Essendon defender Michael Hurley says addressing the team’s lack of defensive efforts was the key message from coach John Worsfold after the club’s disappointing 21-point loss to the Western Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs controlled the contest from the outset, gathering 417 disposals to Essendon’s 323 and peppering the goals to finish 14.20 (102) to 12.11 (81).

Hurley said Worsfold was disappointed by his side’s efforts to reclaim the ball from their opponents.

“(The message was) just around our defence – how much do we value it, how much do we want to get the ball back off the opposition and how much do we want to make it tough for them,” Hurley said post-match.

“We’ll have a good look at the game and see where that broke down and hopefully we can fix that next week.”

The two-time All Australian said the Bombers let the Bulldogs control the game far too easily as they allowed their opposition a flood of uncontested possessions throughout the game.

“I’m not sure how many uncontested marks they took, but I think it was a world record,” he said.

“We spent a lot of the game trying to win the ball back and we just weren’t able to.”

Essendon impressively chased down Adelaide from a 20-point three-quarter time deficit in round one and there was a sense of déjà vu when the team once again made a late surge on Sunday.

The Bombers kicked three goals in a row in the middle of the final term to put themselves within striking distance of the Bulldogs and Hurley admitted to thinking the side could record another comeback win.

“I was really confident at the beginning of the last quarter.

“We ran over the Crows in round one and I thought that we weren’t really playing overly well and if we could fix a few things that we’d be able to run over the top, but it wasn’t the case.”

Hurley said the Bombers are yet to get near their best form this season and is confident the team can return to its peak.

“I don’t think we’ve actually played close to our best for the whole season.

“We’ll look at some footage, work really hard on the track and hopefully we can find some form.”