Essendon’s stirring semi-final win against Richmond brought the Bombers into a preliminary final against the Casey Demons. Assistant coaches Wayne Schultz (backline), Ben Patrick (midfield) and Nick Daffy (forward) discuss the performances of their best players…

Jordan Ridley

“Rids ticked all the boxes in terms of playing his role for the team. He positioned himself well at contests to receive and provided great run and rebound for us. Rids was terrific all day with setting up behind the ball and adjusting his positioning to take away any dangerous space for Richmond to work in.” – Schultz

Aaron Heppell

“He was again really consistent with his game from start to finish. He was really clean and composed over the ball, he was able to get the ball out to our receivers quite well but probably the most pleasing thing was again his work rate and his ability to get to the contest and stay involved in the contest whether defensively or offensively.” – Patrick

James Stewart

“The whole game he was important. As he has been the last few weeks, he competed against extra numbers, he put in a fantastic contest and then once the game opened up late, he was able to finish off with some elite running and elite marking, and of course kicking the right goals at the right time so he played the ultimate key forward role on the weekend.” – Daffy

Kobe Mutch

“He had a great four-quarter performance this week, in particular his first half when his contested and clearance work was outstanding. It really helped set up what was to be a great win for us. Again, his ability to stay involved in contest through sheer work rate was outstanding for all four quarters.” – Patrick

Michael Hartley

“A super job down back with his body work and intent to intercept in the air or at least halve it to our advantage by preventing his opponent from marking. His ground level pressure and involvements were outstanding. He played a key role in setting up our backs behind the ball.” – Schultz

Daniel Younan

“Danny played a really good role as a small forward. He’s been under injury clouds, but he got through and obviously he took some really important marks and contested and kicked some really important goals, which is what he does. He connected really well to all the contests … his genuine aggression for the loose ball is super so he played a really good game for us.” – Daffy