Essendon coach John Worsfold says young on-baller Zach Merrett will not get any special assistance with shaking niggling mid-game tags.

The ball magnet broke his own record for the most disposals ever gathered by a Bomber in one year in 2017 with 659 disposals, but his start to 2018 hasn’t yielded such impressive results.

After being concussed in the opening term against Adelaide in round one, Merrett has gathered 21 and 13 disposals against Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs in the last two games.

The All Australian has been under intense attention from opposing midfielders this year and Worsfold said it is no one’s sole responsibility to look after Merrett.

“Our mids have specific roles and structures that they play,” Worsfold said on Thursday.

“There’s always times where mids will block for other mids. We’re not just going to block for Zach Merrett, we’re going to work for each other.

“Our focus is not on thinking we need to help Zach Merrett get more possessions, we want Zach to help us be a great team and we’ll help him become a great player as well.”

Shaking a tag can be an arduous task and Worsfold said Merrett’s work-rate is certainly not to blame.

“In terms of his running, he was maybe in our top three runners on the weekend, so it’s not just about running and trying harder for Zach, he’s trying pretty hard.

“He’s got a role to play on game day and our expectation is that our players play their role and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Worsfold said the vice-captain had been receiving plenty of support as he looks to overcome the form slump and said Merrett was simply going through a natural process as an elite midfielder.

“I’ve seen through the history of the game a lot of good, young midfielders when they don’t get tagged early on they start becoming very good midfielders,” Worsfold said.

“They get tagged (and) they go through a period of sometimes weeks, sometimes years until they come out of it and really deal with it well.

“That doesn’t mean they play poorly, they still play really good footy. They might not get the high 30 possessions for a while, but they can still contribute to a successful team.”

Essendon will be looking to bounce back from a two-game losing streak on Sunday against ladder-leader Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium.