Essendon’s composure and ability to withstand a third-quarter charge stood out to Senior Coach Brad Scott in the wake of Saturday night’s 39-point Gather Round victory.

Although Melbourne’s four-goal run trimmed the margin to 10 points on the verge of the final term, it was the response of Scott’s group to remain in control of the contest that impressed him most.

With Nic Martin capitalising on a Steven May error and providing some breathing room in the final minutes of the third quarter, the Dons used that relieving goal as a springboard.

Able to dictate the final 30 minutes of play, goals to Mason Redman and Jye Menzie in the space of just 30 seconds capped off a strong night of work.

“I thought the players got really good reward for effort for what we did tonight,” Scott said.

“We were on for most of the game. To their credit, Melbourne really challenged us in the third quarter, but I thought it showed pretty good character to respond to that challenge and then go back again.”

After leaking 111 and 160 points across their defeats in the opening two rounds, Essendon has steadied up well in the back half to concede just 57 and 60 points respectively in their last two wins over the Dees and Power.

Scott was quick to praise the mentality of his defensive group and Assistant Coaches for the recent turnaround, especially over the bye week as they used the break to offer timely reminders of their focuses as a back six.

“I thought our Assistant Coaches in particular did a fantastic job over the last two weeks of drilling down on the things we’d reinforced through pre-season but we weren’t executing to the level we would’ve liked in the first couple of games,” Scott said.

“The last two games, to keep the opposition to 57 and 60 points is obviously a big turnaround from earlier in the year.

“We’ve reinforced our defensive principles but it’s not like we’ve revolutionised (our) defence. The difference is not great but it adds up to conceding 160 points in one game and then conceding 57 and 60 in the next two.”

The trio of Jordan Ridley, Ben McKay and Zach Reid have shouldered much of the load as key defenders in minimal on-field time together and are continuing to gel as the weeks roll on.

Despite Melbourne winning the centre clearance and inside 50 counts, the Bomber talls handled the pressure with aplomb.

“The composure was really good but it was really led by our back six or seven, particularly our three last-line defenders,” Scott said.

“We got convincingly beaten out of centre bounce, which can put your defence under significant pressure, but I think Melbourne only scored one point from centre bounce. That was largely due to our last-line defenders.

“McKay, Ridley, Reid, we’ve talked a fair bit about them at Essendon, wanting to get them together, they’ve only played a handful of games together but the last two weeks they’ve been really good for us.

“We’ve said repeatedly that (Reid) just needs a clean run. He’s had a really difficult start to his AFL career but his capability’s never been in doubt – we just needed to get him out there and he’s showing exactly what we thought he would.”

The inclusion of Will Setterfield to combat Melbourne’s big-bodied midfield mix worked in spades – the 26-year-old recorded game highs in pressure acts (29) and tackles (10) to go with his 21 touches out of the middle.

With Dylan Shiel also instrumental in a return to his familiar on-ball role, the flexibility of the Club’s midfield options will remain integral to Scott moving forward.

“(Setterfield) was enormous for us,” Scott said.

“In my first 10-15 games, Shiel and Setterfield were mainstays of our midfield, so it’s a bit of ‘Back to the Future’ for us.”