“Anytime you travel to Perth, it’s going to be a tough game.”

That’s the mentality Brad Scott and his players are taking into their Good Friday clash with West Coast at Optus Stadium this week, ready for a second interstate trip in as many weeks following Gather Round.

The Dons’ 39-point win over the Dees on Saturday was strong reward for effort but Scott’s been quick to divert his attention to the next challenge in front of the side – an Eagles outfit looking for their first win of the year.

With form guides across the competition showing plenty of variation in the opening month, Scott isn’t caught up in any external criticism – negative or otherwise – towards either side, keeping an intrinsic focus on how the Bombers can keep improving week-to-week.

“When you’re a young team transitioning, it throws up really difficult scenarios,” Scott said.

“What we do know, that old cliché of ‘never as good, never as bad (as it seems)’ is so true right now. If you cast your mind back three weeks, there were a lot of opinions as to who was a great team, who was an average team, who was a terrible team and it all changes.

“We’re under no illusions that we’re coming up against a very proud Football Club that still have a lot of capability in their side.

“People on the outside will think otherwise, but they can think what they like. The people on the outside were probably thinking half-time of Port Adelaide v Hawthorn would look different too, so we just focus on what we need to do.

“We haven’t by any means implemented what we were working on through the pre-season to the consistent level that we want to, so that’s where our focus is.”

Scott has also thrown his support towards Nick Bryan as the Bombers look to readjust without their young ruckman for the remainder of 2025.

The ACL injury has come at an unfortunate time for the 23-year-old, with the Dons forced to restructure on the move throughout the weekend’s win – it was that proactivity from the group which stood out to the Senior Coach in reflection of the win.

“We just assured (Bryan) that he’s a really important part of our long-term future,” Scott said.

“Nick’s worked really hard to cement himself in our best team, which he’s done and to have this setback’s obviously really disappointing for him but over the long-term of his career, we think it’ll just be a small setback.

“It seems like a big one at the moment but over the totality of his career and what we expect his career to be with us, it’ll be a small blip on the radar.

“I was really proud of the team – to lose Nick early in the game and to have to adjust (to a) structure we haven’t played so far this year – we were able to do it in-game, which was really pleasing.

“Now we’ve got the option to restructure or play a similar two-ruck setup.”

Those options provide a layer of intrigue to Scott’s selection table in the coming weeks, with Todd Goldstein playing frequent VFL footy and Peter Wright enjoying a successful return with three goals in a practice match last week.

While Scott hasn’t decided on his exact approach to support Sam Draper, he’ll be keeping versatility atop his priority list.

“The honest answer is we haven’t decided yet, but the good news is we have flexibility,” Scott said.

“Peter Wright played on the weekend, ‘Goldy’ played on the weekend, they’re both high quality players and we’ve got flexibility with the structure we think is best suited for this week.

(Goldstein’s) got this incredible attitude where he’s well aware that a big part of his role is to develop Draper, Bryan and Vigo Visentini as well. He does that in such a selfless way.

“Both of those options are clearly available for us.”

Another selection headache will come in the form of his midfield rotation - Will Setterfield was outstanding on return against Melbourne’s bigger on-ballers and Elijah Tsatas is still looking to return after being cleared to play last week.

Scott will maintain his ‘horses for courses’ approach as the season wears on.

“It’s always week-to-week for us, the way that we approach it,” Scott said.

“Clearly, I have a lot of time for Will Setterfield, he played his last AFL game in round 13 of 2024, but he prepares himself each week like he’s going to play AFL football.

“We have a high degree of confidence that he would come in and execute his role based on the preparation. (It’s a similar mindset to Goldstein), in terms of ‘I don’t know when my opportunity’s coming but I’ll be ready for it when it does.’”

Rather than heading straight to Perth this week, the Dons opted to come back to home deck before flying out again this Thursday.

Scott isn’t concerning himself with the travel or short turnaround altering the Bombers’ week after only just returning from South Australia, with the group ready to adapt to what’s already been an unusually structured season after the Opening Round cancellation and the round four bye.

“The travel’s not a big deal for us, the bigger upside is being in your own environment,” Scott said.

“(The short turnaround) is nothing new to us, we had a five-day break leading into the Port Adelaide game as well, so that’s what the fixture throws up now.

“We just adjust our training program around that and it won’t be a problem.”

A Telstra Rising Star nomination for Archie Roberts also capped off Gather Round nicely for the Bombers.

Scott heaped praise on the 19-year-old, who’s shaping into a real talent for the Club after being selected with pick No.54 in the 2023 National Draft and inheriting Dyson Heppell’s No.21 guernsey this year.

“He hasn’t really put a foot wrong since he’s been here, he’s a great competitor,” Scott said.

“I love the way he approaches his footy, he’s got this fantastic mix of being a very humble young man but never overawed by the big stage (or) a quality opponent. He actually relishes those situations.

“That’s the ideal mix you want in a professional sportsman.

“Dyson requested (the number for Archie), not the other way around. He identified very early on that he’s a guy who’s got a long future at the Essendon Football Club.

“You can’t get much more of a wrap than that.”