upfront in his view of the loss to the media on Monday afternoon, not looking to make any excuses for the disappointing display as the Bombers prepare for Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Thursday.

Despite the short five-day turnaround ahead of round three, Scott’s hoping a concise game review will set the tone and remind the group what’s expected.

“After an extremely poor performance like that, you have to be able to be really clear with the players on why, and we’ve done that,” Scott said.

“Sometimes quantifying effort (and what it looks like) can be difficult but in our case, it was actually quite simple. To concede 70 uncontested marks and have our worst pressure performance certainly in my time here but even well before that, puts a lot of pressure on the rest of our game.

“The effort and intent is something we base our game around and it was lacking, which was the most disappointing thing for me throughout the day. Just sitting on the back foot and hoping we’d win contests instead of getting across to support the contest.

“Players (were) just off and when you’re half a step off in this competition, you get exposed.”

Scott put the performance more down to effort rather than a reflection of overall system, especially by comparison to the Club’s round one loss to Hawthorn, in which the side’s stats around contested ball highlighted a better showing.

“The system will always need to improve and get better but if you compare our pressure to what it’s been even last week to what we delivered on Saturday, there’s a stark difference,” Scott said.

“We got exactly what we knew we’d get if we weren’t giving the level of effort, intent and playing to our system that’s expected and required."

Despite fielding the second youngest and second least experienced squad in the competition over the weekend, youth is no excuse for Scott either, wanting his team to provide a more accurate reflection of their capability. 

With the noted five-day break awaiting the Bombers, Scott expects to see that lift in intensity instantly.

“I didn’t ask (for a response), I expect it,” Scott said.

“I was very clear as to the areas we were lacking, it’s just totally unacceptable and not at the standard we expect, because we think we’ve got a capable group.

“(The youth excuse is) a cop out. Whether you’re dealing with injuries, dealing with youth, my job’s to coach the team, so I’m not interested in even insinuating that there’s any excuse with youth.

“I focus on the facts as they are in front of us, and the fact is we were horrendous in our ability to apply pressure to the opposition, we got badly beaten in critical contests at both ends of the ground.

“With that comes criticism and fair enough.

“I’ve been very firm with the players off the field. On the field, it’s about getting in the best physical preparation so we can bring the right level in the contest we need on Thursday night.”

The Dons will have a chance to respond in their clash with Port Adelaide, which kicks off from Marvel Stadium at 7:30pm this Thursday.