The Bombers remain focused on the task at hand for the home-and-away season, according to coach John Worsfold.
Having cemented a spot in finals following the Bombers’ win over Fremantle last week, Worsfold said the onus was on his playing group to not look past its clash against Collingwood in Friday night’s blockbuster at the MCG.
“We’re really pleased overall. We’ve had our ups and downs (this season) but that’s the nature of the game,” Worsfold said.
“It’s a tough game and the aim is when you get to round 23 you want to have a crack at playing in the finals, and so far, we’ve achieved that, but right now we have to finish the (home-and-away) season really strongly.”
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Speaking with the Triple M Hot Breakfast program on Thursday morning, Worsfold said it had been the unity of the playing and coaching group throughout the season which had impressed him the most throughout the Bombers’ 2019 campaign.
“It’s been a really great effort from the playing group (who have stepped up), and we’ve needed a fair bit of our list to be up and going to be able to do that.
“We’ve gone through ups and downs with player availability, with scheduling, with breaks between games, but you just have to wear all that and stay focused on the big picture of where you’re trying to get to.
“You have to make your decisions based around the length of the season as opposed to maybe reacting to one bad game and changing everything you’re doing. I’ve been proud of the fact that the playing and coaching group have stuck to the program that we believed would keep taking us forward.
“We’ve still got a lot of improvement and growth to come but we’re sticking to that pathway.”
Of the at-times-unfair external commentary surrounding the Bombers’ 2019 campaign, the resolute Worsfold said he wouldn’t waver on his focus of the club’s "bigger picture".
“We’ve had some performances this year where we’ve deserved to cop that stick, we understand that. We had a very slow start in round one, and we had a couple of poor weeks against Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs but overall the season is 23 rounds long and it’s a gruelling and tough season.
“My personality is about staying really focused and strong, whether it’s through good times or tough times, and not wavering off the course too much and that’s been successful for me.
“I feel Essendon has needed that over the last few years; coming in it was an emotional and dysfunctional time and we had to work through some tough things over a long period of time – a couple of years, not weeks.
“The fact we’ve done that and going into our second finals series in three years, again I’m proud of how everyone has stayed focused.”